Posted by Matthew Manarino on Tuesday, October 9, 2012 ? ?
Los Angeles and I have a complicated relationship. From the 24-hour bumper-to-bumper traffic to the constant threat of a failed actor potentially stabbing you, L.A. will ruin the best of days. ?I just love the energy of Los Angeles? is what people who live here tell me. That tired affirmation has somehow become my mantra as speeding bus after speeding bus interrupts my interview with singer/songwriter Mari? Digby. ?So, do you have any favorite ?? I try to ask right before a bus with what sounds like a lawn mower engine squeals to a stop next to us. ?Love the energy, love the energy,? I keep telling myself as my tolerance for L.A. winds down like an ACME dynamite fuse burning in an unfortunate coyote?s hand.
I?ve left the comfort of suburban life to meet with the immensely talented YouTuber turned recording artist Mari? Digby. As our interview gets under way, as much as I hate to admit it, visiting the nightmare town that is Los Angeles seems not as terrible when interviewing Mari?. Making her lasting imprint on YouTube after her cover of ?Umbrella? went viral, Mari??s story of signing to a major label only to leave for something more independent is a joy to hear. Her candid outlook on the music industry and the struggle for any young musician is rare to find, especially from someone who has done their fair share of time in a recording studio.
In between the roars of L.A, buses, I spoke with Mari? about Frank Ocean, moving from YouTube to a label, and reinventing herself as an indie artist.
We have some questions from Twitter with you, so let?s start with those. @WTPSimpleGirl12 asked, ?Do you know or like any specific YouTubers??
Mari? Digby:?Oh yeah, I know Kina [Grannis]. I met Kina several years back. She came to my show, and she handed me her demo CD ? this is way before Kina blew up on YouTube ? and she gave me her demo, and I put it into my car, and I was listening to it, and I thought she was really, really talented. And I like the fact that we are both half-Japanese; it?s sort of like an immediate bond right there being half and half. I love Kina. I think my first subscription was to KevJumba. I think he?s super talented and hilarious. He had a video about like elbow zits which I thought it was funny. Then there was a kid named Charlie. Charlie is so cool ? like have you heard of him? He?s like a British kid, I don?t know if he?s still on YouTube. He?s probably like a millionaire now and probably retired. But yeah, so those are the YouTubers that I like.
@UlyseussG asked, ?What is your inspiration and theme of your new album??
Oh, well last year I lived in the Philippines, and it?s kind of crazy because I was only supposed to be there for two months, but the trip just got extended, extended, extended to the point where I was there pretty much all of 2011, so a lot of the album was influenced by my time there. And I grew up in L.A., I grew up in Santa Monica; it?s a very comfortable, nice way to grow up. To move to the Philippines, Third World country, was I think at first like it was a little bit shocking, because you come into the Philippines and there are like stray animals everywhere, and I?m an animal lover, and I just want to like pick up every single cat and dog and whatever that I see. And babies and children just all over the freeways, no clothes on, and that was definitely culture shock. I think that a lot of foreigners just sort of stop there and go, ?Oh gosh, I can?t deal with that,? whereas I thought it was beautiful, and I think the thing that I love the most, and I?m sorry this is not a snackable answer, but the thing that I love most is that the people that you think have the least reason to be happy or to be enjoying their day, are, and these kids that have nothing would come out when it?s pouring rain. Most people run into their houses and their cars, and these kids come out when it?s raining, and they start playing basketball, and it was beautiful to see. That?s a lot in the album.?
You were mentioning that a lot of people who were tourists in these impoverished areas kind of just see it and tune it out. How did you not tune it out? How did you let yourself embrace it and see it for what it was and feel for these people?
I think that I have always just been fascinated with the things that people don?t typically see as beautiful or pretty. Ever since I was a kind, I just sort of gravitated towards whatever is the opposite of that, and I think my love for it started when I took a trip with my family to Cambodia, and I saw some of the same things, and I was just fascinated at how people living in such horrible conditions with no Medicare, no hospitals, no refrigerators, any kind of electricity, seem way happier than the kids I grew up going to school with, who had six cars and you know, four houses and private airplanes. They are way more miserable than these people, so I think it?s just my head trying to process all those human things that make us human.?
Do you have any dream collaborations?
I?ve been a huge fan of Frank Ocean for like a year now, and he?s been starting to blow up, so I?ve been super happy for him. So good, and I loved his mixtape that he put out before. God, I would love to work with Frank Ocean. I think he?s fantastic.?
What do you think about his recent coming out? Media seems to be making a huge deal about it ? do you think it?s something that should be this huge deal, or do you think it?s just this guy?s sexual preference?
