Introduction
These features are written with a hope to bring to India readers, interviews with Smule users from mainland America, who started a career with the Smule app and how they all have used and are still using the Smule app for their career goals. This week we are bringing another young singer from North America.
It is our pleasure to have Mariah Belgrod as a part of the India community blog when her new single Team Player is being released this weekend. Mariah has known the blog for a long time and had been waiting to find a good time to bring her music to entire India region readers. There is in fact no better time than this to get her music and views when Mariah is planning the rest of the year and next year to launch her career in a big way.
Here we give all the links to her social media
Keep up with Mariah’s musical adventures here :
YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD9kE2KVptzU0MBmxdDcgiA
INSTAGRAM | https://www.instagram.com/mariahbelgrod
FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/belgrodmariah/
SMULE | https://www.smule.com/mariahbelgrod
SPOTIFY | https://open.spotify.com/artist/0fPFc4TL2WERYSQBUcZpQ8
MARIAH’S WEBSITE | www.mariahbelgrod.com
Please tell us a little about you as a musician
My name is Mariah Belgrod, I am a twenty three year old pop-recording artist living in Seattle, WA. I am originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I aspire to use my platform to empower others, create great art, and spread mental health awareness. As someone who has managed anxiety and depression from a young age, it is important for me to show others that it is okay to be not okay. I strive to use my platform to be transparent with my followers about my challenges. Somedays, I really don’t want to get out of bed, to even have my breakfast – and I’ll let them know that. The social constructs being built, promote seeing everyone’s “perfect life”, and my life is anything but perfect (just like everyone else’s).
All about your formal training in music
I was formally trained in singing in musical theatre from the age of seven. I had a lovely vocal instructor who taught me a ton of tips and trips to build a strong vocal foundation. I am not the best at learning music theory, so it has been a challenge for me to learn things on my own as I have gotten older. I have crafted my own way to do so and I think it works well!
Now is the time to talk about your new single and let us hear it together and walk us through it
Team Player is an upbeat, empowering, and catchy anthem that was released on October 16, 2020. I wrote this song, with my now fiance, on a Skype call 3 years ago while we were doing a long distance relationship. We let the song sit for a little and never finished it, but had an opportunity to watch it blossom into its final form when we worked with Creation House Records in Minnesota. This studio’s President is another long-time Smule user, and it’s crazy how this song would have never come to have been without meeting different talented people on Smule! It is the first song I have had a strong hand in writing that I am releasing to the world, and I am so excited to define myself as a pop artist, and show others what I am made of in this industry!
With it’s catchy melody, fun guitar riff, and upbeat nature it surely is one my supporters won’t want to miss. It is the first song I have had a strong hand in writing and that way it is super special. I am so excited since it is a begining of me define myself as a pop artist, and show others what I am made of in this industry! I promise you will be tapping your feet and humming it after you listen!
Making of Team player
Team Player will also be accompanied by an OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO to be released on October 23rd, 2020. This video was in collaboration with Rogue Rider Productions, a talented videographer who also created and crafted my previous music video for the song, Lie to Me. We filmed the videos for the new song “Team Player” in various parts of Seattle, WA to be a visual representation of the fun and empowering feel of this song, and how it is more fun in a relationship when you are both being Team Players.”
Let us hear more about your early music
As I told you earlier, I was born and raised in Lancaster, PA and had an early start to music through my work in musical theatre. I started in a musical when I was 7 years, at a theatre called the Fulton Opera House. This was so exciting and I found my home on the stage here. I also found a community of such open minded, loving, and talented people to inspire me at such a young age!
Talk about you growing up with music around you and how they all influenced you as an artist of such a strong agenda to become a professional musician.
I did not grow up in a musical household surprisingly. No one in my family is very musically inclined (sorry mom and dad)! I found my home and connection with others when I was pursuing musical theatre. There were so many talented, strong, and kind people. It really felt like a home away from home. Many of these talented performers (some of which have graced Broadway stages / tours) told me they saw potential in me as a 7 year old, and it inspired me to keep going. I feel so fortunate that I found something that I love so much at such a young age!
Talk us through when you decide to take music as a serious career?
I had gone back and forth between wanting to be a musician and wanting to take a more traditional path for such a long time. I went through different obstacles with my depression, financial worries, etc. I reached a point in my life, when I was 20, where I felt like I had the support system I needed, I was comfortable, and everything just felt right.
Talk about how smule helped you to get there
Before using Smule, I had only sang as a hobby and felt I was leaning towards being an actress more than a singer. Once I downloaded Smule and started singing more, I learned a ton of new music and was inspired to create my own style in pop. I was already comfortable performing onstage in front of many, this was just “performing” in front of a camera for me! A way to let off steam and have fun. I met a wonderful community of singers, who encouraged me that this was an avenue worth pursuing, and I was doing something right!
As an artist of such professional stature what could help you to go big in the music world?
Being consistent is so important. Constantly wanting to be better and learn new things. Encouraging and supporting others – you cannot expect others to support you unless you are putting that energy out into the world!
What is your thought process when you look for inspiration to write your new songs?
