In Conversation with Social Media Superstar MAR
Social media superstar, graphic design legend and now fledging popstar - there ain't nothing Mar can’t put her hands to and excel in.
Mimada off her upcoming EP is an “ode to self love but also explores the idea of god complex before the inevitable fall to a mental breakdown.” and the rest of her music explores that along with the archetype of the pop star. This gorgeous, hyper-feminine god-like figure who is going through it in the background. Her music gets under the skin of what it’s actually like to be a popstar and scratches what’s going on under the surface.
Your work is so visual, do you plan the visual side of things first or do you have the songs ready and build the visuals around that?
My creative roots are in visual art so the visuals always come to me first. Before I can put my thoughts into words, it appears as an image in my head. I'm very visual, I always have been. I see a video in my head then try to translate that into words. My music is very pop and the thing about pop is that it's very much a strong communication tool. You can say whatever you want and people are more willing to hear you. But you need to be very, very clear with the message you want to convey and be direct with your words. Straight to the point! That’s hard sometimes so the visual side helps me communicate that.
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In Nobody’s Girl the lyrics “Everyone looks at me, what do they really see? Is all of this plastic blinding?” feel like they get to the root of your work - exploring the fragility of the cold, hard, shiny plastic popstar.
Right? For me, this whole project was about exploring femininity within the realm of being a popstar because in our society the female popstar is so scrutinised. Especially in the early 2000s. It’s wild how mistreated they were. So I want to explore that and write songs about the high points of being a popstar, but also the meltdown stages.
Whilst I was writing I was surrounded by all my dolls and I looked at them on the shelf and was thinking, I’m like one of them! I felt like a doll on a shelf - having to have the perfect exterior and only seen by that, and nobody was willing to go inside and see the real me.
“Hopefully my work can reach the people who have gone through similar things that I did when I was writing the EP and it can speak to them.”
And maintaining being perfect all the time is impossible!
Exactly. Then you start to feel depressed and anxious and you realise it’s because you’re doing what society wants you to do, and not what you want to do yourself. Especially when you're a woman and especially when you're in the arts. I have to fight twice as hard to get my ideas respected because people think “Oh she’s young, she’s never made music before” etc.
Considering you hadn’t made music or even a music video until recently it feels so natural, you seem like you're totally at home with it. Did you find it hard at first?
It was so hard at first! Being in front of the camera instead of behind the scenes creatively was hard but I just embraced it and went for it. I’ve self funded everything myself, there’s no management behind me, it’s my money so I had to throw myself into it. Hopefully people can see that. There are so many talented people out there with connections, I just have to hope that my body of work can stand out and be relatable to other people. I want to create a narrative that will get to people emotionally.
Like you said, you have to make it come from the heart or seem genuine in the hope that people will relate to it. Even your EP title Angel Tears represents something that’s angelic and perfect, but not perfect at the same time because she’s sad and crying . Which is what everyone goes through! Everyone has these highs and lows.
Exactly - the beauty of pain was my main inspiration for the EP. And that’s why pop music is so interesting because you can really say anything you want. If you find a relatable way to say it, people will consume that and then they'll reflect on it. People say pop is vacant and empty but I disagree! You can get deep with pop music!
You were saying before a pop star’s journey has great highs and then great lows and wanted to reflect this in your music. Is this something you struggle with personally?
Of course, but it’s not a linear process and it takes time- when you see a popstar you think “oh their life is perfect” but you know deep down that’s not true. Their life isn’t perfect and neither is ours. If you feel down it’s okay to feel down.
I agree - being a ‘girlboss’ 24/7 is just not realistic at all and we need to surround ourselves with people that agree one day you feel terrible, and the next day you’re thinking “I am a God”
Totally! That’s why I wrote the lyric “Looking pretty, feeling like shit”. You can’t lose yourself in the social media lie of being perfect all the time.
So what’s next for MAR?
I just want to get the EP out into the world, it’s this child that I've worked on for the past two years and I've just given birth to it! We live in such a fast consumption society, you put so much into something that takes so long to create and then once it’s out it’s so easily consumed. It’s sometimes stressful because people want something new immediately.
Hopefully my work can reach the people who have gone through similar things that I did when I was writing the EP and it can speak to them. I’ll let the baby grow for a bit and then I can do some live shows and focus on the theatrics of performance - I want it to be like a play with a big set! Like a true popstar.
Words: Eden Young | Photography: Rony Alwin
Angel Tears EP by MAR is released on the 20th of May.
