Interview: Maika Rose
Maika is a songwriter originating from Hamburg. She’s bilingual in English and German, equally happy to sing in both languages. Maika’s music is descriptive and warm and envelopes you in the experience of storytelling. The music wraps its arms around you and invites you to experience the emotions of the joys and pains of life. A place to be fragile and understood. It takes you on a journey that is designed to help you feel and interact with the story behind it. Her songs are music to connect to the places in your void.
Maika was influenced at an early age by trailblazing songwriters from Kate Bush to Queen, people who wrote evocative music and were provocative performers. They share with her a sense of bringing a fresh sound that does not fit into the norms, but can still be very mainstream. Maika’s own vocal style is drawn on dynamics, lyrics and a sense of the theatrical. Drawn by the idea that lyrical dance focusses on the lyrics and the storytelling, Maika wanted to bring a video out that brings a different layer to her music. Dance allows her to accentuate things she feels are important and it makes you listen to her music differently. It’s anti the obvious. Lyrical dance follows the music, not the other way around. She’s not here to conform, but to unbox herself and her music, out of the obvious and into the new.
Her Debut Single ‘Your Smile’ is part of an upcoming EP that will be released throughout the year. The EP is an expression of herself, coming to lie comfortably between the realm of Lyrical Pop and Singer-Songwriter, venturing into art-pop and avant-pop. ‘Your Smile’ was released on the 12th of March 2021, and is one of the brighter songs of the EP. Its harmonies and vocals skillfully underline the story of an unrequited love. The adjacent video tells their story through the lens of Lyrical Dance. ‘Your Smile’ takes you on a journey of growth within the story of an unrequited love, leaving you feeling empowered and free, if a bit wistful for what could have been.
Read below to learn more about Maika!
Do you find it easy or hard to reach people in America with your music, being from Germany?
I think there is a general question of how easy or hard it is to reach people anywhere before one comes to answering the specifics of geological location. That having been said, everything is more globalised nowadays, especially in Covid times. I do feel like I have a bigger base in Germany, mainly because I have a network here that I can reach out to and people who tend to prioritise local artists. However, I was in the March issue of the Nashville based Magazine Rock & Roamer, as they were doing a feature on international artists, so I think if I really set my mind to it, I could definitely gain some ground in the USA, seeing as my music is written in English.
Can you tell me a little bit about how you got started in the music industry?
I started out in the music industry when I was 10, mainly in amateur Musical Theatre productions. I moved on to more semi-professional productions in my teens but took a bit of a break to focus on school before going to Uni. I actually studied Contemporary Music Performance at the University of South Wales in Cardiff, UK, and that gave me a good look at how the music industry worked. However, I feel like I didn’t really start as a solo-performer until shortly before Covid hit. I’d been writing songs since starting Uni and when Covid hit and people in the arts were (and still are) forced out of their jobs, I got so frustrated. I thought to myself ‘what can I do?’. The only thing that came to mind was to release my music in the way I’d always wanted to. Thankfully I had some sponsors that helped me make that happen, so I have been fortunate throughout this whole pandemic.
I saw you created a crowdfunding campaign, how did that all start?
When I had finished recording my music and had sent it off to be mastered I still didn’t know where to put my music genre-wise. I knew it was pop, but what type of pop? Every artist has to find where they sit and what they actually want to say with their music and it’s easier to bring that across to people when you have a general idea of where you sit within genres. So I sat there and I thought about it and it just kind of hit me that what I was making was lyrical pop. I focus very strongly on my lyrics, they all tell stories and I very rarely write a song unless I actually have something to say. I’ve been dancing for 5 years now and I just kind of put the two together in my head: lyrical dance videos as my music videos. Dance interprets stories in its own way and I just find the depth they add to a song incredible.
The first video is already out there, I wanted people to be able to see my vision before investing in the next one. Because I spent my last financial resources on the first video, I am now crowdfunding for the next video(s), as I am still planning on releasing my next single before summer.
Can you tell me a little bit about ‘Your smile’ and maybe the meaning behind the song?
'Your Smile is a song about unrequited love. It takes you on a journey of growth within that love and leaves you feeling empowered and free if a bit wistful for what could have been.
It’s about falling in love but also growing to see that that person does not want you and that in the end, you don’t need them to be yourself and to be happy.
I loved your with a twist music video that came out! You talk about expressing deep emotions and just expressing feelings. What is something that you maybe think about or even experienced while making your music that gets you into that feeling?
As for many songwriters, I often write to process something that has happened in my life. So much so, that it sometimes takes me weeks to finish a song because I just haven’t reached that stage in the process of the actual thing I’m living through yet. I like the middle eight of my songs to be something new, something maybe uplifting or showing a different perspective, and how can I give that perspective if I’m not there emotionally yet? I don’t necessarily get into that feeling while writing songs. I write songs because I get that feeling that I need to express myself in a way that’s deeper than what only words could do.
What kind of things when people listen to your music, do you hope they take away from it?
I hope it helps them in some way. I hope they find themselves in it and that maybe it helps them move past a certain situation. It’s sort of like I’ve done the hard work of figuring out how to get past something and I put it into a song to leave a map behind for people to follow so that they have an easier journey.
What more can fans expect this year from you with music? More singles, EP?
I’ve got another single coming out before summer is out and the EP is also coming out this year!
What’s your favorite part of being in the music industry? What do you hope to eventually achieve?
I love the community I’ve found in spaces like Music Women Germany or GBTRS. There’s just something wonderful about having such a supportive community at your back, there’s always someone there who will take an interest and help out when you need it. I think there are great things happening with the Key change initiative as well, and I look forward to a music industry where women are equally as visible as men. I think if we achieve that as a community, we will have done something wonderful and that’s all I really need.
Watch the video for ‘Your smile’ below