Digbyholic Michelle from Malaysia sent a request to a local magazine requesting for an Interview for Marié, and great to say, her request and her review on Marié got included in the 16-30 November issue!
SOCIAL BUTTERFLY interview by Evelyn Teo
Youtube sensation Marié Digby made a splash last year with her intimate, acoustic debut album Unfold. But now, she’s determined to be known as more than just a girl with a guitar. On her second effort, Breathing Underwater, which came out a few months ago, Marié’s songs are enhanced with lush production. “Even the impossible can be accomplished when you put your mind to it,” Marié tells Galaxie over the phone from her backyard in Los Angeles, California, about the meaning behind the title of her new album. “I had a lot of things working against me like time and pressure and expectations but I think I came through with an album I’m really proud of.”
Did music figure prominently in your growing up years?
Absolutely. When I was three or four, I remember my mum taking me to see a musical called Cats and I was mesmerized. I just sat there motionless the whole time. I was soaking it all in. I thought it was the most brilliant thing I had ever seen, so it was from that point that I fell in love with music and it was always a really, really big part of my life.
What was your reaction when you found out that your new album had been leaked online?
I was not surprised at all. It’s just part of the changing industry and it happens to just about any artiste. In some ways, if you weren’t really proud of your album, it could be a negative thing because word would spread that you didn’t have a solid album. But if you’re proud of it and you believe that people would love it, I think it can only be a good thing.
Are you tech savvy?
It’s really pathetic. People laugh at me all the time. I have an iPhone, which is a good step in the right direction, but when they look at it, it doesn’t have any applications on it whatsoever. I might have played a videogame twice in my life. I’m terrible with computers. I’m really quite handicapped actually. But I did somehow figure out how to upload videos. That God for that.
How much time do you spend on social networking sites Facebook, MySpace and Twitter?
Hours easily! It’s one of the first things I do when I wake up. If I have any spare moments, I’m on the internet communicating with my fans. I feel that’s a big part of why people like me as an artiste so I devote quite a few hours a day.
How do you deal with the criticisms about your internet success?
I think what happened was a lot of people had the wrong information. A lot of people though that I was signed to a record label because of the YouTube videos but it was quite the opposite. I had a finished album, Unfold, and I was sitting around doing nothing for six months just waiting for it to launch. I realized that the label wasn’t going to release that album unless they believed that people knew about me. I had two options – either go out on the road for a year or post some videos up on YouTube and that’s how it all began for me. It was the cheapest, easiest and fun way to do it. I would have loved to have rented a van and toured the country for a year but even then, I don’t think I would have had the same reach that YouTube gave me – it’s so global. Anyone in the world can watch a video in seconds and that’s something you can’t match.