I think that it was made to be way bigger of a deal than it should have been, and I feel bad for him because to me, it was such a beautiful thing that he wrote on his Tumblr, kind of coming out and describing how his first love was a man. And what was sad about it though was I think he was pushed into writing that. I think critics were saying, ?Hey, I think these songs are about a man and not about a woman,? so I feel like he was sort of forced to come out, and it must be such a relief to him to have it out there. I think that it?s such a touchy subject, and I don?t think that it should be, you know what I mean? Like I have a lot of friends who are super, super, super religious, and I love them to death, but we have different views on that, and I just think people should be able to love whoever they want to love. There should be no conscience for it.
Frank Ocean works closely with Odd Future, who are notoriously derogatory towards gay people. Do you believe ? being a musician yourself ? that these guys are just putting up an act to hype their music careers?
I think that when it really comes down to it, maybe it does still bother them. I think that a lot of those words that are derogatory have become so frequently used that sometimes it?s not meant to literally mean ?I hate gay people,? it?s just a different way of saying ?you?re stupid,? which is still wrong. I personally don?t feel comfortable saying a lot of those words, but I don?t think every person that says those words means it in an offensive way.
You had a publishing deal at a record deal before you started going on YouTube. Why did you start putting up songs on YouTube?
Because my album was gathering dust on a shelf at the record label. I got the publishing deal like a year before the record label deal, and I finished my album, and it was done for about six, seven months just literally nothing happening: no music video, no tour, nothing. So I begged my record label to buy me two things: I wanted Final Cut Pro, and I wanted a laptop so I could just make my own music videos with my sister, like whatever we could at home. And they said that I couldn?t have both ? this is like a major record label too, with a lot of money. And so they made me choose one. So I said, ?Okay, I?ll take the laptop.? They were like, ?You don?t need Final Cut Pro. There is a built-in camera, so go to town and do videos on there, and I was like, ?Grrrr.? But I went home and propped it up in my bathroom and reluctantly started posting up on YouTube hoping somebody out there in the internet world would, I don?t know, find it interesting.?
So you started YouTube just kind of based on these special circumstances. It wasn?t your intention to join YouTube ? it was just based on the fact that you only got a laptop with a webcam, basically?
Yeah. Like I didn?t want to do that. I wanted something more pro looking, but in a way it worked out for me that it was organic. It was just in the house with myself, like it was all meant to be, but at the time I was super pissed. I didn?t want to do it.?
Which do you think is better to reach fans with: the raw low-budget look and feel of YouTube or the produced sleek look that comes with professional recording and distribution?
Both. I mean, you know when you have the budget you get to create things that you can?t do when you?re just in your room. You can envision anything, you can make it happen with a budget. But I think that it?s also invaluable to do these just raw, acoustic ? people are craving real musicians, real singers who don?t necessarily need to have loads and loads of autotune or whatever little magic you can do in the studio. You can make anyone sound like they can sing, so I think people really want to see just another person on the other side of the world on their computer just playing a song.?
This is a fictional scenario: between being like a Kayne West-like character who has millions and millions of dollars in production but is completely inaccessible to the public ? we don?t know anything about him, we could never hang out, have a drink with him, because he is so weird and alone.
Yeah, he doesn?t seem like the type of person you would want to really have a hang out with.
Would you rather be that kind with the tons of money and being able to put out these incredibly rated albums, or someone who is just an every-person that can hang out with their fans and can be a voice of the people, but maybe not have the same resources as someone like Kanye West? If you had to choose, where do you think you would be?
I mean, definitely the latter. Even if I wanted to be like Kayne West and be this sort of mysterious figure with just ridiculous amounts of money, and you know, an ego, I couldn?t do that, so there is a place for him though. I like his music, I find him artistic and interesting, and I can kind of put aside his personality and just enjoy the art, but it?s not me.?
Of course. Do you think that kind of eccentricity comes from being an artist? Someone who is a real artist and creating art on the scale of Kanye West, do you think that it comes hand in hand with an eccentric personality?
Yeah, and I think that there is room for all of that. I think that sometimes people want to put someone kind of in a different realm and on a pedestal. They want to have something that is unreachable. They don?t want just all artists to be like me, you know. Just go hang out and talk to me like I?m your next door neighbor. I think that they sometimes like having these sort of Lady Gaga, these not on their same level type of artists to look up to.?
So you did a cover of Rihanna?s ?Umbrella? which to date has 21 million views or something. Did you expect it to have that level of popularity? When you were recording it, did you think, ?This is going to be something that people are going to love,? or did you just record it for fun?
