What is your name?
Magdalena, but my music goes by Mags On Earth.
What is your genre of music?
It’s kind of dreamy and melancholic, with city soundscapes.
Give us a little bio about you.
I was born in Sweden but my family moved to Germany when I was five, so I grew up for the most part of my life in Germany. I now live in London where I have spent a lot of years figuring out what kind of music and visuals I want to be doing, taking a lot of inspiration from life in the city.
What made you go in to music?
I was very shy as a child, and so singing and songwriting were outlets for me to say things I wanted to say, and they were also things that gave me courage to take up space.
Are you a signed?
No.
You have a new single ‘Old Ford Road’ , tell us more about the single.
‘Old Ford Road’ is part of my 5 track EP ‘Girl In The City’. Whilst all tracks deal with the same topics such as pressure and youth, ‘Old Ford Road’ is looking at things from a more positive and less serious angle.
What is the meaning behind the Single.
‘Old Ford Road’ is about enjoying your owncompany and replacing fear and self-judgement with hope and self-compassion. It’s about spending a day out in the city just enjoying the present, wander through some shops and make stops at coffee shops. I find the rush of the city around me calming, freeing and inspiring.
Describe the track in two words.
Dreamy, hopeful.
What was the writing process like?
I actually rewrote this song about a hundred times. I think it even started off as two separate songs. One of them was lyrically similar but sounding more like a lullaby-type of song, I only later on changed the rhythm to a more spoken type of song. What now is the first verse used to be an outro in another song. So it has been through a lot of stages. But that’s how I usually write songs, I exchange parts, turn choruses into verses and so on, and blend several songs together into one.
What was the recording process like?
I recorded this with my producer Jose Manuel Cubides. He’s amazing and I feel so lucky to have found such a good fit. He’s a creative mastermind in my eyes, and always happy to try every single idea out. Just like my writing process, the recording process went through some different approaches and stages. At first it was a purely acoustic song with just one guitar and one vocal. Didn’t really stay that way!
Who did you work with on the Single with?
I worked with my producer Jose Manuel Cubides, and it was then mixed by Rhys B Downing and mastered by Roy Recklies. I also got a lot of creative advice from Cyrille Totozafy. This was the set-up throughout the whole EP production, and I feel so grateful for working with such skilled people.
You also released the video for your single, tell more about the making of it?
I make all my videos myself. It’s like another way of communication, the visuals, just like the lyrics, melodies and production are. I like to play around with how I want to express something visually, which physical gestures and effects I want to use for what phrase in the lyrical content. I film big cities a lot, especially London. My music speaks a lot about how the city can be a freeing place of self-discoveries and reinvention. It just inspires me. The things I decide to film for my videos outdoors are all very spontaneous choices that I often just film with my phone or this old video cam I keep with me in my bag at almost all times. The indoor self-portrait type of shots are a bit more planned out, but often happen at night at times when I really should be sleeping. The editing process varies, but some videos I have worked for months on. ‘Old Ford Road’ is all about London so there are a lot of London shots. I wanted to include daylight shots such as blossoming trees and bus rides because the song is more a daytime kind of song.
What can we expect from the EP?
The EP is sort of putting a frame around a certain kind of feeling I used to have for a long time when I was a bit younger. I was feeling stuck and pressured by a vision of what life should be like, and how your ‘young years’ should be spent. I think that our society praises individualism, youth, the ‘20s’, and ‘finding and fulfilling yourself’ a lot. It’s become the most important thing it seems like. Like, we ought to check in with ourselves constantly all the time to ask ourselves “Is this what I want? Is this me? What am I getting out of this? Am Ibeing true to myself?”. So exhausting, and nothing is ever good enough that way! It’s nice to think we can all be anything, but it’s also dangerous because it can affect the self-esteem heavily if you measure your identity by a checklist of things you should have done by acertain time. If you can’t live up to your own expectations you feel like it’s all your fault, but it’s not. Life is pretty unpredictable and every story is valuable and unique. So that feeling of self-judgement, pressure and fear is what my whole EP is dealing with, and it’s idealising the big city life as a platform for new beginnings and possibilities. ‘Old Ford Road’ is the one song that is basically saying “Calm down.”.
Do you have any shows coming up or a tour in planning?
I don’t have any specific dates I can confirm yet, but definitely soon! I will do some more London shows in the near future.
If so where will you be heading?
I will do some London shows in near future, and then we’ll see!
What else can we expect in 2019?
I am aiming to release another EP later this year. There is another video coming soon, and I am also planning some live shows which I will announce in the next weeks.
Do you have any collaborations coming up with any up coming artists?
I have been kind of focused on making sure that I like what I am doing, so I haven’t really thought much about collaborating musically yet, but very open to that. Another type of collaboration I love doing is shooting music videos for other artists!
Would you be up for collaborations if other musicians wanted one with you? and who would they have to contact?
Yes! They could contact me via email: contact@magsonearth.com
Do you play any instruments?
Just enough guitar to write songs, but not great.
Who are your influences?
I love artists who I feel are very in control of what they are doing. I also take a lot of inspiration from artists with strong visual identities, like they created a world of their own. I listen a lot to Lana Del Rey, Emilie Nicholas, BANKS, Meg Myers and JAIN.
How do you get inspiration to write songs?
I get a lot of my ideas when I am out in the city, like walking outside or sitting on a bus. But also sometimes when I am home. I actually noticed I become a very productive songwriter at times when I am procrastinating other things I should be doing instead…
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
I hope to still be making lots of music and videos! Would love to do a little tour by then. I am also getting into making videos for other artists, so that would be great, if I could be doing more of that, too. Overall, I just want to enjoy the ride and love whatever I put out there. I don’t want to pressure myself with that people have to like it or respond to it in a certain way. But if some people do like it that would of course be wonderful!
When you’re not doing music, what do you do?
I’m probably filming footage for my videos, or editing videos.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians not about the industry and just as an artist?
I would say define what success means to you. Does it mean getting a lot of fans and recognition? In that case you are basing your happiness on other people’s perception and it’s hard to stay authentic and in control. So I would say make sure you love what you do, because just the achievement of creating something you can stand by fully and happily take ownership for is so successful, in my opinion. The rest is not so important.
Where in your hometown is a must go to visit?
I don’t really feel like I have a hometown from growing up between two cultures. I think I made London into my hometown, and I would recommend just walking around in different areas, streets and parks, ride some buses, stop for coffees, and enjoy the rush of the city, just like what ‘Old Ford Road’ is about!
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
Of course!
