Malia Returns With Fifth Album 'If I'm Being Honest'
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- Malia is releasing her fifth studio album, "If I'm Being Honest," this spring — described by the singer as an extension of 2024's "Back in My Body" and an offering that refuses to apologize for who she is.
- Malia reconnected with producer Nick Green — whose resume includes a co-writing credit on Beyoncé's Grammy-winning "Plastic Off the Sofa," plus work with Zayn, The Internet, and Kaytranada — after running into him on a sidewalk near her home years after their first collaboration on 2017's "Late Bloomer."
- Malia was pressured by an unnamed longtime friend/songwriter and their manager into signing away her masters to "Late Bloomer," walking away with only a minority percentage — a decision she says reduced her to tears and one she has been unable to renegotiate since.
- Alicia Keys personally praised Malia after she covered Prince's "How Come You Don't Call Me" for a 2021 Spotify Session celebrating the 20th anniversary of "Songs in A Minor," sending the note: "You are unbelievably talented!!"
- Malia's track "Naked" from "Late Bloomer" has accumulated more than 21 million Spotify streams, making it her most commercially successful release to date.
- Malia is now managed by Jan Christiansen and is recording "If I'm Being Honest" at Furaha Sound off Sunset Boulevard, after breaking into the industry by posting 15-second Instagram singing clips that caught the ear of Matt Martians of The Internet.
- Malia is a Texas native who moved to Orange County, Calif., in 2009, graduated from Chapman University with a political science and sociology degree, and taught herself acoustic guitar via YouTube while working what she called "dead-end jobs" in Los Angeles.
Why it matters: Malia's experience — losing her 'Late Bloomer' masters to a trusted collaborator as an unrepresented newcomer — illustrates how asymmetric early-career deals can trap independent artists. Her reconnection with veteran producer Nick Green for album five shows her rebuilding with more industry savvy, but the lost masters remain a cautionary anchor for emerging musicians weighing their first contracts.
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