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| Photo by: Desiree Cremona |
- Miriam
Year 12 is
such a hectic time, how do you find that balance between your music and study?
I’ve
tried to maintain a balance as much as possible this year; it has been hard,
but I guess I had to get used to it. I try and get the most important things
done and out of the way, so that I do have spare time for myself, away from
school. That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed school this year either, I think
furthering my education is really important, however, I do my best not to
stress too much. I also try not to put too much pressure on myself in terms of
music; I don’t ever think that it has to be ‘work’, despite how much you have
to put in to get results. It gives me the opportunity to escape from any
madness- even so, I don’t make it my only ‘escape’. Leaving the house every
once in a while also gives me some freedom! I’m not superwoman though; I have
many faults too- especially in terms of wasting time. I’ve lost count of how
many TV series I’ve smashed through this year, between watching Gilmore Girls
and Breaking Bad my virtual life is on a roller coaster. I admit, it does set me
behind but I try my best to catch up.
When do you
feel most creative?
I never allocate specific times to make music or
whatever else it might be- for me that would mean to be structured and
organized; two things of which I am unable and unwilling to be. When I write,
it is the complete and honest truth and usually about things I’ve experienced.
If something new happens to me, or I feeling a certain way, I usually want to
write about it. That’s the thing about being a songwriter, you have to tell
stories and to tell these stories you need an imagination. As a songwriter, visiting
this ‘creative world’ is what I love to do best, and it’s the most rewarding
feeling of all. So I guess, I just try to go with the flow and if I feel
inspired, I see what I can come up with and hopefully inspire others as well.
You recently
went back to Los Angeles to record for a third time, what an exciting
opportunity! Tell us about that.
LA is such an exciting place- it’s so lively and
fun! Every second person there is somehow involved in some sort of creative
field- it’s insane and I love it. The city is an eye-opener, but also a breath
of fresh air … Woah… it doesn’t feel that long ago now, but I was introduced to
the music scene overseas, about 3 years ago now. It all started with first ever
program, ‘Hollywood Immersive’, predominantly directed by Lily Dawson, a
casting agent who is now based in LA. She, with the help of vocal and
performance coach, Steven Memel auditioned a bunch of kids- myself included, of
course- for this program that involved, basically introducing young aspiring
artists into the music industry, where they would have the opportunity to meet
with many experienced people in the industry (songwriters, business owners,
producers), and seek advice, regarding everything from song writing to
performing. Being involved in the program granted me the opportunity to work
further with Steven Memel, who is now my mentor, also based in LA. Since then,
Steven and I have been working together on everything you could possibly
imagine- through sessions over Skype! It lead to a second trip to the United
States, where I had the privilege to record two originals and again, have
several meetings with different people who gave me an insight to the business.
This year was my third time going and Steven and I organized some more meetings
and it was through him that I had to opportunity to work with- Richard Harris-
the awesome producer who brought to life, two more of my originals! One of
which will be my debut single/ upcoming video. I have to say, I’ve been so
lucky! Everyone around me is extremely supportive, especially my parents- both
of whom I couldn’t do this without!
What is one piece of advice you will never
forget?
“You just have to do the work”. Everyone that I have ever spoken to has
blatantly said to me that if you’re not ready to do the work, then you’re not
ready at all. And it’s true. There is so much involved, people don’t realize-
and I probably don’t even know half of it yet. There will be many bumps along
the way, but the only choice I have to get through it, is to be determined.
You’re about to release your debut music video for your original song Waterfalls, how would
you describe the experience and what inspired you to write Waterfalls?
I have had this song stored amongst my little
book of songs, for such a long time now. I think I wrote it almost three years
ago? I just thought there was just something really different and unique about
it- it was almost precious to me and I wanted to save it for the perfect
moment. In this song, I tried to capture an adventure- and actually when I first
wrote it, I titled it “Adventure”. I changed the title, because I didn’t want
to be too literal about it and it didn’t sing to well either but anyway ... The
words waterfalls and rainbows just struck me, and I just thought they sounded
so cute and quirky in their own way. After thinking about it a little more, I
just that the words contained so much imagery- like a world full of life and
colour. The lyrics talk about being able to find this place, like a safe haven
of some sort. I hope that when people listen to it- it’s inspiring in some way
and they see some kind of beauty in it, because for me, everyone has their own
waterfalls and rainbows, but it’s a matter of being able to find them. It’s a
little cheesy I guess, but I really liked the idea of opening a world of
adventure
What have
you got planned next?
The video is coming out soon which is
super-duper exciting! Blake Farber, the director, Michael Latham,
cinematographer and Emma Haarburger, the producer did such a great job putting
it all together! The story is absolutely beautiful and of course the rest of
the crew I cannot thank enough for making it look the way it did and making
things run smoothly on set and everything It should be really interesting to
see people’s reaction- which of course I am both nervous and excited for- but I
know there will be extraordinary results. More generally however, I am going to
keep having as much fun with this as possible- writing, writing and more
writing is to come!
Check
out Juliana's music and support her here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julianaofficialmusic?fref=ts
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/juliana-music
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/juliana-music
*Mosaik does not take credit for the images used in this article
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