No, I mean there was definitely strategy to everything on YouTube. I feel bad for saying this sometimes, but I didn?t ? to this day, I like doing covers, but it is definitely not my first love. I like writing my own music. I like playing my own, but I put up covers because I knew that if I just put up my own music no one is going to listen to me because no one knows me. But I chose songs that I like to cover. I reluctantly did the covers, but I chose songs that I really liked, and I thought ?Umbrella? was a really clever pop song, so I covered that, and to this day I don?t know why it got the 20 million views. To me it?s not that great, but I?m really grateful.?
When you?re recording YouTube versus recording in a studio, what are the primary differences between the two beside one being a studio and one being in your own home?
You know, I don?t find it to be that different, because in the studio, kind of like YouTube, I don?t like to correct everything. I like to leave some imperfections. YouTube I just usually do it in one take, and if I can do that in a studio that?s always ideal for me to not to like chop up every single little word and phrase, so it?s really not that different. It?s good training actually.?
When you do a cover song, do you think it?s by virtue of the song that people are attracted to it, or do you think it?s your interpretation that make people interested in it?
I think it?s both. You know, if I use ?Umbrella? as an example, that song was a gigantic mega smash, and I think that I had good timing. I put it up like the first time I heard it on the radio, so timing does count, and I think that when people were searching for ?Umbrella,? mine maybe happened to come up in the search. But it was maybe also a fresh take on the song so people liked it. But I feel like it?s so ? YouTube is totally inundated with that now.?
With cover songs?
Yeah.
Yeah, it really is. It?s become a huge market for cover songs. You still do cover songs, so how do you set yourself apart from those thousands and thousands of cover songs that are on YouTube? Do you have basically your own style, or do you approach it kind of differently?
Well, I think what is starting to set me apart now is my videos have remained the same from five years ago. They are not slick, I don?t have nice cameras. I am still doing it exactly the same as before, which is probably not the smartest thing, but I am not tech savy, so it?s just me and my Macbook. I don?t even have an external mic whereas a lot of the new YouTubers, they are super pro. I mean, they?ve got like the recording of the songs already up on YouTube and lights, editing. You know, I don?t have that.
But you know doing that in home recording, there is a certain charm to that where people can really connect with the artist on that level. So, you?ve recorded for indie Records and Asian record labels ? have you seen a difference between the two? What is the primary difference, and would you prefer one over the other?
I have actually yet to be on an indie label. This next album I?m working on right now is my first independent one, and I?m making the album completely independently but I might release it through an indie label that is not my own. I?m not really sure, but my career up until now I was on Hollywood Labels, which is a major, so this is my first indie project.?
How do you like working on an indie project?
I love it so far because there is no one to answer to, whereas if you are on a label, it?s a machine, you know? It?s a well-oiled machine, so they are going, ?Where are the singles? What genre are you? Who is hitting right now that you are kind of like? How are we going to market you?? Like, I still have to kind of think about those things, but it doesn?t restrict me at all.?
Do you think that?s why a lot of artists who start as indie artists lose some of their fanbase when they go mainstream? Do they lose creative freedom when working with major labels?
Oh, for sure. You know, when you?re on a major record label there is so many pros and cons. The pros, they have a lot ? I don?t know about these days ? but they used to have a lot of budget, so you can throw 100 grand on a music video or half a million dollars on your album, but it has to go through so many people, and everybody has an opinion, and there?s this hierarchy. It?s a lot of politics.?
So as an independent you are free to do whatever you want, you really don?t have to answer to anyone. Do you think artists could really have true creativity that way with no hands in it at all? Just your own vision and just you?
Yeah, I think so. Yeah, in a way I feel like I?ve sort of reverted back to when I first started music. I didn?t write music with the intention of putting out albums. I didn?t even have the intention of sharing it with people; it was just for me, so I feel like I?m going back to just making music for me, and I think if I love it then other people will like it too, I hope.
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In that same vein, I don?t know if you?re familiar with it, but YouTube is starting to have these talent agencies, so there is Makers Studio, Big Frame, Full Screen. They?re studios that are basically signing YouTube stars.
I did not know this.
An example would be Makers Studio: they have artists like YouTube comedians, YouTube singers and songwriters, and they?re basically signing them, getting them deals, commercials, and they get them advertising, and it kind of works like a record label. Do you think that that will have the same effect on YouTube artists if they have kind of that same corporate attitude toward their work?
