After a very long and tricky winter, we are finally starting to see some warm and sunny weather here in Toronto. With only the slight taste of what it's like to have the sun on my skin again, I am already itching to spend my weekends laid out on my deck and driving on the roads with my windows down, allowing the fresh summer air to fill my car. With June right around the corner, the month of anticipated exciting releases such as Kanye, Drake, and Nas, I have my summer 2k18 playlist beginning to form. I usually fill it with upbeat singles that I can dance to and belt out alone or with friends in my car but this year I have found something a little different than my usual summer vibe. For the mellow, warm, night-drives I have found your perfect summer nights playlist and it comes in the form of an EP.

 

With her debut EP Sideline 4 out today, Majo wins this week’s special edition in-depth review. This week’s review will not only include the usual album-as-a-whole analysis but I have also done a song-by-song breakdown. In addition, I caught up with the artist to talk to her about her journey as a singer, her insights on the album and her experiences that brought it all together.

 

Jaide: “How did you first get interested in singing and music?”

Majo: “I honestly don’t remember the very first time I started to sing but I do remember singing in my school choirs and being the loudest one, having no shame, and belting Christmas tunes like nobody’s business. Then I started auditioning for things, singing covers, learning instruments and falling in love with music. It was a solace in many points of my life then and onwards.”

 

J: “What made you start taking it seriously/thinking about it as a career path?”

M: “Up to this past October, I thought I was going to be attending university next year at UofT’s school of business. I even sat in math class and planned to tear my hair out for the next two semesters trying to understand calculus and functions so I could get into their program. But when I participated in a competition called “The Shot” in September, I realized, and quite frankly my entire family realized, that I wouldn’t be so successful or happy for the next few years if I decided to go there for that program. After placing in the top 10 out of the 400 participants, learning from so many people, and experiencing so many amazing things, I realized that it was time that I start to think about singing seriously. That experience really brought out the drive and confidence in me that pushed me to pursue music and really appreciate the talent that I have. “

 

J: “What was the hardest thing you had to do to get yourself to where you are now?”

M: “Being confident in my talent and my abilities. It was so easy to compare myself to other artists, and even musicians who I think surpass me in so many different ways. I didn’t think that I would be able to match up to their talent. But it took them a long time to get where they are, and I am still young. This is my time to make mistakes, experiment, and really try to find my style.”

 

J: “Who are your musical influences?”

M: “I immediately realized as I was watching one of Matt Corby’s live performance videos that he would be my first and most precious musical influence. I’ve definitely learned to appreciate soul and the capabilities of my voice more. After that, I started to delve into artists that were past the surface of radio music. This ultimately led to James Blake, Nick Hakim, The Neighbourhood, Daniel Caesar and Frank Ocean. These are artists who influence me melody-wise, the people who push me to find rare melodies and interesting things for my audience to get caught on and push their ideas about music more. My influence when it comes to lyrical content teeters between the storytelling of Hozier and the much more straightforward lines of Kevin Garrett. Because I want to leave my lyrics a bit more open to interpretation, I lean towards using metaphors so they can describe a feeling more than a specific scene or situation. But I do like to be straight-to-the-point at times to get a clear message across.”

 

J: “Who inspires you?”

M: “I would say that I am inspired by a lot of different people every day for different reasons. My biggest inspirations in music are artists that are humble, honest, and most appreciative of their fan base. Matt Corby is a huge inspiration for that, and after attending one of his concerts and meeting him afterward, I can say that he is a perfect role model in that area. Everyone I listed in my influences also inspires me to be a better lyricist, singer, and artist in general. Of course, I have to mention the main team that led me through this process with pretty unwavering confidence. We had some intense days and seeing their faith in me really inspired me to push myself to my potential. It’s actually ridiculous how many times they’ve pulled me up from some bad days.”

 

J: “How do you see your future in music?”

M: “I think I’m really just starting, but I can feel an amazing journey coming my way. I’m already working on the next project and I’m so insanely excited to look back on this project and be proud of the progress I’ve made since it's release. I just want to keep growing and learning and hopefully, I’m able to produce some more great projects and albums for people to love.”

 

J: “How would you describe your album to someone who hasn’t listened to it?”

M: “'Hey, kids can make decent music sometimes.' To be honest, I wouldn’t be able to accurately describe the album without roasting myself in some form or the other. But I would describe my album as something you could jam to at nighttime, when you’re alone, and with your thoughts. It’s really an experience, a story even, and sitting with it and letting it tell the story is the best way to understand and appreciate the entire body of work.

