Dressed in vibrant yellow, Maribelle enters the room with effortless cool. The young artist has been enjoying recent acclaim off the back of her debut EP Overtake, a record that put her in front of a global publishing deal with Universal earlier this year. Still in her early twenties, Maribelle has already made good headway in charting her domination within Aussie pop circles.
Making a splash at BIGSOUND this month, the Melbourne musician comments on the nature of the festival and conference. An artist continuing to develop and build her national profile, she notes that these sorts of events are crucial and important for emerging artists taking their first steps.
“I think this year has been like a building stage for me in trying to move up and get into bigger things. At the end of the year I’ll be playing New Year’s Eve on the Park which is another step. BIGSOUND has been a great opportunity to meet people who I’d never thought of meeting before.”
With her Overtake EP spawning the catchy title track and “Shout”, Maribelle’s aesthetic was introduced to audiences with undeniable flair and style. Her shows at BIGSOUND further cemented her as one of the Melbourne contingent to be keeping an eye on. Though an overwhelming experience, she offers some advice for newcomers to BIGSOUND next year.
“Don’t come in expecting to be competing or anything,” she says. “Just be yourself, play your own music and have fun. That’s what it’s all about, just having a great time and showing people that you love your own music.”
“I just came back from a massive writing trip and to kind of see what’s been happening now and to see all these other acts and what they’ve been releasing, I think it’s really important for me to have been here.”
Looking ahead to a new year of new music and a calendar ready to be filled with more live shows, Maribelle tells us of her plans. A burgeoning career as a live performer is one she is continuing to flesh out and of course, the development of a live show that is to become so individually her own is a priority of Maribelle’s moving forward.
“A lot of people realise how important live instrumentation is,” she says of the current electronic-pop scene she is circling through. “I mean, you can get by by singing but it’s just the feel of the environment you’re in [with the instrumentation], that makes a live show for me.”
“”[I’m] just building on that and going bigger and bigger from there; I’m about just building the live set and making it look cooler. Seeing other bands, I’ve realised how important live instruments are; it brings another element into your live show. Having live drums in a set are incredible, so I definitely want to be bringing that into my shows. Great lighting and smoke machines make a massive difference in building up that cool experience too.”
Stay up to date with Maribelle here.
Photo by Michelle Grace Hunder.
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