Yeah, I think for sure. Even for me, when I started YouTube there were not so many musicians on there. It was really a open range, and anyone could do whatever, and it wasn?t monetized and commercialized, and there wasn?t much of that, so I think that I?ve sort of lost interest a little bit in all of that, but you know, maybe they?re smart. They are probably making more bucks than I am on YouTube, but I?m just about the music, so but yeah, I?m sure if you signed up with a company they would totally have a say in what you should do so they would profit too.?
Yeah, of course. So when you did ?Breathing Underwater,? it leaked before it came out.
Yeah, like six months before it came out.
What was that like as an artist? It?s this thing that you have been putting your heart into, your soul into, and, in a way, people are stealing it.
It sucks. I mean, I remember telling the label, ?Why do you guys send out albums to like every single DJ in the nation without watermarking these CDs, because it?s going to end up on Ebay the next day. But I also sort of felt like, if it?s a good album and it?s promoted well even after it?s leaked, it will still have a shot. So I don?t think that album sold very well, but I still like it. You know, the leaking could have had something to do with it, I?m not sure, but it?s just a fact of life these days, you know? You send your track to like one ? you don?t even send it ? actually, people can hack into your emails. That was happening all the time in the studio. People, I think a lot of kids just ? we?re in this sort of new time where people think that they should get music for free, that if they pay for it it?s just going to some big corporation, and it?s not even affecting the artist, but it is.?
Is there any truth to that? Was the label looking out for your best interest? If we were buying your album, were you seeing any of the profits from that?
No, I wasn?t, but if I had sold enough, I would, but it would have to sell a lot. But it does still have this trickle effect, because if the album is selling well you get more money to go out and do tours and travel more places to do your tours and better music videos. You get to make another album, but if people just download your CD and you don?t sell any, you?re dropped, that?s it.?
Like you said, we are in this era when people almost feel like they are owed free music and shouldn?t have to pay for it through pirating and torrenting. How do you combat that as an artist? What do you do to make sure that your name is still getting out there, you?re still making a profit, you are still able to support yourself as a musician?
I think that ?all of us kind of have to adapt and accept that that is what?s happening. But at the same time, if you make good music, and you?re passionate about what you do, and you have really loyal fans, you?re going to still sell. But other than that, you have to be able to tour. I mean, I think that as an artist if you can?t hold your own on the stage and put a good show on, it?s not going to really work out for you because touring you can still make some income that way. And videos, merch, and if it works for you in your art you can get endorsements with companies that make sense with your music, so I think that we just have to get more creative because we are not going to be able to live just on selling songs.?
Yeah, absolutely. Some musicians have their album come with behind the scenes stuff as well, stuff that you can?t digitally download. Are you planning on doing that with your next album, some behind the scenes videos and bonus tracks that you can only get on a hard copy?
Yeah, my goal is to put out the regular album with the produced songs, but people, especially my YouTube fans, always want really stripped down acoustic songs, so I want to have a double CD where the other side is just all the songs acoustically so no one can be like, ?It?s over-produced!? It?s like it?s there. That, and then I?m still kind of old school. I know that physical albums don?t really sell anymore but I love holding something in my hand, so I still want to have amazing packaging, beautiful pictures, and yeah, go all out.?
Any vinyl?
Oh, I don?t ? maybe, maybe like a few
In 2010, you had to do a song for Disney, and you did a ?Little Mermaid? song, right?
Yeah, in Japan.?
It was ?Part of Your World,? right?
Yeah, it?s like a trance ?Part of Your World.?
?Little Mermaid? is so cherished by everyone. It?s like everyone?s favorite movie.
I grew up on ?Little Mermaid.? It?s so good I miss that era of Disney movies.
Were you nervous about doing a remake of a beloved song, that people would hate you for tampering with their childhood?
I actually was hoping that no one would hear it.
Why?
I don?t know, because it?s embarrassing but at the same time it was just an offer that kinda came from out of the blue, and I love ?Little Mermaid,? so I wanted to do it. But then I didn?t know that it was going to be a trance song [laughs]. But I don?t know, I think people are okay with it. I think it?s alright. I hope I didn?t butcher the song, ruin anyone?s childhood memories.?
So you did an all-Japanese limited release in Japan. Is there a reason why you wanted to do that?
Well, I?ve always wanted to do a Japanese album because I?m half-Japanese. My parents live in Tokoyo, and Japanese is my first language, so I?ve always wanted to make an album out there. At first, I wanted to do an original CD, but I was making ?Breathing Underwater? at the same time, and it was just too much to handle, so we decided to make it a cover album. And I don?t know that Japanese songs would appeal in any other part of the world ? it might? But Japan is like a bubble, and I think it?s one of the few countries where domestic music makes up like 80 percent or 85 percent of all music sales. International is a little teeny tiny, so I don?t think anyone even thought of releasing it anywhere else.
