Inspired #164 - MAY-A
Let us introduce you to Sydney based artist MAY-A, who has just released her track ‘Apricots’. It ticks all the twinkling guitar boxes and explores coming to terms with your sexuality. She took a moment to talk to us about her music and the inspirations behind it.
Who are your top three musical inspirations?
My musical inspirations tend to shift and change a lot, but I do always find myself coming back to Bob Dylan and Lorde, they are both true story tellers in different ways, pure artists and poets and clearly make honest art in a conceptual way. Lil Peep and Dominic Fike are two artists I've gravitated towards heavily recently, both are prolific writers who shine through modern music because they seem as though they are [or were :( ] simply making music to survive, it seemed to come so naturally to them through documentaries I’ve watched explaining their songwriting processes. They created this art because they needed to, for themselves, and I really resonate with and respect that.
Is there a certain film that inspires you?
As cliché as it sounds, I could write a thousand songs about The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It was one of the first films I've remembered myself finding as a teenager and re-watching to make me feel something. Beautiful film that I really connect to. But visually and aesthetically I think everyone should watch Palo Alto, it's just about nothing, really ambiguous and weirdly introspective.
What city do you find the most inspiring?
I haven't been many places around the world but I went to Prague in the winter and it was so calm and slow. There were a lot of people, considering it was Christmas, but it didn't have an intense or stressful atmosphere in the slightest, I just felt like I was actually appreciating life. I'm not sure what made it so inspiring but I wrote a couple songs there sitting on the windowsill hanging out one of the windows in the hostel around midnight.
Who is the most inspiring person to you?
Honestly, I don't tell them enough but my parents. My dad has always continued to impress me with his sketching and I’m pretty sure he's the reason I even picked up a guitar in the first place, and though my Mum isn't super musical she inspires me more and more with her emotional intelligence and her resilience. She's a really strong woman. It's just hard to remember to appreciate those things when they're always right in front of you.
What were your inspirations when writing the track?
I don't think I referenced any songs when writing the track, but I do remember I was listening to a lot of The Neighbourhood. I just needed to get some things off my chest so I was fully focused on writing out how I was feeling while the producer, Robby De Sa, worked on the track and started playing with different guitar parts.
How would you like to inspire people?
I'm not sure that's something I can pinpoint but I just hope people feel heard, understood and included when they listen to my music. I hope they can appreciate and listen to the lyrics and make their own connections. I guess I hope I inspire some other forms of art at the end of the day.