We dove in on intensely personal new margø single ‘someone else’ with the emerging artist herself.
With bold and emphatic singles such as ‘LOVELOST’ and ‘Game Over’ already under her belt, innovative Canadian alt pop artist margø is no stranger to crafting empowering and anthemic tunes. ‘someone else’ however, sees the artist venturing into uncharted territory.
While the artist has always strived to make listeners feel included and seen within her work, ‘someone else’ sees margø pull the curtain back on her own anxieties and troubles in a way previously unseen. The track is a particularly vulnerable and powerful piece of work from an artist that excels at being vulnerable and powerful. margø had a chat with us about ‘someone else’ and the process of creating such an intimate and personal piece of art.
We love ‘someone else’, what further insight can you give us into the track?
This song is quite a personal one for me. I wanted to release a song addressing how anxiety has affected me throughout my life, and specifically how it’s affected me this past year. I started to have really intense anxiety and panic attacks in the fall of 2019, something that I had never previously experienced to that degree. It took me a really long time to get myself back to feeling even close to my old self again, so I wanted to address that portion of my life for the first time in my music.
This song was written the perspective of being in a bad relationship with your anxiety – because that’s how it sometimes feels. I know that I feel a lot and I feel very deeply, and sometimes it can get incredibly overwhelming – at times I was worried that I’d never get back to being my old self again. The purpose of this song was to tell listeners that it’s okay to feel everything that you need to feel, and though life might get really difficult sometimes, you’ll always be okay. I know that anxiety can be frustrating, scary, and isolating – so I hope by sharing this song it helps others feel understood. It’s incredibly important to me that we all continue to normalize the conversation around mental health, and I hope by sharing this song it makes listeners feel like they’re never alone.
What was the process like putting it together?
This was my first time co-writing a song, and I was so fortunate to write it with two of my best pals (and incredibly talented musicians) Tatiana Zagorac and Robbie Townsend. I’ve always written my music alone and really am proud of what I’ve created, however when I went into a writing session with Tat and Robbie I just knew I could trust them to help me create a powerful song with such an important message. I also was so excited to have this track produced by Birk Bønløkke – a producer I’ve admired for quite a while! He’s done amazing work with artists like Silent Child and updog, so I was VERY excited to have him work on this track. He definitely blew me away with the instrumentals and perfectly captured the emotion and feeling that I wanted this song to convey. This song was such a collaborative effort on so many fronts, and working with so many wonderful people makes this track that much more special to me.
Your music often contains themes of empowerment and overcoming adversity, what is it that inclines you to write in this way?
My goal has always been to create music that’s honest and vulnerable. The music I write often comes from emotions and feelings that I’ve experienced, and lessons that I’ve learned throughout my lifetime. I’ve been through some challenging and hurtful relationships that constantly made me question my worth and left me feeling lost and broken. I spent so much time feeling like there was something fundamentally wrong with me, and it took me a long time to build back that self-love. I hope that my music helps others who are experiencing similar situations realize that no one should ever make them feel unworthy of love from themselves – or others. If my songs inspire even just one person to feel more empowered, then I know I’m doing something right.
You have a truly unique sound that is often personified by these explosive bouts of bass and electronics, where did the inspiration for this come from?
As a listener, I’ve always loved music that made me feel powerful in times of self-doubt. Whenever I would start to feel really anxious, I would put on a Bishop Briggs or a grandson track and go for a run – and those songs would help me feel grounded. Something about the energy in the music made me felt like I could handle anything, and I knew that I wanted to create music that gave others the same feeling. I love pop music, and I wanted to put a heavy twist on my songs that allowed listeners to connect with my lyrics while still getting the same kick ass energy from the bass and guitar in my songs. The theme of many of my songs revolve around regaining your power, and I’ve always strived for the music to reflect that in its sound.
What is the overarching message or theme that you’re looking to get across with the track?
I want people to know that it’s okay to feel like you’re not okay sometimes. So often there’s this pressure to hide or downplay our internal struggles, so my goal with this song is to continue to encourage the normalization of discussing topics surrounding metal health. This topic definitely makes me feel incredibly vulnerable as an artist (I think it’s the first time I’ve openly addressed my struggle with anxiety), but if it helps others to feel understood and heard, then I’m achieving my goal. As long as people continue to be kind to themselves and others, we’ll always be okay. I promise.
