posted by Alex
January 2014

Between the 15th and 18th of January, in Groningen, the Netherlands there is this special music festival. For three days Eurosonic Festival is the place where European musicians can mingle, exchange ideas and of course perform live for their fans.

We had our Stereofox representative there - Anna who had the chance of interviewing one of my favorite artists - Maria Mena. They had a leisure conversation which you can read below :

Anna  Your full name is Maria Victoria Mena. You took out Victoria and went with the short and simple Maria Mena.  In the beginning of your career have you thought of using a stage name or a nick name?

Maria Mena : No, I started almost as an accident! I was really young, I was 15 years old, when I got signed, so I didn’t really have time to kinda dream big if you know what I mean. So the last thing I thought about was actually a name. And I do believe that I like Maria Mena, I like that name. I mean, I could be like Star Princess or something like that, but that wouldn’t make sense. Maria Mena is a good name, if it was a really bad name I’d probably change it. The reason why I didn’t use Victoria is because I got it later on in life, so it didn’t feel natural. 

Anna: What's the coolest way that you've seen someone use your music? Are there any interesting stories about fans YouTube videos, tattoos, covers, tweets paintings or even love letters?

Maria Mena: One of the coolest things is “So You Think You Can Dance”, the show in America. They’ve probably used it about 3 or 4 times, they’ve used one of my songs. And when you can see someone expressing themselves through movement to something that you’ve..I am a very lyrical person, I love writing songs and it’s the song writing that really appeals to me, but then seeing someone without words, but kind of expressing themselves physically, it’s such a beautiful way, that’s a really cool thing. But every time someone covers my song I always find it really special… It makes you think that your song grew into something that you could’ve never dreamed of.

Anna: You have a twitter account, facebook page – modern day media outlets to reach your fans and vice versa. Are they simply a necessity for you or you do enjoy using these media tools?

Maria Mena: I really enjoy using them! I don’t know if it is a necessity, I would say it’s a bonus. Having so many followers on Facebook does allow me to write something where I am at the moment. I know from my booking agent (you know, they are going from putting an ad in a newspaper to figuring out how to reach as many people as possible), so I believe that social media is a way to reach as many people as possible. The only problem is that I haven’t always known how to use mine.  Mine has been everything from really absent to really personal.  I think I found a balance now of what to write. It’s not your personal diary.

Anna: Is there a part of being an artist that you enjoy most? Is it touring, writing new music, the process of recording, interaction with fans, etc.?

Maria Mena: Everything has a different aspect to it and a different level of what I love, but I would say that one of the most fun things to do is to tour. But I always view it as: “It’s my job to write a good song, a really good song. And without that song I can’t sell anything”. So being able just to write songs in my house is one of the most important things, while everything else seems like a bonus. But my JOB is to be a good songwriter. 

Anna: If you had the chance to go back in time and give one piece of advice to your younger self what would it be?

Maria Mena: There are so many… But then again, I’ve always been me, I’ve always been very, very honest and open, and there are certain things I wish I hadn’t said, just because it’s up to me to draw boundaries if people have asked me questions about my relationship with my parents and stuff like that. There are certain things that I would have just not said, I would say it’s personal. But I am who I am today because of everything, so I like who I am, so I guess it’s all a part of it?

Anna: What superpower would you have and why?

Maria Mena: I always feel like being able to be a musician is almost like a superpower. I would probably like to be able to turn off and on invisibility. So I could be invisible if I wanted to and just observe, that would be good. Sometimes it would be really, really good to just be invisible. Just walking around in my town and being invisible.

Anna: Are there any artists you want to collaborate with now or in the future?

Maria Mena: I’ve done so many things that I wanted to do. There is one person now who I really want to sing with, his name is Sam Smith. We’ll see what happens, I’ve actually contacted him.

Anna: What about a country where you want to tour. Somewhere you have not been or specifically want to go back?

Maria Mena: I know that I have an audience in almost every country, but it’s really difficult for us… Speaking of social media part: on Facebook you have people everywhere from France to England, to Turkey, to America. People are saying could you please come here and tour, and it’s really difficult for us to know how to make money out of it, because we don’t know how big of an audience it is. So I would really want to be able to visit all those countries where people asked me to come over and play, and we will probably have to do an acoustic showcase or something like that, to be able to actually visit.  Or go to New York and have a show! A really small show, that would be really cool. 

Anna: Do you prefer small venues, festivals, big concert halls?

Maria Mena: I prefer anything with people. Every single one has a different aspect to it, like a challenge. When you do festivals you are playing for people who aren’t necessarily there to see you. So that’s a really cool challenge because you have to win them over within 45 minutes. But then when you do your own show, you feel really at home, people know who you are and they welcome you.  So every aspect is fun! It’s like … I love my job! I really do!

Anna: Last but not least. What are you plans for 2014?

Maria Mena: My plan is to tour now. I go on tour on 1st of February and then I come back and I plan to move to New York for a month in April. To be alone and write songs, just alone. And then I plan to take my spinning instructor license, I wanna become an instructor and then I plan to make another record, write good songs!

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