Maijah Captures The Magic Of Sound With Her New 2-Track EP Release
Intro:
Maijah is today’s interview artist, hailing from Los Angeles & is a master of her craft. Fans have been loving her 2 new tracks “Sinking” & “Floating” that were released yesterday. One of her goals, which these singles accomplish, is for listeners to truly connect & get immersed in the feeling/subject of each track. While dealing with topics like mental health, both songs pair perfectly with each other to create a sonic loop. Before reading our brief conversation, make sure you check out this new Maijah EP below.
Me: How would you describe your creative process while making both “Sinking” & “Floating”?
Maijah: It was cool; I actually started writing "Sinking" back in 2024. I showed up to my first session with producer Stephen Auslander, and we went over my typical alt-pop style and reference artists and he started making a base beat. That day, I was feeling particularly anxious about taxes and overwhelmed by life; I've dealt with functional-enough depression and anxiety all my life, and at that time, it was feeling extra heavy. I was anxious about money, felt like I was drowning in a to-do list, and just felt like I was stuck in a never-ending loop of stagnancy. So I wrote the pre-chorus first, and soon after, the whole first verse and chorus were born.
After finishing "Sinking," I wanted to follow up its empowered and re-energized outro and transition into a whole new song about dopamine spiking and the moment when you feel like you're finally coming out of that depressive cycle. So we started working on "Floating." It was challenging but also fun to work on a song that had to flow seamlessly from "Sinking" but also have its completely own vibe. Stephen and I added noises like fireworks, sparkles, and explosions into the production of "Floating" to emphasize how it feels to get a dopamine spike and what it would sound like visually. Then, to symbolize the cycle of it all, "Floating" transitions back into "Sinking" - I wanted to make it so both songs can blend together so you can listen to the EP on repeat and it feels like you're hearing the cycle all the way through. It was really fun to write!
That’s dope! They really do flow into each other very well. From there, how would you describe your own style of music?
Currently, my music style's vibe is cinematic, celestial alt-pop/R&B. I've always loved to play with sparkly sounds, vocal stacks, and lyrical symbolism, but I definitely think my style has deepened and become more complex as I've allowed myself to not just be boxed into manifestation songs (which will still always be a part of me, don't worry)! I've always had "sad" songs (like "never the muse (demo)," "tightrope," and "Usual Sad"), but now I'm experimenting with blending the more vulnerable subject matter into a sound that feels very noticeably "Maijah." I'm hearing a lot more of an alternative influence shining through in my work in addition to the pop and R&B lens, which makes sense as I've grown up listening and being influenced by so many different artists and genres!
Excellent! How did you go about choosing your current stage name to by the way?
Maijah is just my name! I've thought about adding a last name of some kind, but first-name only "Maijah" has just stuck and felt the most right. However, my name is pronounced like "Maya/Maia/Mya, etc," but I've been playing around with the idea of letting the soft J come through for stage name pronunciation: Maij-ah... That's how Siri and Alexa pronounce it anyway! I like how people could pronounce it a bunch of different ways.
Are there any key themes or messages you hope listeners take away from this specific listening experience?
I hope the listeners feel seen and understood, and know they're not alone in their mental health cycles. Even "high-vibe" manifesty baddies get sad and feel stuck sometimes. I want people to know that they're valid and worthy of love and self-care even if they couldn't get out of bed for days (or weeks or months). Things get better, and even if they get worse again, they'll get better again too.
In addition, what was the most challenging part of making these new tracks?
Definitely working on making two separate songs that are opposites of the same story (though the duality of it all is very typical Gemini behavior of mine). "Sinking" came a lot more naturally to write, whereas "Floating" is a lot more dancey than my usual songs. Also, if I was having a more low day, it's hard to figure out how to write a song about coming out of the depressive episode, haha. I definitely had to channel some of that sparkly, dopamine-forward energy in moments when I felt more like I was in my "Sinking" era.
It was all about catching myself in moments where I could align with the energy of what I was trying to write and convey. It felt so exciting and rewarding when it all started coming together! And my engineers (Stephen Auslander as the producer, Mark Mongilio as the mixing engineer, and Nate Mingo on the master) were super helpful in achieving my dream of blending the two songs together so they could transition into one another in a loop!
Before we finish up, I wanted to ask if you drew inspiration from any specific genres or artists for this release.
It's funny because both songs are so different, I feel like I can hear sooo many of my go-to reference artists throughout. Clearly, I was listening to a lot of Billie Eilish's most recent album, "Hit Me Hard And Soft," and a bunch of Lana del Rey, but I've been feeling really inspired in general by songs that feel like a whole story in one. I'm fascinated by songs that don't follow a typical pop form and can instead transition from section to section to section as if you're listening to multiple songs within one. Some examples I was loving around the time of writing "Sinking/Floating" are RAYE's "Genesis," the entirety of "Hit Me Hard And Soft" by Billie, Lana del Rey, SZA, Doechii, Imogen Heap, Frank Ocean, the Neighbourhood, and even Charli XCX (which I feel comes through especially in "Floating").
Nice! And are there any upcoming releases or plans that you're comfortable sharing with the readers?
Without saying too much, "Sinking/Floating" is the first release of what I've been calling my "siren era." While much of my earlier discography is focused on high-vibe empowerment and affirmations (which are still very much a part of me and my art), I'm going to have some deeper, more watery songs soon, to emphasize the duality of life. Sometimes we're Floating and sometimes we feel like we're Sinking - sometimes we feel like Star-Fairies flying around space, glittering with magic and magnetism, and sometimes we are more inward Sirens, re-charging at the bottom of the ocean. If you catch my drift. Basically, you can expect a lot more from me very soon!
That’s very exciting to hear! Finally, why should a new listener check out this song today?
People should check out "Sinking/Floating" because it tells a story that almost everyone has been able to relate to at one point or another; whether it's the lows of "Sinking," the productivity of "Floating," or the potential burn-out/coming back to life energy of both of them. The songs sound so different that you're bound to like at least one, but they also flow into each other, making the whole project a hyper-fixation-worthy loop. It tells the story of what it feels like being in a cycle of highs and lows. You can also use the outro of "Sinking," or the entirety of "Floating" as affirmations to help motivate yourself and come back to life. I'm so proud of these songs!
