https://www.miidm.com/interviews daily 0.75 2026-09-20 https://www.miidm.com/interviews/keyvslocket monthly 0.5 2026-09-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6aa9f623775765352292198e/db5c4b24-0677-4a32-bd31-35ef287a7972/IMG_0615+%281%29.JPG Interviews - the key vs. locket / twikipedia interview - New York City is busy and overstimulating, sounds emanating from every direction almost anywhere you go. There’s more people walking in and along the streets than there are cars, but somehow, the few vehicles manage to make more noise than all of the people combined. Surrounded by aromatic restaurants in the middle of Chinatown is the somewhat quieter Columbus Park, a short walk from the subway station I’d come from on a humid day in the latter half of August. This was where 22 year old Laura Almeida had chosen for us to meet, anticipating cool, decently tempered weather for us to sit and talk about her artistry. With me, I’d brought a tiny notebook with my questions spaced out through several of the miniature pages, but a fat drop of rain scared it away only a few moments after I’d sat to wait on one of the concrete bench tables. The ink bled fractionally as I waited for Laura, my eyes idly darting between the gradual drooping of the wet letters, the heavy clouds formulating in the sky, and a group of teenagers tossing a ball back and forth directly over the table I’d chosen. I considered relocating until I saw her walking towards the big statue a few feet away from me, simultaneously sending a message to have me lift my head and intentionally seek her out. It was easy to spot her in contrast to the others in the park, slender and grungy, her hair carefully styled to frame her face. I avoided the rugby-ball passing back and forth as I approached her, and together we decided on the very same bench for the time being. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6aa9f623775765352292198e/3543cb2c-5bfc-45bb-aa2d-57326ca4300a/IMG_0618.JPG Interviews - the key vs. locket / twikipedia interview - Within that vein, she goes on to explain her process of sampling and interpolation to me. “I try to be as least referential as I can be in my music, even though I sample a lot. I don't really want people to think of anyone else when they listen to it,” she expressed. “In the past, I used to sing vocal melodies from my friend's music a lot in, like, 2020. I used to straight up take lines from them or straight up just sing the same things they sung in a song, just because that was the music I was really obsessed with, so it kind of transpired into the stuff I was making. I'm still like that to a degree, but it's not as direct, because I feel like you don't get to be as direct like that when you're, like, 22 years old,” she joked, laughing. “People are gonna be, like, they be grown as fuck, just copying everybody.” She’d trailed off with a shake of her head, still smiling. “But I still do reference a lot of things in my music that the people who listen to the stuff that I'm inspired by will probably recognize, you know? I feel like the comparisons people are going to make on my new album are going to make me happy. I think that people are going to have comparisons that are gonna be like, yeah, that's what I was going for. Because with my last thing, people were kind of just shooting darts everywhere. They were like, ‘oh, this is an Origami Angel rip off.’ I’d never even heard of Origami Angel before then,” she laughed. “I don't know. I'm getting too deep. People are gonna know I read all the reviews.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6aa9f623775765352292198e/8f00866f-624a-4a75-94ae-29a8c7a280b6/kvlll+bajos.jpg Interviews - the key vs. locket / twikipedia interview - Laura admits to me that for her first five years of making music, she was sampling 90% of the time, and that she wished she started learning how to make her own melodies sooner. “Sometimes I'm like, damn, I was 15, 16 years old, making really bad music while people were, like, 12, 13, making crazy music. So I'm just like, fuck. Could have been better, but I'm trying to make up for it by being really good now, hopefully.” Nowadays, she has a less direct process when it comes to sampling. “Sometimes it will be like, I'm playing a game and I hear a song that I like, and I have a really nerdy moment where I'm like, okay, let me look this up on YouTube, download it and make a song on it. But sometimes I'm actively looking for stuff. I'll download a really big playlist of music and have it on standby. Or sometimes I'll wanna sample a really big song, but make it unrecognizable. I've been really into sampling Rihanna lately, but that shit gets you in the most trouble,” she chides. “I'm honestly probably gonna have a really in your face sample in my next rap album. One that’ll get me in trouble. I feel like music that’s careless like that is sometimes really raw, you know?” After a brief pause to formulate a response to my next question, a thick-haired man starts blaring a(n honestly, really impressive) saxophone performance not far from where we sat together, rapidly drowning out her thoughts. In place of words, an exasperated laugh comes from her. “He’s playing the fuck out of that sax.