{"id":356,"date":"2020-08-07T13:17:13","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T03:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=176434"},"modified":"2020-10-17T14:09:30","modified_gmt":"2020-10-17T14:09:30","slug":"tkay-maidza-ep-interview","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/tkay-maidza-ep-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Tkay Maidza On Finding Strength In Being Different"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_176453\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176453\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-176453\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Photo-2-4-20-9-35-34-pm-1.jpg\" alt=\"Tkay Maidza\" width=\"1024\" height=\"825\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-176453\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Supplied<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h5>GRAZIA: Congratulations on your forthcoming EP, <em>Last Year Was Weird Vol. 2.0<\/em>. What have you learned since Volume 1?<\/h5>\n<p>Tkay Maidza: &#8220;I think I\u2019ve just improved honestly; I think I\u2019ve learned to trust my instincts and [I&#8217;m] also learning that songs aren\u2019t done the first day or the first week that you make them. It\u2019s always going to be an ever-evolving process and only you know when you\u2019re done so don\u2019t just let stuff go because of a deadline or something&#8230; I just feel like as you\u2019re getting older you have to be really careful with your intentions and how you release music if you want to build it up in a good way as well.<\/p>\n<h5>Your new single, &#8216;Shook&#8217;, has received international acclaim. Can you tell us where the inspiration for this song came from?<\/h5>\n<p>TM: &#8220;Honestly, the producer I worked with Dan Farber, he was making the beat in session and I had the hook \u201cyeah I got em all Shook,\u201d already written. I always have a bank of ideas on my phone and sometimes you might go to a session and not know what to do in the moment but I can look through the folder of old things I have written. That was one of those moments where he made the instrumental and I was like wait, I have something that\u2019s perfect for this and it just worked out really well.<\/p>\n<p>That was in February last year, and then I came back in September and I had the verses written out. We recorded the verses and then I think it went from 30 percent to 80 percent in that second time we met because he added all the breaks and transitions and all the movement underneath.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tkay Maidza - Shook (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IhWJ-wZ7S9k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span class=\"price-style\"><a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/polo-portraits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">READ: POLO PORTRAITS FEATURING TKAY MAIDZA, DELPHIE LAFOREST PRADET, RECHELLE MANSOUR &amp; GABRIELLE PENFOLD<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h5>Listeners have picked up Missy Elliot vibes from the song. Is she someone who has had an impact on your music?<\/h5>\n<p>TM: &#8220;Not all the time, but I definitely grew up listening to her and I feel like that kind of music to me will always be timeless because it sounds so natural and organic and it\u2019s so well made. I think she was so ahead of her time. She\u2019s definitely a good person to look to and learn from because what she was doing no one else was, and that\u2019s part of the battle, being fearless and going for what you believe in.<\/p>\n<h5>You entered the music industry nearly a decade ago. How has your music changed since then?<\/h5>\n<p>TM: &#8220;I was making dance music when I first started but it was like rap over dance music and then I guess I went into a more pop leading sound where I was singing and then after my first album I started to listen to a lot more soul music which is what I grew up listening to. I just felt like that would fulfill me more, doing what my heart really felt like doing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span class=\"quotation-style\">&#8220;This new project is like a bridge of old me and who I want to be.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5>You\u2019ve been praised for breathing new life into Australian Hip-hop. How does this genre differ from that of overseas Hip-hop?<\/h5>\n<p>TM: &#8220;It\u2019s a different sound. People here have different stories; the thing that makes music from different places of the world so unique is the experiences of where you\u2019re from. It\u2019s just the culture that makes it so different. I\u2019m not similar to another Black girl from America or to another Black girl in the UK and that\u2019s what makes them unique and that\u2019s why Australian Hip-hop is different. We have grown up with so many different influences. There\u2019s a lot of new artists here and you can tell they&#8217;re more influenced by American music or by UK music but that\u2019s because that\u2019s their culture. At the same time, you are still exposed to so many different things day-to-day that isn\u2019t what you see overseas and that\u2019s why we are different.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_176454\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176454\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-176454\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/TK-MAIZDEN_01-834-4.jpg\" alt=\"Tkay Maidza\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1195\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-176454\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Supplied<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span class=\"price-style\"><a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/beyonce-black-is-king-fashion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">READ: YES, BEYONC\u00c9 BROKE THE INTERNET WITH \u2018BLACK IS KING\u2019 \u2013 AND YES, WE WANT TO TAKE THIS FASHION RIDE WITH HER<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h5>On Twitter recently, you wrote, \u201cStarting to find comfort in being an outsider.