 

J: “Explain to me the album title: Sideline 4”

M: “Sideline 4 is the name of the street that I lived on when I wrote a majority of these songs from the ages of 14-16. My old neighbourhood was insanely beautiful and I miss it a lot. I definitely regret not enjoying that place more, but I got some pretty great songs during that time, so I’m happy it served as inspiration for my work.”

 

J: “What journey are you going through on this album?”

M: “It is very much a journey of self-realization and purpose. Every song covers one frustration or issue that I had in my life at the time when I wrote them, and when we put them in that order, we realized that it transitioned into a story of triumph with Ready to Let being the finishing original track. I was also going through a real-life transformation, deciding what type of person I wanted to be to my audience, what ideas and perspectives I had to offer for all of my future projects and just figuring my life out in general. So when I look back at this project, I understand the journey I was going through whilst trying to create and produce these tracks, but also the journey I was going through when I wrote the songs.”

 

J: “What impression are you hoping to leave on your listeners through this project?”

M: “I am hoping that through this project, my listeners get a taste of what I have to offer and what I hope to bring to them in the future. I am just starting to find my voice and style, and because of this, they get to see me navigating both through my life and music in this project. I hope they love my music enough to come along on this journey with me.”

 

I love how much personality and humility Majo has when she speaks about her music and her story. These same characteristics show through her lyrics on this project. As a whole, this album feels calm and inviting. I am instantly relaxed when it begins to play right until the end. Often in these kinds of chilled-out albums, I find that the songs all tend to sound the same or there is very little difference in production from one song to the next. This is not the case for this EP. By keeping it short Majo and her producers were able to add exactly the right amount of diversity without creating a random mixing bowl of music and maintain unity throughout.

 

The first song on the EP is called Hollow. Majo’s journey begins with a smooth and easy start. The song features a prominent guitar line all the way through and a consistent drum beat. There's not a lot of instruments in this song which makes the sound feel not completely full. This works perfectly for this song since the singer talks about feeling hollow. The lyrics and meaning of this song go hand-in-hand with the production. If this was done intentionally, it was very cleverly-crafted.  Majo told me that Hollow is her favourite song in the EP and when I asked her why she responded:

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M: "It was the first “real” song that I made at the tender age of 14. I say real because my music teacher most probably can, and will, expose my previous two singles 'Dance Till We Die' and 'Losing My Mind' sometime in the future. But I am definitely very proud to see what an amazing product “Hollow” has turned into. I was super close to refusing to put it on the project because I’ve known it for so long and got sick of it. Fortunately, the almighty and wise Tim Owens, told me I was being stupid and that it was a great song. He was right and my producer (Jason Amos) seemed to think so as well. So here it is, the first song on the album and now my favourite off of the EP."

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The second song on the EP is Late Night TV. This song is my personal favourite from the album. It's the most fun to sing along to. Since I am trying to learn the bass right now, I also appreciate the bass line of this song. It's not simple at all and yet does not overpower the rest of the production which is actually very simple in contrast. It significantly contributes to bringing up the excitement of the song in an undercover way. I asked the singer about the inspiration for this song and she gave me a surprising answer.

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J: "What situation, or who, brought about the idea for Late Night TV. It seems to be about a boy due to the lyric 'because you're like late night'."

M: "You see, you’d think Late Night T.V would be about a guy. But actually it's really not. I consider music a relationship that I have in my life, exactly how I would feel as if I had a significant other. So, Late Night T.V is about the way I write a lot of my songs. I have a tendency to write and produce ideas for a lot of my songs at night. I had written down this imagery of my song writing process, where my ideas were like the sound of static coming from a T.V, and because my thoughts are so loud and intrusive, I decide to get up and follow these thoughts until I can write song lyrics for them (or begin to watch Late Night T.V)."

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Too soon's place in the EP reminds me of the way that Runaway plays a role in Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. It almost feels like an interactive intermission. It's longer than the other songs on the album and it slows down compared to the previous tracks. It's the climax of the album before the plot is resolved. The production on this song is even more laid back than the previous tracks as well. The first half of the song is pretty much just percussion and very low synthesizer with guitar coming in the chorus and in a few pauses in the lyrics. The second half is again mostly percussion with low synthesizer in the background but is even calmer than the first half. Too soon wasn't originally as long as it is on the final project. The artist extended the song to reflect her most recent experiences whereas the first half was inspired by older events. 

