LAKELAND – Tia Wood has amassed a huge following of fans through her social media, including 2.3 million followers in TikTok, and over 300,000 followers on Instagram.
The 24-year-old singer-songwriter originally from Saddle Lake, comes from a Plains Cree and Salish background. Her songs, a reflection of her background, is a combination of Indigenous and modern music.
In December, Tia officially signed a contract with Sony Music.
Behind her success is a tale of determination and relentlessness.
Childhood
Tia comes from a family of musicians.
Her father, Earl Wood, is a founding member of the Northern Cree singers, a nine-time Grammy-nominated drumming group. Her mother, Cynthia Jim-Wood was also in an all-girls drumming group as well.
And her sister, Fawn Wood, won a 2022 Juno Award for Traditional Indigenous Artist of the Year.
“So, it was kind of inevitable to pick up music growing up... and honestly, it was a way to keep our heads afloat growing up as well,” said Tia, in a recent interview with Lakeland This Week. The Wood family was once kept busy performing at local schools and nursing homes, for example.
Tia grew up around traditional Indigenous music, but she also listened to a lot of country music on the radio. Since she was just a little girl, Tia says she loved to sing and dance.
Music simply was a part of life, “and I enjoyed it.”
Accident
But there was a point in her life when her passion – and her life – was almost taken away.
In 2012, when Wood was just 13 years old, she was involved in a serious vehicle rollover incident in Montana, according to a September 2014 St. Paul Journal article. From Montana, she was sent to a children’s hospital in Seattle.
At the time, Cynthia Jim-Wood, Tia’s mom, told the St. Paul Journal, “We almost lost Tia. She was in a coma. She was in a really bad shape.”
Tia, recalling the incident, describes it a “crazy” time.
“That was so long ago. So, I... basically broke all my ribs. I collapsed both of my lungs. My vertebrae was fractured... it was so bad,” says Tia.
But she survived.
Yet, the news that awaited her was difficult for her to comprehend. The doctors told her she would not dance or sing the same ever again.
“That was devastating news to hear as a young girl... those are my favourite things to do,” she says.
For a while, Tia was in a wheelchair, then she used a walker. While sometimes the situation felt hopeless, she knew she “couldn’t live without either one of those things.”
Believing strongly in the power of prayer and healing ceremonies, it helped motivate her to push on.
Tia did not want the incident to be the end of her singing and dancing journey. It turned out to be quite the opposite.
“It made me more motivated to get better and... not to take it for granted, because... it could have all been taken away just like that.”
Three months after the accident, she attended the 2012 Manito Ahbee Festival, which celebrates Indigenous arts, culture and music, and she found herself sharing the stage with her sister, Fawn – who won an Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Award for Best Hand Drum Album that same year.
Fawn was a motivation for Tia.
Two years later, Tia attended her second Manito Ahbee Festival on Sept. 13, 2014, where she became the Miss Manito Ahbee Youth Ambassador. A title that honours the memory of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
Signing with Sony Music
Since then, Tia has not stopped walking the path of a singer and musician, despite its many challenges.
When she was 21 years old, she took a leap and moved to Los Angeles, California, from Saddle Lake, Alberta, to pursue music. Moving to L.A. was difficult. She lived out of a single suitcase, and “I literally just had first month’s rent.”
In addition to wanting to make it as a musician, Tia believes there is a lack of representation of Indigenous music in the industry, and she wants to help grow that representation.
In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tia started a TikTok account as tiamiscihk, where she has since gained a following of 2.3 million followers. Her content often includes Indigenous music and fashion.
Since then, Tia has performed in many festivals across the globe.
In December 2023, she officially signed a contract with Sony Music.
She admits that if someone had told her as a child that she would sign with Sony Music, “I would have never believed it. It means so much.”
Look at the broader pictures, Tia says, “I feel like we’re at the tip of an iceberg with native representation. [Lily Gladstone] just won a Golden Globe, and there’s native girls that are really pushing in the modelling world.”
According to Tia, one thing the Indigenous community has always believed is that “when one of us wins, we all win.”
So, for Tia, signing with such a prestigious music label is not only a personal victory, but “It’s a win for my family. It’s a win for my community. It’s a win for my people.”
Tia says like many young people, she is still working to figure out who she is as an individual – which is reflected in her music.
Living away from her family can also be very difficult, acknowledges Tia. She misses them.
Living in a fast-paced city like L.A. is different than living back home in Saddle Lake, where it’s much more slow-paced. It’s also a challenge sometimes to connect to people who may not have had the same experiences as her.
“I’ve always been shy, so there’s that too,” she says. But being surrounded by people who support her, like her team, as well as her brother who is also her guitarist, makes it easier.
“It’s been so fun and I’m just so thankful that I get to do it.”
So, while it can be challenging, Tia always reminds herself that she is blessed.
Music coming out soon
To her fans, Tia says that her new music is coming out soon.
“I’ve been saying this for... like two years now, that I was going to release music soon, and I just wanted to wait for the right moment and the right people to distribute it.”
She guarantees “the music is finally coming.”
Asked if there was a message she would like to pass on to people who see her as an inspiration, Tia says, “as cliche as it may sound... just believe in yourself and know that your story matters... Your voice matters.”
