If HMong Futures stirred something in you, start here.
Nyob zoo, I’m Pagnia Xiong, a Hmong American recording artist based in Minnesota.
Music has always been the most powerful way for me to express my lived experience as a first-generation Hmong American woman. These three songs are some of the most honest work I’ve ever released. Together, they reflect identity, healing, and what the journey from survival to thriving can sound like in Hmong music.
I’m grateful to be connected to Hmong Futures: The Future of Us, written by Katie Ka Vang. I’m honored to share these songs as a companion to this world premiere, and I hope one of them meets you wherever you are.
“Pagnia Xiong is incomparable […] her voice and presence in both speech and song command every scene she is in.”
— TWIN CITIES AGENDA
I
Txoj Phuam Txoom Suab
"THE HEADDRESS" — A SONG FOR HMONG BRIDES
This one is for every Hmong woman who has stood at the threshold between who she was and who she is becoming. In the Hmong culture, marriage is a beautiful and complicated passage — a woman spiritually leaves her birth family to become part of another. There is so much love in that. And so much quiet loss.
This original song was written to honor both.
II
Mos Txwv
"BULLETS" — ON PAIN, SILENCE, AND HIDDEN GRIEF
Have you ever been hurt by someone you love and later realized they were drowning, too? That the sharp words, the criticism, the distance...were actually tears they didn't know how to cry?
This song came from that ache. The moment you understand someone's cruelty wasn't about you at all and you're left holding both the wound and the compassion at the same time.
III
Sam Thiaj
"STAGE" — ON DREAMS THAT BELONG ONLY TO YOU
I grew up in a family that loved me and was also afraid for me. Choosing music — choosing art — felt like choosing the unknown. And the people who loved me most couldn't always follow me there.
This song is for anyone who has had to walk toward their dream alone, knowing it was theirs and no one else's. Your stage is waiting. It was always yours.
LET’S STAY CONNECTED