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6aa9f623775765352292198e/0e565063-296f-4897-9c33-bf831377a95a/IMG_0617.JPG Interviews - the key vs. locket / twikipedia interview - She struggles to get the umbrella open for a few moments more, and we’re eventually dragged to our third location, a nearby cafe to escape the apocalypse-esque weather. We make good time, the sky starting to fall down not long after we sat in a tucked away corner and put our orders in. She gets a matcha, to which I express my distaste, and I get a strawberry smoothie. We defrost with an abundance of conversation as we wait, talking extensively about our favorite older games and consoles, Animal Crossing villagers we disliked, and showing each other our favorite songs from the Pokémon soundtrack– hers being the Bicycle Theme from Pokémon Diamond, and mine the Boutique Theme from X. She eventually allows me a look at the tracklist for her upcoming album, and I compliment the album cover as I scroll through. “I've been working on it as soon as I finished my last one, around June 2025. It had a bunch of different names, a bunch of different cover arts, I don't know,” she trailed off, eventually smiling. “I think I'm okay with it now.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6aa9f623775765352292198e/0d220b85-39ae-4a90-92a5-633ec2a83bd2/IMG_0626.jpeg Interviews - the key vs. locket / twikipedia interview - “People take us a little more seriously now, you know? At first, a lot of people were doubtful. I remember in 2020 reading this one guy being like, ‘what are you gonna be doing in 5 years?’ Like, you will be nowhere in 5 years, basically, was what people were telling me. So I don't know, I feel like everybody that I knew would do good, is doing good. That's what I see with my peers. It's interesting to see your friends blow up, especially kuru, recently. It makes me feel like it could really happen whenever. Everybody tells you that you could just blow up one day, you know, but seeing people have a plan and watch it come to fruition is so cool. I think it makes people not only respect the person that blew up, but whoever is around them. So, I don't know, I feel like just producing for people, hanging out with people, being in this whole thing has gotten me some respect. So that's pretty cool.” By the time we reach my final question, I’m worried I’ve started to bore her. At this point, we were nearing the fourth hour of our conversation, but she answered my last question as earnestly as she answered the first. It was simple and generic, what piece of advice would you give anyone aspiring to make music, but she gave it deep thought before replying. “You have to do it for yourself. A lot of people make music thinking they're gonna get something from it, expecting something. I would have been perfectly fine, if music never gave me anything. I would have been a little sad, yeah, but I would have been okay. I still would have continued to make it, because… I don’t know, I like having fun on my computer, I guess. I feel like you have to take risks. Definitely have your influences, but you should know what you like and make it your own. You gotta do something different from everyone else, and it's okay if you don't know what sets you apart at first. If you like music enough, I think it'll come to you naturally,” she suggested honestly. “And be consistent, because if you make it a routine, it becomes easier. Do it as casually as getting up in the morning.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6aa9f623775765352292198e/ab08cc1e-2f25-45a1-ac95-ad06feaec21d/twikids.jpg Interviews - the key vs. locket / twikipedia interview - Interviewed August 20th, 2026 in Manhattan, NYC https://www.miidm.com/home daily 1.0 2026-09-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6aa9f623775765352292198e/a053be40-fe6e-4787-b43f-2860a6a3468f/download.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6aa9f623775765352292198e/951e6ae8-f68e-40dc-a611-7ec8c5c3318f/IMG_0615.JPG https://www.miidm.com/about daily 0.75 2026-09-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6aa9f623775765352292198e/aaaf0b0c-e078-4d01-9b97-cfd058961458/IMG_0565.jpeg https://www.miidm.com/contact daily 0.75 2026-09-16 https://www.miidm.com/gallery daily 0.75 2026-09-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6aa9f623775765352292198e/81b2320c-b300-47dd-a3a8-c5bf22ebec39/IMG_0615.jpeg Gallery Person with dark hair wearing a black hoodie and khaki pants holding an umbrella, making a peace sign with their hand, standing in front of a menu board outside a restaurant at night. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6aa9f623775765352292198e/dc752c22-8d9c-462c-85f0-c7304c252c72/IMG_0616+%281%29.jpeg Gallery A woman holding a large white umbrella standing in front of a restaurant menu display, wearing a black and white graphic shirt and khaki pants. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6aa9f623775765352292198e/569126be-e1cd-48b8-9492-aad8edbaa96a/IMG_0614.jpeg Gallery A woman holding a gray umbrella, standing in front of a restaurant menu board. 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