“In my mind being successful is about being happy and finding peace within yourself. The are many things that we think will make us happy, like money, power, lots of friends around but we forget about the little things, like the journey before the destination.” – @Mari_Jean_Music
Featured on Episode #312 : A.V.A Live Radio Behind The Music with Jacqueline Jax : http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2016/04/06/episode-312-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax
GETTING TO KNOW MARI JEAN
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio
My personal definition of success is..
In my mind being successful is about being happy and finding peace within yourself. The are many things that we think will make us happy, like money, power, lots of friends around but we forget about the little things, like the journey before the destination. So for me success can be as simple as completing my album and all that I learned during the process and looking beyond 😉
My over all goal for my life & career is…
being able to do what I love full time. I believe every single person is brought to this world with a unique set of skills and talents and we all should encourage and develop those skills within ourselves and others. If you really love doing something, stick with it and it will happen.
3 Ways that I challenge myself…
1) Setting up due dates for projects. Art is never finished, only abandoned;) Setting up due dates helps me to complete projects.
2) Doing things that are out of my comfort zone. You learn so much about yourself and it only makes you stronger and more confident.
3) Setting up an alarm to get up early 🙂 I’m a die hard night owl… Waking up early in the morning doesn’t come easy so getting up early helps me get a lot done so that is the pay-off:)
As long as I remember I have always been performing either singing or dancing…
Being a shy kid, performing was my way of expressing myself. As time went on I felt the need to express myself through songwriting. I feel free when I write, writing takes me to beautiful places that I believe make me a better person. Overall I think music chose me, not the other way around.
Music business…
It’s tough as any other business, I guess. You have to be tough, in order to survive. I actually don’t think I am made for it, I’m too sensitive to what other people think and don’t take rejection well, but I love making music and that’s something I can’t change . You just have to stay true to yourself and remember why you are doing it and the skin hopefully will grow thicker with time 🙂
Social media…
It’s definitely a great tool in sharing your music and building your fan base. Especially for independent artists like myself, if not for social media there won’t be many avenues available for promoting your music. So I guess we are lucky that we live in this time in that sense. But that being said there is more competition out there nowadays because of the internet and social media in general. And how you differentiate yourself while staying true to yourself is an interesting and big question:)
Singles vs an album…
Releasing an album is the way we knew about new music in the past. People are used to albums worth of new music being available. It allows for the artist to provide the whole body of work, to say what he/she wants to say and fully express his/herself. I personally love albums and get disappointed when there is no album behind an artists song of which I love. But that being said releasing singles is a great tool if you are an experimental artist. It allows you to get the feedback and then concentrate on a more successful approach.
I would love to have 5 minutes alone with….
Max Martin. He is such a brilliant songwriter/producer and I would love to ask him how and where he gets the inspiration from and many other question relating to songwriting:)
Music trends…
I believe in creating music you love yourself. Trends come and go, but if you stay true to yourself, your music will find its market eventually.
I am most afraid of…
idea of being alone in the middle of the ocean… and deep waters in general. I guess the unknown of what’s below scares me.
How It Feels…
It’s one of my favorite tracks on the album, it’s moody, somewhat heavy but with a nice POP touch. It’s about fragility and vulnerability of when your are in love. You make choices which you think you will probably regret later on, but in the end looking back you think to yourself given the chance you would do it all over again anyway. Because it’s better to fall and know what it’s like, than not to get the taste of it at all and thinking ‘what if’. The bittersweet state of unconditional and overwhelming love…
The song started with me singing the hook ‘Do you know how it feels?’ over and over again. That’s one of my most common ways of writing… I come up with little melodies in my head which then with the help of producers come to life as songs… Usually when I describe this song, I say where east meets west. Tony Cvetkovski, producer I worked with on the album, came up with this Japanese Koto sound as a production element for the song, which I love so much. I think it’s perfect for the song and gives it something you don’t hear very often.
I have always loved POP music…
so my music definitely has a POP sound to it. At the same time it’s very personal. It’s a cocktail of everything that I felt and experienced all these years of writing, while developing and evolving as a person and as an artist.
I live in Sydney at the moment…
It’s a beautiful city, I love it so much. There are lots of talented writers, artists and producers, quite inspirational actually.
There are so many beautiful places in Sydney…
My favorite places are the strip of beaches between Bondi and Coogee & Darling Harbour.
There are many things actually…
I love everything that has to do with universe, new discoveries, possibilities of another life somewhere out there and so forth. It’s very fascinating. I’ve got so many questions, that I’m hoping I’ll get some answers for one day, hopefully in this lifetime 🙂
Social Media:
Website: www.marijean.com
iTunes: http://smarturl.it/restlessheartmj
How It Feels Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWZ058d8zkI
Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/marijean
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marijeanmusic/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_marijean_/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mari_Jean_Music
Tumblr: http://marijeanmusic.tumblr.com/