INTERVIEW: Aila Chiar is Growing in Her Own Time
**This article originally appeared in our May 2026 issue**
Photos by Elissa Ebersold
“Nobody could have prepared me for the different mental changes that you're going through [at this age].”
As of last month, I’ve officially become a card-carrying member of the mid-twenties club. It’s… odd. You’re the youngest in some rooms, but a respectable “grown up” figure in others; you have your whole life ahead of you, yet need to be capitalizing on these fleeting years with limited responsibilities in order to maximize your potential. In a creative sense, it’s especially daunting. How can you tell if you’re developing at a rate that keeps pace with your peers, while still preventing burnout, while still remaining true to yourself, while still… you get it.
For Aila Chiar, the journey through her early twenties, both artistically and personally, is all about growing in her own time. Over coffee, we discussed what it means to try coming into your own in a time that can feel pretty chaotic.
Within her music, the youthful fervor mixed with mature growth is a thesis statement in itself about this stage of life. As Chiar puts it, “Nobody could have prepared me for the different mental changes that you're going through [at this age]. Then the physical changes, looking and seeing someone different in the mirror. And the emotional changes! I feel like it's all over the place, but very much so fluid.” Anyone listening to her music can feel this authenticity brimming in each word.
The Albany-based hip-hop artist (though to confine her to only one genre is a misnomer) will walk the stage at SUNY New Paltz this month, earning her Bachelor’s degree in Strategic Communications. In between her studies, she’s been hitting stages across the Capital Region and beyond — notably last year’s Tulip Fest, Jive Hive Live this February, and most recently during this year’s Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Awards. Not to mention, she dropped her first record, Self Reflection: A Tainseld Mixtape back in 2024 and still feeds her fans consistently as she drops ridiculously clever freestyles on her social media. A recent flow, titled “Gift Commodification” set to “Birthday Suit Instrumental” by Cosmo Sheldrake, has amassed more than 2,000 comments and over 14,500 reposts on Instagram.
You’d anticipate pressure, fear, or any number of negative emotions that so often coincide with emerging talented artists. But Chiar is astoundingly grounded. “Honestly speaking, I don't [think about it], because it can be very overwhelming. There are times I've found myself stressed out or overwhelmed, especially when I was in school, having your arms pulled in so many different directions.”
Her remedy is often finding tangible ways to be in her element — journaling, dancing, and recently sewing have all brought her joy and stillness. Although, she jokes, none of her clothing designs are ready to leave the house just yet.
While she is able to compartmentalize those thoughts, she’s by no means oblivious to the path in front of her. “When it needs to be thought about, it'll come and I'll be like, ‘Okay, I gotta do this.’ But for the most part, I like to move at my own pace and make sure I'm not rushing anything,” she admits.
Her insistence on taking things in her own time may sound like common sense, but for many young creatives, it can be challenging to find the line between pushing oneself into new opportunities and being taken advantage of. In order to find that line, Chiar believes, you need to be in honest conversation with yourself.
“‘How far am I willing to go? What am I willing to accept? And what am I willing to give? Certain parts of myself?’ And if the answer is no, I'm not doing it. Point blank, period. You always get people saying, ‘You should do this, or you should do that.’ But again, it’s staying rooted and faithful within yourself and in your intuition and what you know you're supposed to be doing.”
This element of patience through the change is incorporated into her work as she experiments with new sounds, beats, and themes. On Self-Reflection, she paints with a wide brush. In the first two songs alone, she tells the tale of mounting social stress and second-guessing on a night out with “FUnCTionNNN,” then delivers a strong thesis on developing into a compassionate, confident adult despite a strained father-daughter relationship on “What ifs? Anywho.”
Chiar has a way of tackling heavier, un-sexy topics that welcomes audiences into conversation rather than lecturing them. For her, music is also a form of activism in addition to creation.
“I definitely touch on a lot of political themes as I feel like everything within itself is political. Even down to what you wear and different statements that people make,” she explains. “I feel like I incorporate it in a very whimsical way. It's digesting the heavy stuff and making it feel not too heavy, but still digestible and being able to sit with it. That's so important to prevent burnout.”
In “Gift Commodication,” she approaches the ills of late-stage capitalism, with whimsical creativity before launching into the track. Meanwhile, in “Caller Number 632,” she presents a tongue-in-cheek interlude where she implores listeners to check in with themselves and “decolonize any parts that need decolonization and imagine the person you would be if you were living in another world.” It’s always direct and engaging, an outstretched hand beckoning the listener into her world — one that could be yours, too, if you’ll open your ears.
While her twenties have been pivotal for her as an artist and a person, she’s not afraid of what’s coming next. In fact, she even quelled some of the fears that I have about losing my own creativity as I age. “It’s something that I'm very open to and almost excited about,” she tells me. “The things that I do know and write about, even the way that I think now, is going to be completely different in the next 10 years. I'm curious. What's going to come up? Who am I going to be? What am I going to like? What am I going to do?”
If her talents, energy, kindness, and overall shining aura tell us anything right now, it’s that, whatever she chooses to do, it’s going to be great.
To keep up with Aila follow her at @ailachiar on Instagram and listen to her music anywhere you can stream.