\u201d Is this something you\u2019ve struggled with in the past? How do you think it contributes to your music?<\/h5>\n<p>TM: &#8220;I grew up traveling. My parents work in mining, so we\u2019ve always moved, and I think in high school I always felt, I\u2019ve always had two best friends or if I did have a lot of friends it was ones here and ones here. It\u2019s never like I have a group where I belong to, I\u2019ve never really felt like I belong anywhere. Coming into music, when I did so young, it was like &#8216;Oh, she\u2019s 16, she\u2019s African, she doesn\u2019t make music that sounds Australian.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span class=\"quotation-style\">&#8220;Everyone is always pointing out how different I am and I\u2019m very introverted.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The music I make and everything I do is so loud but if you speak to me, I value smaller interactions than bigger interactions. So, you just won\u2019t see me around a lot of people. I\u2019ve never really felt like I do fit in, in that way and maybe it\u2019s a good thing. I feel like I\u2019m introverted so it\u2019s not like I speak to a lot of people or throw myself out there. But I feel like a lot of people tell me I\u2019m always different and I don\u2019t fit in. But then also that\u2019s your strength and also in some ways it\u2019s a strength when I\u2019m winning but it\u2019s not really cool if I\u2019m not.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h5>How does that translate when you are performing on stage? Have you ever struggled having to step out onto the stage? I saw you live at Field Day in 2016. You were so confident and went out there dancing and busting out all of the lyrics. Did you ever struggle with that initially?<\/h5>\n<p>TM: &#8220;I feel like my body language was probably shy when I first started and, yeah I was probably nervous but I\u2019ve always found it really fun and I feel like when you brainwash yourself with your own lyrics and you think about what you\u2019re going to do in each song, there\u2019s not enough room to worry about what other people think in the end. Because you\u2019re just trying to make an experience and whether people like it or not from the outside doesn\u2019t matter because I\u2019m so preoccupied with so many things, like trying to remember the words and make that great and just entertaining myself on stage at the base level. I\u2019ve always believed that if I\u2019m having fun and someone is watching, either they\u2019ll enjoy it or they\u2019ll be like why is she having so much fun and I think that\u2019s a better reaction from someone then [thinking], &#8216;Damn she was so awkward and weird, and she forgot her lyrics.&#8217; So, I\u2019ve always tried to make the worst performance that I do really great, I\u2019m still moving, I\u2019m still smiling.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CCnA16AjmUR\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"12\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:500px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<div style=\"padding:16px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CCnA16AjmUR\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" background:#FFFFFF; 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font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\"> View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n<div style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a> <\/p>\n<p style=\" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CCnA16AjmUR\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\">1 more day! You can hear a sneak peak of my new track \u201cdon\u2019t call again\u201d ft @karifaux tonight in AUS on @triple_j after 6PM AEDT tune in. Music viddy &amp; everything else out tomorrow \ud83e\udd73<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;\">A post shared by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tkaymaidza\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\"> TKAY \u26a1\ufe0f<\/a> (@tkaymaidza) on <time style=\" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;\" datetime=\"2020-07-14T04:46:00+00:00\">Jul 13, 2020 at 9:46pm PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h5>The visuals to every release are always so vibrant and so impactful. What is the process for creating the concepts surrounding these?<\/h5>\n<p>TM: &#8220;I generally like to have a lot of color; I feel like that\u2019s what makes me very unique. I\u2019ve always been very colorful. The stage version of me is very colorful. The first EP of last year was very green and for this one I wanted it to be more pinks and purples, oranges like a sunset vibe. I made a lot of mood boards and concepts before pursuing it with directors.<\/p>\n<p>For &#8216;Shook&#8217; I made the whole concept up. The video is meant to be an intro for the project as well. I wanted to wake up in the future and shifting through a radio trying to find where I am and the reason why I wanted it to be a radio was because I feel like my sound is eclectic and I feel like listening to radio is also eclectic. You never really know what you\u2019re going to get.<\/p>\n<p>I think it\u2019s just having a lot of time to think about it and make mood boards and I really made sure that I articulated my concepts first before I went out and gave people ideas because no one is going to know what you want more than you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h5>How has the pandemic and social distancing changed how you create these productions?