Meet Siena Liggins, the Pop Music Fiend Ready to Write 'Songs That You Love to Hate'

“I’m so happy you were down to FaceTime. They were really nervous that you wouldn’t get my humor,” Detroit-based singer Siena Liggins laughs during a call with Billboard Pride, effectively demystifying her team’s comical accusations that she has “resting bitch voice.”

Liggins is hyper-aware of her tone. The lyrics to debut single “Flowerbomb” are dripping with swagger: “I know that she ain’t doing her job/So when she slip up/I pick the shift up/And put in work overtime.” Siena Liggins will steal your girl, no question.

But rather than go all-in, that cockiness is juxtaposed carefully against playful production (courtesy of Nydge) and, now, a sunkissed music video, out today (Aug. 16).

“I want my sound to be provocative, but beautiful -- those are two themes that really drive me,” she tells Billboard. “I like to be really in-your-face, but I also want my sound to be inviting and soft -- lots of tones of femininity, but with that grit of masculinity as well.”

Another facet to Liggins, she’s a pop music fiend. Her favorite lyric from “Flowerbomb” references an icon; “Hit it one more time/Call her Britney Spears,” the singer coos.

“I’ve always wanted to write songs that you love to hate,” she explains. “Now that we have so much access to music, people love to get snobbish about music and be as niche as possible, but I love straight-down-the-middle pop music. Like all of Katy Perry’s top 40 singles -- people hate on them so hard, but there’s a reason they get stuck in your head: it’s clever songwriting.”

With “Flowerbomb,” it’s clear Liggins can write an earworm, and with the help of her team at Assemble Sound, an artist development hub in Detroit’s historic Corktown, her prospects are bright.

“I wrote ‘Flowerbomb’ for me. It was a situation I was in and there was nobody singing a song like that for me,” the singer says. “With my future releases, I hope it always starts with, ‘I need this to sort of fulfill this need of expressing myself.’ And the hope is that people will connect with it.”

Check out the video for “Flowerbomb” below.