For global pop artist Paris WYA, creative growth lives in the space between deep reflection and constant movement. From the digital-pop landscapes of her earlier projects “UNTANGLED” and “GLITCH” to the organic intimacy of her latest EP “MANNEQUIN,” the trilingual singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist has consistently expanded the boundaries of her sound. Shaped by a childhood spent navigating Shanghai, Paris, and New York, and honed while forging her own path out of Cornell University, her work blends a cinematic, global perspective with striking high-fashion visual art alongside duo Domen & Van De Velde.
Paris WYA returns to “Treat Me Right,” one of the heartbreak-centered songs from her latest EP “MANNEQUIN,” with a new remix by Paris-born, London-based DJ and producer LAWRENT. His interpretation takes the song into more euphoric, dance-driven territory while preserving the emotional core of the original.
Below, Paris WYA opens up about hearing her vulnerability reshaped into relief, shifting toward acoustic textures with producers Adrian Cota and Morgan Taylor Reid, leaving behind predetermined blueprints, and building an immersive pop world.
You’ve said that “Treat Me Right” came from a place of heartbreak, while the LAWRENT remix feels more euphoric and liberated. What was it like emotionally to hear such a vulnerable, diaristic song transformed into a euphoric, weightless dance anthem, and what did his production bring out in the song that you hadn’t heard in the original?
Honestly, it was kind of disorienting in the best way. “Treat Me Right” came from such a specific, private place, so hearing it turn into something people could lose themselves to on a dance floor felt like watching the song grow up without me.
What LAWRENT brought out was this sense of release. The original holds the hurt close and his version lets it go. He found the euphoria buried underneath the ache, the part of heartbreak that’s actually relief when something painful finally starts to lift. I don’t think I heard that in my own song until he showed it to me.
It gave the song a second life, not as a replacement for the original feeling, but as what comes after it.
How involved were you in the creative process behind the remix, and what was the collaboration with LAWRENT like?
I already loved LAWRENT’s work and knew I wanted to hear what “Treat Me Right” could become through his lens, so I wanted to give him the freedom to run with it. When he sent the first version back, it felt like he’d found a completely different energy inside the song. From there, we shaped the final version together.
That’s what makes a remix exciting to me. You hand something you know intimately to someone who hears it completely differently. There’s a lot of trust in that, and I love getting back something I never would have made on my own.
You’ve described the remix as “what comes after” heartbreak. What does that stage of moving forward mean to you creatively?
I think heartbreak can be strangely easy to write about because the emotion is so immediate. Moving forward is different because it asks another question: who are you when the thing that consumed you doesn’t anymore?
Creatively, I’ve been really drawn to that space lately. There’s freedom in realizing you can carry something with you without letting it define you. It’s less about forgetting what happened and more about becoming curious about what comes next. I think that’s where a lot of my music is naturally heading now.
With this being the second release in your ongoing remix series, following the “Dawty” remix, what are you hoping audiences discover about your music through these different interpretations?
I love the idea that a song can live multiple lives and still feel completely true to itself. I think artists should be allowed that same freedom.
I want a clear thread running through everything I do, but I never want it to feel predictable. You should be able to recognize the world of Paris WYA and still be surprised by where it takes you next.
Looking back at “UNTANGLED” and “GLITCH,” those projects leaned heavily into digital pop. What drove your shift toward the more acoustic textures, ethereal arrangements, and raw lyricism we hear on “MANNEQUIN” with producers like Adrian Cota and Morgan Taylor Reid?
UNTANGLED and GLITCH came from a period when I was still figuring out what I wanted my voice to be. I was experimenting, discovering myself as an artist through the process.
By the time I got to MANNEQUIN, I wanted to be heard differently. I wanted the songwriting and emotion at the center, which naturally led me toward organic textures and arrangements that gave the songs room to breathe. Working with Adrian and Morgan let me explore that vulnerability, and MANNEQUIN felt like getting closer to the core of who I am as an artist.
Looking at everything you’ve explored so far, what feels most different about the artist you are today compared with the one who created “UNTANGLED” in 2024?
The biggest difference is that the music comes first now. I’ve become much more protective of the music itself and much clearer about why I’m doing this. I want to make songs I’d still believe in if you stripped away the visuals, the rollout, and everything surrounding them.
I love all the world-building that comes with being an artist, but it has to start with something real at the center. The further I go in this industry, the more important it becomes to come back to the reason I fell in love with music in the first place.
Having lived in Shanghai, Paris, and New York, and being trilingual, you have a truly global perspective. How do the distinct energies of these three cities manifest in the immersive pop worlds you build in your music?
Growing up between different cities meant I was constantly absorbing different ideas of beauty, ambition, culture, and even what it meant to belong somewhere. Shanghai gave me a sense of energy and scale. Paris taught me to notice beauty and romanticize the everyday. New York taught me to dream bigger and keep moving.
All of those influences exist somewhere in the worlds I build. I’m drawn to things that feel cinematic, beautiful, and larger than life, but never like they belong entirely to one place. Global pop has always felt natural to me because that’s how I’ve experienced the world. I grew up moving between worlds, so now I get to build one of my own.
Your collaborations with Domen & Van De Velde have helped establish a cohesive visual world around your music. What role does fashion play in communicating something about your music that the songs themselves cannot?
Music lets me be incredibly intimate, while fashion lets me make that inner world larger than life. It takes something internal and makes it visible in a way sound alone can’t.
That’s something Domen & Van De Velde and I have really explored together. We’re not just dressing a song; we’re building the mythology around it. I love the idea that someone could see an image from an era and understand the world I’m building before they’ve heard a single note.
You recently graduated from Cornell University while simultaneously building your music career. How did navigating that demanding academic environment influence your creative process, your work ethic, or the themes of self-perception and clarity you write about?
The hardest part actually wasn’t balancing music with academics. Music has always been a big part of my life, even when it looked very different from what it does now. Of course there were trade-offs. I couldn’t do everything, so I had to get really clear about where I wanted to put my time and energy. But the harder part was doing something that looked completely different from what most people around me were doing.
I was majoring in hotel administration at Cornell, which is a very finance-focused, pre-professional program, and I was building toward a career in that world. I started Paris WYA the summer before my junior year, so making that 180 while still on that track was pretty jarring. I was surrounded by people following very defined paths, and suddenly I was choosing one that didn’t come with a blueprint. At first, that made me incredibly insecure. It felt like I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing, even though somewhere underneath that, I knew it was what I had to do.
Ironically, music probably made me a better student. I became incredibly efficient because I wanted to finish my work so I could get back to what I was really passionate about. And I genuinely loved being at Cornell. I love learning and absorbing information, and that curiosity still feeds into how I approach music now. More than anything, that period taught me how to keep choosing something I believed in even when the people around me couldn’t yet see where it was going.
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