Marie Digby first came to international attention when she posted a cover of herself performing Rihanna’s Umbrella on YouTube, and made that song sound cool. She has since released four albums, but still hasn’t forgotten her roots and continually posts on YouTube. She’s also gone indie and is in the middle of preparing a new album. Incidentally, her latest album Your Love, which was recorded in the Philippines, has just been released in Singapore. We got her on the blower for a chin wag and here’s what she had to say…
The title track of your new album has a duet with Sam Milby. But I seem to recall hearing a solo version of the song.
I wrote the for the solo version and when I went over to the Philippines – that’s where I recorded the album – Sam is actually one of my good friends and he was also putting out an album that same week that I was there. So it just seemed natural to do that kind of collaboration. We have kind of a funny relationship in that he was always a fan of mine, so I thought that this would be a kind of fun opportunity for us to this together. It’s not even work, it’s just having fun and being playful – almost like a joke – and very lighthearted.
Of course, you’re like, huge in Asia, especially the Philippines. Were you surprised?It was quite a surprise. When I first started writing songs, I didn’t think that I was going to have so many Asian fans. I’m half-Asian, and it didn’t even cross my mind, but it was later when I started putting videos on YouTube, and there’s a button there called “statistics” and it’ll tell you who in the world is watching your videos and I noticed that most of my views were coming from Asia and so many were coming from The Philippines. And it made me think, I wonder why, and I think it’s because I’m half-Japanese, half-Irish, and the way that I look is that I can be half-anything! When I’m in Singapore I feel like I belong there. When I’m in Thailand or Malaysia I feel the same. Maybe it just makes me more relatable.
Do you find you have to switch hats when performing in say Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore? You know, I would be lying if I said I didn’t have to switch, just a little bit. It’s just sort of natural for me. It’s in the way that my accent is, it’s in the way that I dress, it just comes naturally. I tend to adapt, be a little bit of a chameleon. Maybe for me, there’s not that big of a jump between say performing in America and Singapore. There’s a bigger difference between performing in Japan and America. Like the audience in Japan tend to be very quiet and it doesn’t mean that they’re not interested, it just means that they’re listening really closely, very focussed. But in America, and I also found this in my shows in Singapore, the audience is more comfortable participating and being energetic in the show.
You recorded an album of Japanese covers, Your Love was done in the Philippines, are you going to do an album for Singapore? You know what? I would love to know if there is a very distinct musical mark in Singapore. Because in my mind, Singapore is such a melting pot of so many cultures and languages and people, and I would love next time when I go to Singapore to explore that more, and if I feel that I could correctly represent what a Singapore artiste does, I would love to put my spin on it.
Valentine’s Day is around the corner, your album is called Your Love, let’s talk about love: What’s the biggest love of your life? My biggest love in my life would be music by far. I mean, beyond the obvious – my family and friends. Music is what saved me, it has given me purpose in life. It is truly my happiness and my joy and my breath. So music first.
What are you doing for Valentine’s Day? I am going to go out of town with some of my friends and my sister, so I’m really looking forward to that. We’re going to have a little getaway in the desert.
Do you have any song you would love to not do anymore? Luckily, I don’t! Most songs I can stomach playing a few more times in the future. There are some songs that I don’t play live, because it’s hard for me to play it or whatever reason. But no, I don’t have a song yet that I’m that tired of.
Are you fed up of people asking for Umbrella? I’m still grateful that anyone found that video interesting, let alone 20 million. I’m still scratching my head, I still don’t understand. I watch it once in a while and I think, what is it about this video that people find interesting? I still don’t know. But I’m eternally grateful to them.
Can you tell us about this new album you’re doing? This is going to be my very first, 100 percent, independent album. So in some ways it’s very scary because I’m all alone. There’s no one to tell me what to do, what direction I should go, what I should sing about, represent, so I have complete freedom. But mostly, it’s just exciting that I don’t have anyone to answer to and that I can make music that’s purely me and it’s not dictated or influenced in any way by any record company. I will admit that even when I was with the labels I was very stubborn so I was true to myself as an artiste! I’m going to have to learn how to package it, market it, all on my own. It’s really doable. It just comes down to having great songs that resonate with the world. That’s what I’m trying to come up with – a body of music that I’m really proud of.
Are you pressured to top what you’ve done? I think that there’s almost no point in trying to top what you think your highest point is. Because the most important thing is to grow and experiment and try new things. The worst thing for me is to stay stagnant and do the same things. My goal is to push myself and sing about things that scare me. That means I’m on the right track!
So how different is the new album going to be? I don’t know that it’s going to be drastically different. I’m trying to stick to acoustic instrumentation, but I still love having a sick beat once in a while. I want to play around with really quiet moments, really beautiful strings, and if I have the budget for it, an orchestra, but also having moments when the music is able to expand into a gigantic arena and have a huge sound. I want to explore the quiet and the loud, and everything in between.
The way things are going in the music world, where do you think you stand in the grand scheme of things? I know I’m definitely no Lady Gaga! There is a place in the world for her and I’m glad that she has that place. But that is not me. For me, it’s the music. You won’t see me in some crazy costume, I’m a jeans and T-shirt kind of girl. I let my music do the talking. But I think it is entertaining for artistes to become characters and to make you feel you’re in a different world. But I want to do that through the music. I just hope to keep writing songs that give people hope, or is a little bright spot in their day, even if it is a sad song.
Are you a “wear your heart on your sleeve” type of songwriter? Yes, absolutely. Even if you’re an introverted person, the one place that you have to reveal yourself I believe, is in your music.
What’s the worst thing about being Marie Digby? The worst thing is I wish that I had clones. It’s really frustrating just having one body. I really wish I had several. Send one body off to Asia, one off to Europe, one to stay here in the States. I always feel like I’m racing against the clock.
What’s the best thing about being Marie Digby? The best part would be that I get to do what I love. Every morning I wake and I pinch myself, when I remember that my “work” or “job” is to wake up and make music. How many can say they get to do that for their living and to change people’s lives. If I can continue to do that for a while, I’ll feel that I’ve lived my life right.
So music is pretty much it for you… I really see nothing else for myself other than music.
What would you like your legacy to be then? That I wrote a song that changed someone’s life for the better. That would be great for me. And then maybe on the side that I was a good mum and a wife. That’d be nice, too.
Really? You want to get married and have kids? I’d love that in my not so distant future. I would really love to settle down and have kids.
Because I know a few guys who’d apply for the job. How many kids would you like to have? Maybe three?
Maybe you could have a whole brood and form a singing group like a Von Trapp family singers… Yeah, why not? The more the merrier.
What advice do you have for Singapore songwriters? To perform, perform, perform. Nothing beats the importance of singing in front of other people. It still counts if you’re sitting in front of your computer and you’re sending your video out to millions of people, but even singing in front of your friends or your family, then go to the next step. The most important thing is sharing (the music). For instance, like me, if you have stage fright, you will get over it. You will find a way to overcome it if you keep performing. It’s just practice makes perfect.
Hang on. Really? You have stage fright? Actually, I have it all the time. The only one concert where I didn’t have it was probably my worst concert of my life. So it’s not a bad thing to be nervous. It just means you want to do a good job and you want people to have a good time. So don’t think of it as a negative thing.
Marie Digby’s Your Love is out in stores now.
COMMENTS