Space Interview with Maijah
Welcome to Space Maijah!!
Congratulations on your new single! Let’s begin presenting yourself to our Space Travellers!
Thanks so much! I’m a Pacific Northwest based singer-songwriter! I make pop music as a main genre but I’m super influenced by jazz, R&B, and alternative sounds. I’m super drawn to astrology, space, and sparkly/star-related things so it’s super fitting to be interviewed by Space Sour!
Your latest release “Autumn Vibes” has a very unique sound: where did you take inspiration for making such a stunning tune?
I actually wrote most of “Autumn Vibes” when I was 15 years old! I was a couple months into my sophomore year and feeling the initial back-to-school excitement fade away and get replaced with a dull sort of apathy for the daily routine. As I revisited making a fully produced version of this song this year, I wanted to elevate that sense of playful apathy to a sort of “bored-baddie,” hot and unbothered vibe; like moody yet still alluring. Sleepy siren energy.
Fall is such a witchy time of year and I love to celebrate it through that lens! Musically, when I wrote the song back in 2015 I was really inspired by artists like Amy Winehouse, Lana del Rey, and the Neighbourhood and I definitely think the production style was inspired by those same artists with the addition of some more modern pop stars like Billie Eilish. My “Autumn Vibes” producer Laurentis did such a great job understanding my vision and helping me blend all of those elements together, big shout out to him!
Since your father had a passion for drumming, could you tell us how did it impact your childhood?
My dad’s musicianship and love for music impacted my childhood very heavily. We were super close and I always really admired his passion for music and performing. I was literally always surrounded by music — whether it would be listening/watching his band practice, going to shows, or even just listening to musical conversations. Both he and my mom were always really supportive of my love for singing and writing songs. Style-wise, even though I don’t necessarily write rock music I’m definitely influenced by the percussive elements of my dad’s love for drumming. I love to play with rhythm in terms of my lyrical phrasing and melodies and I’m sure a lot of that comes from my dad.
For those that haven’t heard of you yet, how would you best describe your sound?
I would describe my sound as vocal and lyric-led pop influenced by a variety of genres like jazz, R&B, and alternative music. I really admire powerful female vocalists like Yebba, Amy Winehouse, Ariana Grande, Adele, and Jorja Smith and I love weaving in that influence with an almost dark-pop, cinematic style and interesting, fun lyrics. I’m excited to keep establishing my sound with every release!
When did you start making music?
I really feel like I’ve been singing and writing little songs ever since I was old enough to make noise, but I really started writing songs down with friends when I was six or seven years old, and I wrote my first full song with music when I was ten years old. It’s really been a lifelong thing!
What will be your plans before the year is out? Did you achieve what you have planned for this year?
Without disclosing too much, I’ll tell ya I may or may not have a song or two up my sleeve before the end of 2021… (one of them being a collab I’m very excited about)!
I can confidently say I’ve achieved even more than I was hoping for this year. I’ve been writing, playing, and performing since I can remember but at the beginning of 2021 I was just learning how the actual business of the music industry worked and hadn’t even released anything yet. Now I’ve released three songs, been featured on another and have several more on the way. I’m so excited to go into 2022 having some experience under my belt and hope to continue to release, collab with awesome artists, and perform as often as possible (maybe even go on a little tour)!
How do you want to inspire your listeners through your music?
This is huge for me! I write a lot of music to directly empower my listeners; I’m a pretty spiritual person and weave a lot of manifestation and affirmation tools into my songs. I want every single person who hears my music to feel like they are loved and are understood. I love to hype my listeners up and preach confidence, self-love and baddie-behavior and directly inspire people to be their true authentic selves.
On the flip side, I myself also deal with a lot of mental health struggles and have experience with trauma and grief and I really value music that can be relatable to those parts of life as well. Having your experiences or your pain put into words through music is huge, so if I can do that for someone too I think it would be a great accomplishment. Whether it’s empowering and inspiring my listeners to feel like their best selves, or if it’s holding space/relating to a time when someone is feeling lower or going through something hard, inspiring my listeners through music is one of my main goals for writing.
This is a question we ask any artist every time: If you had a time machine, in which era would you travel and which kind of music would you bring with you in the past?
This is a hard question! I think it would be cool to go to a late ‘40s-early ‘50s jazz scene and show everyone artists like Amy Winehouse, Joy Crookes, Sabrina Claudio, even, like, Jorja Smith and Sza. I just think it’s really awesome how genres have begun to blend together in the current times!
What is the last thing you would like to say to our Space Travellers?
Huge thank you to everyone who’s read this far and to anyone who has listened to any of my music! Lastly, if anyone reading is looking for a sign to follow your dreams: here it is!
ARTIST LINKS:
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/maijahmusic/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/maijahmusic
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj2GNPtegT0
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2y8pJFA0H4yB8ABmfpvXr5?si=dC8k7kTSSMSnpiw_QCroig&dl_branch=1&nd=1
WEBSITE: https://www.maijahmusic.com/