Did you get a good reception in Japan from it? Did people like it?
Yeah, they liked it, but they actually liked my original, my first album even more. ?Unfold,? yeah.?
You did a web mini series with ?Breathing Underwater.? Is there a reason you wanted to do that? Did you see it as an opportunity to connect more with fans or something like that? Or was it kind of a studio idea?
Well, it?s an idea that was definitely pitched to me, but I thought it was a really good idea. Instead of just doing a music video for one song, the concept was let?s do a movie utilizing every song on the album, and I thought that was a brilliant concept. The actual making of the movie was a little bit disastrous, but it was a good experience. The whole thing was improv.?
How was it disastrous?
Well, I guess enough time has passed now that I can say it, but the people making the movie were nuts.
How so?
I think maybe they didn?t ever listen to my music, or maybe they thought that I was Miley Cyrus or Hilary Duff. I was like 25 or 26 years old at the time, but I think the movie is more intended for a 16-year-old, so we had to do a lot of tweaking. It was just a really hectic. I call it the ?Crazy Movie.? It was just crazy, and I?m surprised that anything turned out from that.
So they were trying to market you as Miley Cyrus? ?As teen pop?
Yeah, like literally it was a war everyday with the people doing the movie. ?Okay, like today we are going to do a water gun scene.? I was like, ?No, that?s not going to really work with this.? [laughs]
Oh my god. That sounds terrible.
?Everybody is going to wear hot shorts, like hot pants, and fight with water guns,? and I was like, ?Oh no. No.??
Did you have any control over it? Could you say, ?I don?t want to do that??
You know, it got so bad where the only card I could use was, ?I?m not going to show up anymore if we do the hot shorts and the water guns.?
So it sounds like you haven?t had the greatest experience with corporate hands. Are you really happy to be doing independent stuff, and are you going to continue to do independent stuff?
I would like to as much as I can. The obvious, biggest challenge is how do you get the funds. You know, if you?re not some super rich person, how do you get the funds to make the album of your dreams, to go on tour. That?s really the only challenge though. Everything else is amazing.?
How important do you think it was to your career that you were able to connect so personally to your fans through YouTube? Do you think that affects your recording artist career, or do you think that?s totally separate?
No, it?s everything to me. I think that the best part about YouTube is the fact that I totally overlooked that it was going to be for my career. I told you I didn?t really want to do YouTube in the beginning ? I started it reluctantly, but what it gave me was this incredible direct connection to the fans and they do not give a ?mmm? if I?m on a major label or if I?m by myself. They just want music, and they want more videos, and that?s what ?s been amazing is there is no middle man, you know? When I was in my home making videos in my bathroom, in my living room, it was just whatever I wanted to do, so that gave me a lot of freedom.?
Right, and YouTube?s a really beautiful format in that way where anyone can do what they want to do. You don?t need a ton of resources; all you need is a Macbook and a webcam, and I think that is such a beautiful format because if you want to make it you can make it. That?s what YouTube is.
It doesn?t matter where you?re from, you can even be like 60 years old from North Dakota in your garage. If you?re good, you?re good, and people will listen.
Do you have a favorite album that you?ve put out on your own? Do you have one that you?re so proud of, and that?s the one that you love above any other album you?ve put out?
I mean, I love all my albums. ?Unfold? did the best, and I?m really happy about that because I was really hands on with that album. We took like a year to make it, and I played a lot of the instruments on it. But I still love ?Breathing Underwater,? which didn?t do so well but was such a beautiful little moment in time. We made the whole thing in like two months. Everything was really condensed, but it was also my time to experiment and see how far I could kind of push myself. But I really think that this album I?m making now is the first album that I?ve truly, truly loved.?
For people who want to be singers, songwriters, do you have any advice for them?
I would say know what you have to offer. For instance, with myself, I am not Whitney Houston. I don?t have a big range, I?m not like a vocal gymnast, but I have a nice tone. People want to listen to my voice, so I try to make them feel something when I sing. I try to pick songs in my range, but if you have a big voice then pick the songs that will fit your voice. Just know who you are. I think it?s just knowing who you are and what you have to offer and what makes you special and unique and exploiting that. And if you are a songwriter, write songs. Write great songs that people want to cry to, fall in love to, laugh to, whatever ? songs that will last.
Follow Mari?:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/MarieDigby
Website: http://www.mariedigbymusic.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mariedigby
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mariedigby
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mariedigby
Photography by Melly Lee
Photo Assistant: Daniel Nguyen
Source: http://newmediarockstars.com/2012/10/marie-digby-singer-songwriter/
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