Interview: Getting to know Maggie
Norwegian-Serbian singer-songwriter and self-taught producer Maggie has dropped her debut EP, Rainbows & Monsters. We asked her to tell us about herself:
I am… sitting in my living room with an iced latte staring out the window as it’s finally a sunny winter morning in Oslo. I like my mornings to be peaceful and quiet. I spend many hours working with sound so a little piece of mind in the mornings is what gets me to go full blast later throughout the day.
Necklace is… an open diary where I describe the frustration of feeling like the third wheel. A hopeless one-sided crush that I continue to explore, knowing the outcome is not in my favor. I gravitate towards making the listener feel that my music is authentic and a ballad with a simple production yet energetic can make space for the story to be told in a very “in your face” type of way.
Rainbows & Monsters is… a result of how I function. When I’m good, I’m really good, when I’m not good, I dig myself deep. It becomes both heartfelt and dramatic at times. It’s also the perfect description when you combine all the 7 songs together, telling their own story that describes thoughts and different emotions, good and bad.
Home is… a safe space. It’s the place where I challenged my ability to produce, developed my soundscape and where I recorded the whole entire EP. My acoustic piano in my living room is where it usually starts after my morning coffee. It’s a welcoming and comfortable environment which is necessary for my creativity. I’m in the process of building my new studio so my apartment at the moment is a mess, but I can’t wait to see what I’ll be making once it’s done!
I spend too much time… nitpicking. With songwriting especially or when producing music. I enjoy experimenting with sounds – adding certain elements and layers to my productions and keeping it interesting. However that usually puts a stopper for a song to be completed sometimes as I get too caught up and tend to forget to look at the whole song in its entirety. It’s like you’re working on finding that “true magic” and ironically, trying too hard can end in results of losing just that. I’m so aware of it, it’s hilarious, but as I always say; i’m a human under construction.
I’ve never… bungee jumped, which is something I REALLY want to do. I love heights and the natural adrenaline that comes with it.
The last couple of years have been… exciting yet strange at the same time. There’s been so much going on behind the scenes and you really get a taste of how much work and effort you need to put in. There’s all of a sudden all these people involved and decisions that have to be made and when you’re completely new to it, it feels like you’re trying to balance it all on a tightrope. However, I feel I’m learning something new every day and that adds more fuel to the hunger of me achieving my goals.
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Interview by Bobby Townsend.
Keep up to date with Maggie on Insta.
