Last week, I sat down with aspiring teenage musical artist Malu Salomão. We discussed Malu’s two singles “Trust Issues” and “Virgin Lips” as well as her career in music.
I began by questioning Malu about when she started to become interested in music, after which she replied, “I started to sing for fun when I was one year old, according to my mom. I remember always enjoying it a lot and everywhere I went I would ask people if they wanted to hear me sing. When I was around six, my parents started to notice that my voice changed and actually sounded like a nice singing voice, so that’s when I started classes with a vocal coach.”
I then asked, “What inspires you and your sound?” Malu replied, “I grew up listening to a lot of old soul and R&B music, so that is definitely the genre that I connect with the most. My mom always insisted that if I wanted to work with music I needed to have a lot of knowledge about all types of genres. She always made me listen to classics like George Michael, Queen, Alanis Morissette, Prince, Bob Marley, Frank Sinatra, etc. She would always make me try to study and understand what made them all so great so I could learn from them. Therefore, my influences are all over the place. I just make music in the hopes that people will pay attention to the lyrics and will wholeheartedly feel and relate to it.”
“What is your songwriting process like?” I asked Malu. “I have the weirdest songwriting process,” she laughed. Malu resumed, “Some songs just appear in my head out of thin air and other times I have to sit down and take my time. Most of my songs are about exaggerations of things that actually happened while some are completely made-up stories. That is the fun of lyrics for me. I really try to dissect my feelings as much as I can so the song will genuinely express what I want it to and the listener will be able to fully understand the story I want to tell. Sometimes I spend hours just trying to understand my own feelings and finding the best wording or metaphors to fully make them come across the way I need them to.”
“You have two singles out currently, ‘Trust Issues’ and ‘Virgin Lips;’ can you tell me a little bit about what they are about and how you produced them?” I asked. She responded, “’Trust Issues’ was my first single and I released it independently. I would say it is a little more personal because its style and lyrics feel a lot more like myself. I wrote it when I felt very vulnerable and really was looking into myself to try to understand my feelings, but at the same time, I didn’t want the song to be depressing or down at all. I really think it is a song that everyone can relate to because everyone has felt betrayed by someone they trusted at some point.” Malu went on, “’Virgin Lips’ was my first song with a label. This song is definitely personal on a different level,” she laughed. “The fact that I never had ‘anything with anyone’ was definitely something people made fun of, so I just decided to own it and laugh at myself too. The song is a lot more upbeat and really shows the influence that 70s disco music has on me as an artist. My producer and I did that to attract people to that different sound and vibe, so we could potentially get more people to listen to it, not only pop and R&B fans.”
“Can you tell me about what the overall process was like for the ‘Virgin Lips’ music video?” I asked. Malu disclosed, “I never knew recording videos could be so exhausting. I had never been so drained in my life but at the same time I was having so much fun; it was unreal. I wanted the video to be very exaggerated with the vintage costumes and set because to me the song is one big caricature. I wrote this song with the intention of it sounding funky and funny, so I really wanted the music video to have those same vibes. I think the team got that exactly right, and I was so thankful that they let me have so much creative freedom.”
I questioned Malu, “Are you working on any upcoming projects at the moment that you could tell me a bit about?” She answered, “I’m going to be releasing a new song in about a month called ‘is goodbye!’ This one is a lot different than the previous ones. It’s a gorgeous blues and it genuinely touches your soul when you listen to it. I am very proud of this song because out of all the other ones I have recorded, this one truly is the one that demonstrates what I want to sound like as an artist. It is my favorite and my team and I poured our whole hearts into it so I really hope people love it as much as we do.”
“Lastly, what are your goals for the future of your music?” I asked. Malu replied, “I really hope I continue to release music for a long time. I want to keep trying to perfect my sound and my message as an artist because I think that is what makes people want to listen to your music. I hope you guys will like my music and what I have to say so I can live the rest of my life doing what I love.”
Malu continues to dedicate 100 percent of her attention to her craft and proceeds to create songs that encompass herself and her sound. Make sure to check out her songs and stream the “Virgin Lips” music video.
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