a conversation with… mae krell
Alex chats to Mae Krell about all things involving their upcoming single ‘are you sure?’ and discusses the importance of a balance between healing and growth.
What has your hiatus from the music world given you more insight about in life or the industry in general?
Music is a really exhausting career to try to create for yourself. You’re not just a musician, you’re also a songwriter, publicist, social media manager, and everything else too, and that can get super tiring super fast. I came straight out of a phase of healing into doing all of these things again with no proper transition, which was easy to get burnt out from. I learned to trust myself a bit more, and to focus on music first and worry about everything else later.
so your new release ‘are you sure?’ talks about the feeling of being stuck while actually being in a better place and moving forward. How did you get past that feeling of cognitive dissonance?
I write a gratitude list every night. I try to be conscious of how much different pieces of my life or of myself have improved. I’m not going to lie and pretend like I don’t still get into the spot that ‘are you sure?’ is about, though. Growing into your own skin is a process. I just try to be as patient with myself as I can.
What inspired you to share that part of your life in ‘are you sure?’ or any of your songs in general?
I write songs when I’m feeling too much, when I'm trying not to, or when I need to figure something out. ‘are you sure?’ was me trying to understand a place that I kept finding myself in over and over again. I was always very closed off growing up. When I started writing music it was when I started sharing parts of myself. It was also when I started to feel connected to people again. I feel such genuine connections to the people who listen to my music, and I think that comes from being vulnerable.
Mental health, self love and personal truths are major themes throughout your music. What made you feel comfortable enough to write songs that are so open about that like ‘are you sure?’, ‘wash’, and ‘home’?
I’m comfortable with the idea of having feelings, even when they’re a bit too much. At the end of the day, I'm grateful to be present enough to experience it all. ‘home’ was written when I felt like I didn’t exist to anyone else. ‘wash’ is a bit more empowering, a reminder that feelings end, and they aren’t always facts. ‘are you sure?’ touches on how it’s easy to forget the bad things when you’re doing better-and how dangerous that is to your recovery and growth. These are all moments that i’ve experienced and gotten through by writing a song.
How does ‘are you sure?’ fit into the rest of your music?
It’s definitely more sad than usual, and that sadness and pain is really in the forefront. Usually, I like when the songs I put out are nice to listen to, and then if you want to feel something you can pay more attention. ‘are you sure?’ is definitely more of a track that demands the attention be on the emotions, which is a bit of a new venture.
Your music from 2018 to now is very different, from the cover art to the instrumentals to the overall style of the song. And both sounds are beautiful in their own way, so what influenced your change into this new style?
The 2018 EP was actually written and recorded in 2015. It’s a great representation of myself as a sixteen year old, with those songs being some of the first ones I ever wrote. Between the releases I grew up a little - my lyricism is more mature now, I’ve been much more conscious of making music that I'd want to listen to rather than being too influenced by other things. I feel like I'm introducing myself to people when it comes to my newer discography.