I am definitely a spontaneous songwriter. I am very emotional and experience my emotions very strongly. It is easy for me to come up with content because I am constantly feeling things for myself and for others. I love to tell stories, not only mine, but listen to other people’s stories and out myself in their shoes.
Let me walk you through what I saw on apple music so far. In 2018 you came with Empty spaces which I think is probably best of you. And the lyrics are really strong and lot of good things about this song. Then in 2019 you did collaboratively I don’t care with Sarah Cleary and then you did Lie to me in 2019.
In lie to me again it is the mis-trust in a relation or not so sure what is going on in the partners mind, which troubles when being in relation. Please know that it is all what everyone goes through. But when we hear your thoughts beautifully expressed through a song your thoughts become an art. That is all about creativity. So where are you now with your artistry and creativity?
I am being reborn in my artistry and creativity. Music and songwriting used to be so intimidating to me because I felt as if every good song and the right words were already written. I felt overwhelmed that my contributions would not be good enough. Once I got over that obstacle, I learned that I have words to say and people relate to them, and it pushed me to continue. I feel like I am like a sponge absorbing things around me and constantly growing through my music, and inspired in new ways everyday. When singing lyrics to any song, it is important for me to put myself in the shoes of the story. To really feel whatever the songwriter intended. It just adds to the personability when that songwriter is YOU!
Maybe it will be helpful for you to talk about the creative part of music and how it may help you assess yourself in life, which is a great thing about being an artist
I totally agree! Music helps you realize when some chapters are closed, and some are beginning. It is a way to process things you are going through and seeing how far you have to go.
Maybe not all songs you sang are not about you or your relations, still those are thoughts about what goes around and how you feel about all in life? Other than relations and love is there any other subject that matters to you?
I find myself often writing about the world and the things I wish I could change, the voices of the unheard, the sadness I feel – sometimes helplessness. I write about my anxiety and how I feel like, that it can control me sometimes. There is so much to write about beyond love and relationships – because those are important too!
How do you want to describe yourself in the field of music as a singer? What genre of music are you going to develop in your career?
I would love to continue to grow in the pop field. I plan to further establish myself by continuing to connect with other pop artists to write and create together. I also plan to consistently keep posting on all my social media outlets and be vocal with my fans. It is so important for me to feel like a community with my supporters – they are my friends! I feel I am very experimental. I can be moody, dreamy, upbeat, slow and solemn, it really just depends on my mood with what I am writing and what I am going through! I think that what makes this job so fun though, nothing is ever the same, and everything is fresh.
Do you ever feel lonely in this world?
It has been a hard balance for me. I love to be alone, but often feel lonely. To pursue my music career, I moved 3,000 miles away from my friends, family, and everything I have ever known. I entered a new city, scared and unsure, to build myself anew. I feel homesick and lonely quite often, and I have tried to strike a balance of time alone and time connected – both online and offline.
As an artist with a career ambition do you think you have responsibility to the society? If so, what is that responsibility like?
Most definitely. I feel a huge responsibility to society as an artist. This isn’t an expectation for every artist, it is a responsibility I place on myself. I strive to be transparent, open, and honest to my supporters. If I am having a difficult time with depression or anxiety, I want them to know that. So many people that others look up to go through challenging days, despite what the happy-go-lucky social media appearances may seem! A large part of my identity is to impact the world socially in a positive way, and I feel music is my way to do so.
Social injustice in any field of career, what are your thoughts on that?
I think we should strongly work against social injustice in any career and strive to create healthy, equal opportunity environments for everyone to thrive and feel like they belong. As a woman in the music industry, I vouch strongly for other women to feel empowered and heard. I have had others try to take my voice away from me from when I was little in this industry to now, obstacle after obstacle, and it was the strong people who I could lean on that would not let that happen. I do not tolerate anything else or an environment where anyone is not comfortable.
What does music mean to you?
Music is EVERYTHING to me. Music speaks when words fail. Music connects those from different backgrounds and experience to have a common bond and feeling. Music is my therapy, I can find a song for any mood I am in and it helps me express myself.
Please let us know who are the musicians that influenced you and how they shaped your music?
Queen – Freddie Mercury was such a powerhouse performer and really knew how to work a stage. I aspire to be that confident and expressive on stage someday!
Anne Marie – her sass, her energy, her style, it is infectious and you always want to listen to more. She is also a strong and empowered woman who expresses that through her music.
Here are some of her selected songs singing other contemporary artist’s songs.
ENDNOTES
Another success story from Smule for our readers. Knowing more about a singer through their music had been a pleasure ever since we started these features. The songs and subjects they choose to sing, influences they had during growing up, challenges in life, all have an effect on how an artist shapes their career. Knowing Mariah and her challenges was the most exciting part, where self realization and facing those challenges head on and that helped her become one of the most promising artist of our current time. Nothing could be easy if one were to give up without even giving it a good try. All respect to Mariah to come open with her personal life and tell all of us about her personal challenges. At the end of it, we are all so glad to see and hear that she is a rising superstar among the 2020 new pop artists.
We take a moment to thank her for the time and interest in making this write up happen. Promise, we will stay with her in all of her future music endeavors. We end this session wishing all success in her career.
