Dynamism is such a critical part of being an indie artist and MAY-A, upcoming sensation, fully embodies that. With music that essentially incorporates situations from her life, her latest release, Analysis Paralysis draws upon the evolution of her music over the years and finding a sound that most complements her, which in a sense, is an echo of the evolution of her persona. When asked to give a life update, she says, “in a life update sense I’ve been writing and working on discovering more about my sound and my place in this world in general. I think “Analysis Paralysis” is another stepping stone in this process of figuring out what music resonates with me most. The process of creating A/P was a lot of writing and then throwing away, a lot of tears to be honest, a lot of excitement when a song felt like it made sense as a part of the project. It’s really a collection of songs that sparked from me searching for feelings and tones and colours that felt different from what I’d done and that’s pretty similar to what I’m doing now.”

As a musician that is constantly pondering about new music, MAY-A reflects upon her music creation process and says “more often than not the words come first”, which seems natural for such an emotionally-tuned and self-aware musician. “I’m always writing, constantly throughout the day, it just depends on whether those words form into lyrics or stay in other forms. I’m still trying to figure out my best song-creation process. But usually writing, finding the chords that work with the feeling, taking that into a producer and maybe that song continues in the direction of where it started and maybe it goes somewhere completely unexpected”, she adds. For someone so deeply intuitive about her music, her story of how she got into the music industry was actually completely unintentional. “I think I decided that I could take it seriously when it started to get serious. I had been writing poems and singing from pre-teens though, so it was always there.”

Her stellar EP, ‘Analysis Paralysis’ is definitely an interesting concept in many ways. While she admits that she didn’t have a carved out idea of what she wanted the EP to look like or sound, she employs a very self-reflective process instead, which eventually came together as a cohesive brain dump of her thoughts. MAY-A says, “I definitely didn’t plan any concept or theme, when I think about creating an album, I want to do that intentionally, by asking myself what the colors are, what the world is like in there, what do I actually want to say? What do I want people to walk away thinking? What do I need to reflect on? I think that the process with “Analysis Paralysis” was more along the lines of digging for sounds, months of looking for something when I didn’t really know what it was and piecing together what I had left after the fact. It’s weird looking at something after the fact and trying to make sense of it, but I guess that’s just life in general. But to answer the question plainly a lot of the songs (pretty much all of them) are relationship driven and a live-process of my emotions when it comes to that”, she says with a laugh.

For someone who puts forth her ideas in the form of thought-provoking and intensely relatable music, she adds that “the EP does highlight that I’m a little self-deprecating, very sensitive, learning my worth and I definitely hold onto everything a little too hard.” Ultimately, it is evident that she’s emotionally-driven and passionate about her career. It seems that she derives this from what can only be described as a versatile music taste. When asked about the biggest influences on her music, she says “it’s really ever-changing constantly. I’m so inspired by so many incredible musicians. But someone like Dominic Fike who’s stuck to his guns in releasing, recording and marketing music on his terms, which is hard in the digital age, someone like Taylor Swift honestly, who continues to grow and change with the years of this industry, constantly re-inventing herself in surprising way, someone like Amy Winehouse who has created a timeless album and Radiohead are just phenomenal. But so many smaller artists like Ryan Beatty, 070 shake, Arlo Parks, Turnstile, Julien baker, Q, The Temper Trap, there’s so much musical influence.”

As a musician who has a natural knack towards knowing the type of music she wants to produce, it’s not surprising she enjoys performing the distinctive style of her music as well. When asked about her most exciting experience as an artist, she reflects, “I think the best experiences always show up in weird ways but the Australian headline tour was definitely the most rewarding. I love the process of rehearsing with my band, that’s the place I feel the most free and understood and happy. Being on stage with all of them is the best part about doing all of this. I’m looking forward to being able to tour this EP now that it’s out and begin to delve back into writing.” While she lives in the moment doing what she loves, which is the best way of living, she adds that her future is unexpected.“I’m not exactly sure yet, but all I know is I’ll keep trying different things, different genres, different ways of recording and performing music.” This unpredictability of the music world in general and her music in particular, is what makes a career in music so exciting, and is the key driver of authenticity. As someone who doesn’t hop onto musical trends, MAY-A also adds, “ I get really depressed when I begin to feel like the writing isn’t coming from me/when I don’t believe in myself. The second you stop being authentic, you lose the point of being here in the first place,” and we think this revelation is what actually leads to greatness.