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M: "I realized that the meaning behind those words (too soon) had changed for me. I started drawing inspiration from a situation in my life that I was going through at that moment and I wrote the second part to show both sides. The first part talks about the feeling of doubt in a relationship and being scared to commit. You know why you should love them, but when you’re not physically with them, you don’t know if they’re the right person.  The second part of Too Soon is about meeting someone who you think could be great for you, but you know that its not the right time. You can see a glimpse of who they could grow into, but there are bigger factors that stop you from pursuing anything at that moment."

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That confusion is all too familiar to me. I think Too Soon is widely relatable to any audience in a variety of situations. The final song in the story is Ready to Let. In this song Majo is finally releasing the things that have been holding her back. This song is definitely a close second favourite for me. The production really portrays the feeling of release that the lyrics talk about. The upbeat style is the perfect juxtaposition to the previous song, too soon where the artist is battling inner conflict. I cannot write about this track without mentioning the best and most perfect 3 seconds on the entire album. I am  talking about the start of the second verse where she sings 'I'm soaring new heights' and is oh-so-amazingly accompanied by the bass with a pause in the rest of the instruments. I have no words. Congratulations to the producer, Jason Amos, and bassist Jeremy John on this one, the bass and production on this song are flawless. Returning to the meaning of the song, I asked Majo what was the main message she was trying to share with listeners on this track.

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J: "What is the message you are trying to convey on Ready to Let?"

M: "Ready to Let is pretty message-heavy. It basically started with me being frustrated with the way people acted in high school. As I grew as a performer and musician, I began to notice that when you’re in high school, it kind of becomes a bubble. You believe that there’s nothing outside of it and that the people inside of it are the only people you should be with and strive to look up to and this results in very little, if any, personal growth. But that’s the point of life; to grow, and change as your experiences shape you. When I went out for competitions and performances, I met a huge variety of people. I learned from their actions, opinions, ideas, and even learned from their mistakes. I started to feel weighed down by [peers’] opinions, and this song was a result of that. I needed to decide that I was ready and able to let go of their opinions and that I knew I had bigger things in life to achieve and strive for. Most of all, I wanted to let my audience realize that change is good, change should be welcomed and that there is so much knowledge in the world around you if you just put yourself out there and start living your life for yourself and not others."

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The fifth track on the EP is more of a bonus track. It's not part of the original story but is still significant to the artist and the theme that runs throughout the other four songs. Love is a losing game is a cover of the song originally written and performed by Amy Winehouse. Other than the song title and lyrics though, it is unrecognizable to the original version. The production is completely different including different instruments (this version only has one), different rhythm and slowed-down and slightly altered melody. This song ties up the EP in a nice bow instead of ending on the exciting note of Ready to Let. Since it is sad in nature, it leaves us with a final thought to ponder: is love a losing game?

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J: "Why is love a losing game?"

M: "Oh boy, all I can say is that my encounters with love up until this point have been awfully interesting. I have never been in a relationship in my 17 years and that can seem pretty weird to people. My producer would say that I have commitment issues but don’t listen to him. Basically, that cover came about because I loved the song so much, and then I decided to change the lyrics in a way where I’m kind of mixed out of the equation. Instead of saying that we both fell in love, I turned it into a situation where the guy fell and I was telling him that when it comes to me, love is mostly likely a losing game. For me, it’s really hard to commit or have romantic feelings for a person if I don’t understand and love certain important aspects about them. I want to be able to respect/understand them on so many more levels before trying to allow them into my life and my thoughts, feelings, perspectives etc. Unfortunately for me, that person hasn’t come into my life yet."

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Overall I rate this album a 4 out of 5. If I gave half-stars I would give it a 4.5 but fullness in production is missing for me. I would have liked to hear more instruments, background vocals, etcetera than I did. The vocal control displayed by the artist also served as her greatest strength but also a minor weakness. Her runs are smooth and clear every time but I would have liked to hear her do other vocal acrobatics such as hitting and holding a ridiculous note (for example). Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed the EP from top to bottom. The order of the songs makes sense musically and lyrically which is something I have grown to really look for in the flow of an album. The production in each song is different enough that the album isn't boring but similar enough that each song is well-laced with the songs around it. The ending permits a feeling of completeness and the beginning launches you right into the album without being sudden. I would recommend this album to anyone who likes alternative, or even pop, music or is looking for a unique sound to relax to. I know this will be playing in my car and in my solo moments in my room all summer long and I am ecstatic to hear what Majo has in store in her sure-to-be-bright future.

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