<\/h5>\n<p>TM: &#8220;I feel like I would\u2019ve made a lot of videos and content in LA &#8211; you just have a pool and endless resources over there. So, I\u2019ve just had to be more self-sufficient. &#8216;Don\u2019t Call Again&#8217; was shot in my bedroom and I had to film it by myself with my iPhone and I had to set up the green screen and the lighting and I had Jordan who directed the video dialing in every now and then to see if I was okay. So, I\u2019ve had to be very self-sufficient and motivated internally to make things happen.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h5>You wouldn\u2019t think you had to do that all yourself in that video either.<\/h5>\n<p>TM: &#8220;Oh, thank you. By the end of it I thought, &#8216;Oh my God I hate green screens.&#8217; After the edit I was like, wait, I filmed all of that by myself and I looked at so many cuts before we added the animation. It was just getting the placement and being happy with the shots even though I was like &#8216;Oh God, I\u2019ve looked at myself so many times and don\u2019t even know if I look okay in this anymore,&#8217; because I\u2019d seen it way too many times. But I was so happy with how it worked out and I think I just had to put my ego aside and say, ok cool, look at yourself as if it\u2019s someone else otherwise you\u2019re just going to be going back and forth forever.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Spotify Embed: Last Year Was Weird, Vol.2\" width=\"300\" height=\"380\" allowtransparency=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"encrypted-media\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/7DoQVFuq50UZLWVTVzHGHq?si=bGpvJGzWTr-sNljOOAyKMg\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center\"><span class=\"price-style\"><a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/the-first-move-emily-j-brooks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">READ: A LOVE LIKE LIZZO<\/a><\/span><\/h5>\n<h5>In light of the health crisis as well as the Black Lives Matter movement, what was your mindset going into the release of this EP?<\/h5>\n<p>TM: &#8220;It\u2019s been a whirlwind for sure. I feel like being home I\u2019ve had more time to just think about who I am and who I want to be. I have so much time to rest and look within. When the Black Lives Matter happened, it brought up a lot of trauma and events that I didn\u2019t feel the weight of at the time but looking back I was literally mourning the person I was and I brushed it off because it felt better to do that and to make other people feel comfortable for making me feel uncomfortable because when people say offensive things and you know they just don\u2019t understand it\u2019s always just better to be like, &#8216;Oh haha&#8217;. It\u2019s just better to forget about it.<\/p>\n<p>It was just thinking about all those things that happened growing up, it was very traumatic and honestly, I went to the protest the day before we shot &#8216;Don\u2019t Call Again&#8217; and I almost just didn\u2019t want to do the shoot.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span class=\"quotation-style\">&#8220;I felt so heavy and down and you get into this huge pool of existentialism and just start wondering about what is life.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been interesting. Whenever I\u2019m having conversations with people I\u2019m constantly checking in with myself to see if what I said was offensive. I have a lot of time to critique myself and say, &#8216;Wait, am I being irrational in this exchange,&#8217; or how can I be a better person? I feel like even just shifting through a lot of relationships and asking if I really need to be friends with this person.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span class=\"price-style\"><a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/zara-larsson-interview-love-me-land\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">READ: ZARA LARSSON IS OLDER, WISER AND IN LOVE<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h5>Where do you want to see yourself in 5 years\u2019 time?<\/h5>\n<p>TM: &#8220;I\u2019d love for my project to grow and have <em>Last Year Was Weird<\/em> as a brand and a company where I can exist in the fashion world and throw events and do all the things that isn\u2019t completely centered around music, I feel like I would just like to do a lot of things and stay really busy. Then I\u2019d also like to be in a place where I am creating and not worrying about time and money and worrying about who likes me and who doesn\u2019t like me. I just want to create and feel free doing that and be happy and not chasing things.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Tkay Maidza&#8217;s new EP, &#8216;Last Year Was Weird Vol 2.0&#8217; is out now. For more from the artist, visit her <a href=\"https:\/\/tkaymaidza.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">website here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1627,"featured_media":357,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[23,16],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.5 (Yoast SEO v20.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tkay Maidza On Finding Strength In Being Different - Grazia USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"GRAZIA: Congratulations on your forthcoming EP, Last Year Was Weird Vol. 2.0. What have you learnt since Volume 1? Tkay Maidza: &quot;I think I\u2019ve just improved honestly; I think I\u2019ve learnt to trust my instincts and [I&#039;m] also learning that songs aren\u2019t done the first day or the first week that you make them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/tkay-maidza-ep-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tkay Maidza On Finding Strength In Being Different\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GRAZIA: Congratulations on your forthcoming EP, Last Year Was Weird Vol. 2.0. What have you learnt since Volume 1? 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