FEATURE
Interview with Up and Coming artist “MAX”
How did you come by your stage name?
It’s basically just my name! It’s a nickname that I received back in 8th grade and it’s stuck with me ever since.
When did you discover your love for your craft and what made you realize you wanted to pursue a career in it?
Let’s be real, I’ve always loved the music! I’d say I started to really notice it back in my later elementary school time. I had this friend named Landon and we used to mess with his dad’s equipment all the time! Sometime in like 8th grade is when I decided I wanted to make music something serious.
I had a lot of encouragement from my peers at school and a lot of the artists I love were doing so much back then. I’d say seeing how their music and their platform was able to be used to inspire and share experiences and shape a generation of people is what definitely made me interested in doing this.
To what or whom do you accredit your sense of style?
In a non-cliche sounding way, I’d say I’m my own artist with my own style and sound. However, I do take inspiration from artists that include but are definitely not limited to Mariah Carey, The Weeknd, Chris Brown, Toni Romiti, Whitney Houston, Tamar Braxton, Tevin Campbell, Sia, Luther Vandross, Katy Perry, and many others.
They all have something about them that I love, have taken and recreated into my own thing. I’d say, Mariah Carey, aside from her just being basically the queen of music and the billboard charts, she’s how I discovered my ability to do whistle notes and the way she uses textures in her voice is absolutely amazing.
On your current project, how did you come up with the concept?
Honestly, I won’t spill too much but the concept is basically just my journey, experiences and feelings over the last 4-5 years. It’s basically cycles of life; You end one cycle (hopefully never having to repeat it again) and enter a new one and the process, for the most part, remains the same.
I hope this makes sense! In this album, I’d say it’s not too much of one thing but the concept never fades away or becomes unclear. It’s not all sadness, it’s not all “haha yay we’re dancing we’re lit everything’s fine” either. It’s some of everything. I wanted everything to balance each other out and flow seamlessly into one another as well.
What are some of your greatest challenges, and what is your greatest attribute when it comes to your work ethic?
My biggest challenge is definitely my ability to nitpick and be an over-perfectionist. I literally have this habit of sitting there putting down every negative aspect of what I’ve created and never feeling like what I do is good enough or that what I’m trying to say isn’t good enough. Let’s be real, it’s something that can definitely slow down my process.
I’ve been learning to take a step back and start from square one and relook what the whole point of my project was and get myself back on track and less critical of things. I’d say something that is a great attribute is my ability to manifest my creations with the tools around me.
It’s funny, nobody knows this but I have an interlude on the album titled “Gone” and I recorded the main vocal for it on my iPhone when I wasn’t able to get to some equipment and took my vocals back and processed them for the song. Nobody can tell the difference in quality, lol.
Are you the best at what you do in your opinion?
Duh! Lol Nah, but I’d say I don’t compare myself to others because I feel like in the end, there is always going to be someone who is able to do something better than you and there’s always gonna be something that you do better. I feel there’s always room for growth and I’m always down to learn and grow.
What are your plans for the near future?
I have a new song coming, maybe a video for my song Simple and an album coming… but you’re just gonna have to wait and see.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank, any shout outs?
Honestly, I know I have some supporters that have been there since day one and I want them to know that if they read this, I love you, thank you so much for supporting me even if you’ve been doing so silently, I appreciate it and I’m sorry I haven’t been as frequent as I should be but that’s going to change.
I also wanna say thank you to my best friend Brianna for always believing and pushing me. I wanna say thank you to my other friends and my family, especially my mom. I honestly think I got my musical ability from her!
And I wanna say thank you to all my musical inspirations. Without your courage to put yourself out and be your own unique selves and paving a way for new artists such as myself, I wouldn’t have found the strength to do the same for myself.
How can fans find you?
My Twitter is: Kxngmvx,
Instagram: Maximillion.ig
YouTube: MAX
Spotify: MAX
TikTok: Meiammax
Snapchat: Kingmax323
What suggestions do you have for other artist like yourself?
Keep going and understand that there is a market for EVERYONE. You can do this, we’re all in this together. And please do hit me up for collaborations cause… yes! We live for those.
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