Miist enters 2026 with momentum few independent artists achieve and with a plan that pushes beyond traditional metrics. After becoming the first native Chinese artist to chart in Billboard’s Top 25 Pop/AC category and earning the No. 1 Indie Billboard AC song in the U.S., she is now shifting focus toward a year-long creative framework called The Love Project.
The initiative is anchored by the upcoming single “Love Will Show Us the Way,” arriving this spring and co-written with Mauro Malavasi, whose songwriting and production credits include Andrea Bocelli’s Romanza. While the collaboration alone signals a notable industry pairing, Miist’s approach to the release is intentionally unconventional.
Rather than positioning the song through high-gloss visuals or exclusive premieres, Miist has opened the accompanying video to fan submissions. Listeners are invited to
contribute short clips capturing small acts of kindness in their daily lives, with selected footage incorporated into the final edit. The result reframes the release as a collective statement rather than a singular performance.
This participatory strategy reflects how Miist has built her audience to date. Her 2025 global project “
Could You Lend Me a Smile” began as a response to a real-world tragedy and evolved into a multilingual collaboration released in 16 languages across five continents. The project brought together artists with more than 60 combined GRAMMY wins and nominations and reached millions of viewers worldwide.
As awards season approaches, Miist continues to blur the line between artist and audience. For the second consecutive year, she is
giving away two guest tickets to the GRAMMY Awards to fans who share personal stories explaining why the experience would matter to them. The gesture echoes her broader emphasis on access as emotional rather than professional. “Connection matters more than status,” she has said when describing the initiative.
Parallel to her music career, Miist has built a significant presence in the mental health space. Her podcast, Make Me Smile with
Miist, ranks among the Top 10 mental health podcasts in the U.S. and centers on a practical framework she calls “15-second actions.” Each episode closes with a small, immediate step listeners can take, reinforcing the idea that engagement does not require transformation.
Later this year, those ideas will expand into a book that translates the podcast’s structure into short, music-integrated chapters. The format is designed to meet readers where they are, offering reflection without long-form commitment.
For an artist with chart success already on record, Miist’s next phase is defined less by upward trajectory than by intentional scope. The Love Project connects music, storytelling, and audience participation into a single ecosystem, signaling a model that values depth alongside reach.
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YouTubePhoto credit: Andrew Ficke
