Exclusive: Interview with Maike - CelebMix

Maike is a song-songwriter based in London. She writes commercial pop music and aims to deliver songs that people can connect with and sing along. Adopting the technique of storytelling, Maike induces catchy melodies in her tracks to draw attention of her listeners. Being an artist who knows what it takes to grab the limelight, she is working hard to stand out and create an unique identity for herself.

On 3rd August, she released her new single titled “Paradise”. Post release, she talked to CelebMix about the single, its conceptualisation and the future tracks. Check out the complete interview below:

Please introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello “Celebmix” readers, thanks a lot for reading through this interview :) My name is Maike and I’m a London based singer-songwriter, writing commercial pop music.
Today I released my third single and have a lot prepared for the future.

How did your journey as an artist begin?

I started off doing musical theatre. Having learned a big amount of my skill set from that experience I decided to take it further and write my own stuff, move to the USA and make it happen. I knew my home country Germany didn’t offer me the platform I needed and work with the people I wanted to work with. I also always had a very strong attraction to mainstream pop and annoying hooky melodies (as my dad always says) so it wasn’t that surprising I would end up doing “something” in the pop music industry.

How do you perceive your art?

hmm, I would say that I’m in general very observation and imaginative and like to write down my experiences and thoughts. After this happened and I’ve got a pool of handwritten material in turn it into art and do cool things with those pieces :)

Considering that you are a singer/songwriter
working on commercial pop music, how do place yourself in the industry (in terms of visibility and opportunities)?

It’s a tough question as a lot of those placements are not in my hands. You have to be very persistent and observing to make sure the right people recognize. In my particular genre, it’s also even more tricky as you immediately compete with the biggest artists out there, so I personally found it harder to make your way through, than In a more niche focused genre. Regardless, I’m getting closer and closer and don’t give up till I’m exactly where I see my music going. No doubt!!

Do you have any idol who you look up to?

Yes, for sure! I’m very influenced by American pop music in general and think that Sia, Lorde, Lana del Rey and Tori Kelly have had their influence in my music for sure. The main person I look up to would be Taylor Swift though as I don’t know any artist who combines relatable, storytelling and clever lyrics with simple and hooky melodies everyone can sing along, paired with huge music production. That’s what I am trying to achieve in my music also, but in my own unique way.

Congratulations for “Paradise”. Please tell our readers a bit about the single.

the single was actually written 3 years ago and I didn’t plan to make it a single release at that time at all. My friends from back home did remember the main chorus Melodie of this song really well and always told me to dig it back out and do something with it. So yes so it happened that I rewrote quite a few bits and met with my producer and decided to make it my next release :)

Your last two singles had catchy melodies and thought-provoking narratives. How different or similar “Paradise” is, in comparison to the other two tracks?

I think stylistically they’re very similar, I developed my own vocabulary and images when I write and think that it certainly comes through when hearing them all together. I also aim for that as it’s important to create a signature sound to separate yourself from other artists.

We would love to know the creative process that went behind creating the song.

I tend to write about experiences in my personal life and in this song I’m referring to a relationship that was doomed to fail and from the very beginning. I was able to observe myself quite well while I totally went for it and allowed to get carried in directions I knew were wrong. I wrote all of it down and wanted to capture it in a song. In hindsight, it was still a very beautiful and exciting chapter of my life even though I knew I would pay for it in the end.

The song will be releasing tomorrow. How excited are you? What kind of response are you expecting from the listeners?

With this release I’m surprisingly very relaxed. I love the song and am very aware of what along process the song went through to sound like it does now and when I know something I created is great and exactly the way I wanted it to be it calms me down, which happened here I guess. I am of course very excited to see how the listeners and my friends like the song and can’t wait for the next days.

As a musician, what are the things that you’d like to experiment with in the future?

I would like to collaborate with different producers and writers as working with different musicians triggers new things and brings things to the surface you didn’t know were there. I’m also looking into getting back to the states for new writing session and collaborations as I always feel most happy and creative when I’m there.

Would you like to share with us your future projects or endeavors?

I have two more singles lined up for the next months to come and am very excited about a Halloween release that’s gonna drop on the 31st called “Ghosttown”. We already plan the music video for this song which is super cool and spooky.

Share your thoughts about the single via tweet @CelebMix.

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