'some girls get sent flowers, I get sent beats' is what Maiday's email signature says and its for good reason... Maiday is an amazing Artist and songwriter with various hits to her name, including 'Don't Go' by Wretch 32, 'Fade' with Jakwob and 'At My Best' with Machine Gun Kelly and Hailee Stainsfield. Ryan and Maiday explore the reality behind being an artist and songwriter in the music industry and the ins and outs of writing a hit song. We explore how Maiday discovered writing as a child to the moment she achieved her first UK Number 1 with Wretch 32. We exchange tips and tricks on being a creative and handling the pressures of the music industry as an artist and as a songwriter. The focus for this podcast was the writing facet however, Maiday has new music dropping real soon so keep an eye out for it!!! (links below)
**SHOW NOTES**
- Obsession with words started by hearing adult vocabulary
- How Maiday finds melodies to fit lyrics
- There is so much more to writing and producing than the writing and producing…
- Gauging if a collaboration is working or not
- Session hopping, New working environment & team every 2 days
-What you do all the time is HARD, its beyond writing, its ego management, its SELF management
- Not leaving everything in the hands of Management and publishers
- What its like as a writer entering someone elses environment
- How to be candid when something isnt working
- Ryan discusses working with Maiday for the first time
- How you hear music can determine what you gravitate towards as a pro
- Beats vs Lyrics
- First line has to grab you
- Being a slow burner and Leaving work at 25 to pursue songwriting professionaly
- You have to go through some shit to write some shit!
- Comparison is the theif of progress and joy
- Appreciate your successes and your acheivements #smallwins. Being content and definiing your own success
- Releif vs Dissapointment. Writing from experience, whether its happy or sad
- Putting out an ad to work with producers, starting out on MySpace
- A fan contacting BBC 1xtra DJB to play Maidays music and him becoming Maidays manager
- Moving to Birmingham for better opportunities and Taking the leap and Moving to London
- Having a no1 with Wretch 32, ‘Dont Go’
- Producing a demo because there were no producers around. Being restricted forcing her to create a new sound
- Going through dark patches and what went through her head
- What is publishing and what is an advance?
- How Hype can turn into self loathing
- Its always on you as acreative
- The fantasy vs the reality of being ‘in the industry’
- Explaining what you to do your family
- Getting 100% publishing with Girls Aloud
- ‘’Managing the Gaps, the gaps are where the crazy happens’’
- Why working in the creative industries ar a ‘backend’ industry
- Being smart about your finances & not goin ‘publishing shopping’
- Holding onto Money is as important, if not more important than making money
- Waiting to get paid 18 months from a major hit
- Its not all ‘airy fairy’ you got to look after yourself
- Creative Rituals, having nuggets to draw from, notes and melodies
- Why changing your environment changes the way you think and the way you create
- Dealing with writers block
- Having experience and writing with authenticity
- How to know when something is Good
- Being patient with your songs
- Changing the way you hear your work
- Working with young women artists so they feel comfortable opening up
- Unless your song has been released, its not a given that its going to happen
- Saving your self disappointment but holding yourself back from excitement
- If things go wrong, go through it, don’t ignore it, it will follow you unless you look it in the eye and confront it
Links:
https://www.instagram.com/maidaymusic/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiday
https://twitter.com/iammaiday
Maiday singles on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/4qK6oQkDJ2tGgSrjhyTuLL?autoplay=true&v=A
Machine Gun Kelly - At My Best ft. Hailee Steinfeld
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgvbhxb9yk8
Wretch 32 ‘Don’t Go’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj1BMpUnzT8
Jakwob feat Maiday ‘Fade' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHKTQcDfv9A
Songwriting and Production showreel https://soundcloud.com/maidaymusic/sets/maiday-writing-and-production
