Today we’d like to introduce you to Mael Morningstvr
Hi Mael, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
At first, I wasn’t even making my own music. My partner, at the time, really wanted to get into singing and when I tried to get them matched up with a producer I was working with them to fine-tune some of their songs. I was even re-writing some, but when it came to practicing them they’d always end up singing the original, so I just stopped. I ended up having all these songs stored in my files, that I had re-wrote that I didn’t even feel passionate about singing because they weren’t my stories and I just couldn’t resonate with them. So that’s when I decided to make my own.
The first song I ever wrote was this song called “Ninja Machete”. It was this song about proving to someone I love that I could change and that I was going to earn their trust again, one day. Sometime in Mid-July of 2023, I came home from work and I playing with these butter knives from a old china set my mom left me. I flipped them upside-down and I was using them as drumsticks, and my laundry hamper as a drum. It started off as me just messing around and recording myself through the voice memos on my phone and after like 2 hours I had a fully fledged song with a drum solo and everything. I gave it this almost UK Rock type-of-sound, I was quite proud of it.
One day, I was singing that same song in my car with the windows cracked in this parking lot of king soopers. This guy saw me, apparently was listening, because when I got out to buy groceries he told me he liked my song and asked me if I was interested in singing for a band he managed. I was excited, I thought it’d be a great opportunity to get my name out there, get some experience before I went out on my own. He gave me a beat that the band made, and told me to write a song to it. Let me tell you something, it was not at all what I expected when this man said “Band”. I don’t know what I was thinking; Rock, Screamo, Indie, maybe some Ska, I don’t know, but it was very electronic. And not electronic like EDM—that would have been so cool—and not electronic, like Depeche Mode either, it was nothing I had ever heard of it. It was like if aliens danced on a beatpad and made rock with their outerspace technology. And as someone who’s never written a song to a beat, and had just started, I felt like I got the short straw. Like out of all songs, I just felt like it could’ve easily been left as an instrumental. I kept bugging about the song’s imagery and after finally getting some vague details, I came up with the idea of a duet. So, I asked my partner at the time to help me and we ended up writing this song about a human and an alien that were star-crossed lovers. I thought it was really cool, like what we did was impressive considering how synth-y and eclectically out-of-place the beat was. But the band leader didn’t like it. And instead of asking us to re-write it or having me meet with the band to get a better idea of what they wanted or even, hearing their other songs to collaboratively work on it, he just nixed it. I never got to meet the band. Although, it wasn’t a huge loss because the music wasn’t really my style, but looking back I really don’t regret it. It was really fun to make, and I enjoyed the challenge.
However, both instances, I just found that if I was going to truly enjoy myself doing something I loved, it had to be for me, with just me and my own stories, no matter how hard or how long it took for me to get there.
It’s been less than a year now since I started making music. I’m currently in process of having my second single, “Hey Alice (Are You Taking Blue or Red?)”, released, with an album set to drop in June of 2025 . I dropped my first single, “Love’s a Fool’s Errand”, at the beginning of April, this year, having only started doing music July of 2023. It’s been a journey, but definitely worth it.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I will have to say, for me, particularly, the writing and singing songs part was actually easier for me, than going out and having it produced. When I started making music, it was like a Dam had burst and all the floodgates were open. I was writing 2-3 songs a day, and even at my slowest momentum I was still coming up with at least one song a week. But when it came down to getting into full sound and distribution, it made me wanna slap and drag my face in disappointment like they do in the movies. I mean, I went through 4 different producers, just to get to where I’m at. I knew I had a unique sound, and that I wanted my songs to sound how I was singing them. Which meant, the beat had to be made around my lyrics because I couldn’t find “my sound” in anybody else—and frankly, I didn’t want to.
Which if you’re in the music industry, you can understand how hard that is too, because 85% of producers will have you pick out some beat on YouTube or SoundCloud and build from there. Or, they already have something made up in their vault for you to choose from, which is cool to be prepared and proactive, but I refused to conform my lyrics and sound to anyone. Especially when I had the melody and foundation of the songs already in my head. I probably spent almost $1,500 over custom beats, editing costs, studio time, supposed “mixing and mastering”, all to end up with nothing. Producers left and right, just giving up because it was too hard, claiming they had years of experience and all these tools but, couldn’t deliver a finished track, or was too busy trying to make me sound like somebody else which only derailed the process and drained my money more.
And you would think after that, I’d feel knocked down again, but I didn’t. I took one last giant leap of faith, and I mean GIANT, with the producer I have right now—Info Black—and I’m so glad I did. I get to sit down, be face-to-face, and work together with him as he truly builds a beat from dirt. I get to be there when he’s making it, chime in on what sounds and instruments I want, how I want certain verses to change beat, really hone in on the mood and personality of my individual songs. My favorite is when I’m on the road, or i’m in the restroom, or i’m laying on my bed, and I’m just humming, drumming on my leg, or making some random noise, and I’ll voice record that, sent it to Info and say, “Can you make it sound like this”, “Let’s incorporate this”, and he just jukes it up. The collaboration is magic.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a creative. I’m a wordsmith. In terms of music, I could be oversimplified as a singer/songwriter. As a friend, a storyteller. In literature, a poet. In life, a data collector. In culture, an artist. Whatever I am, wherever I am physically, or spiritually in life, I take all that I see, feel, experience, and interpret, and I connect it to all things music and art; and whatever I come up with or make embodies my entire soul and the world around me.
I don’t know how to play most instruments, and those I do know to “play”, I’m not what most would deem proficient. However, when it comes to music I can imagine the exact sounds and instruments I seek to fit in a song, to achieve what it is I’m envisioning in my mind. It’s like if music is art, I’m like a painter who knows nothing about color theory, but achieves the appeal of the soul, or I’m a pianist who is both dexterously-impaired and blind, but can make beautiful music; that’s what I feel like I do. I know what my lyrics and songs need just by seeing it or hearing it. I’m not necessarily a musician physically, but moreso mentally and creatively.
In alot of my songs, I’m working on my shadowwork. I’m divulging into my self-reflections, the things I can do to change and be the best version of myself. And I do that, by singing about the things that have affected and impacted my life, the things I’ve been through and everything it’s brought me.
Music is way for me to take all my traumas, and childhood memories, and reluctant triggers, to take all those different connections I’ve had with people, and explore the ways I process those experiences and thoughts.
It allows me to dive into my romantic heart, and my foolish urges, and the pining desires both prompted and unprompted.
If you could float, having only felt anchored for most of your life, you wouldn’t care if you’re the only one floating. That’s what the pride in what I do looks like.
It’s important to remember that there is no best in art, no best in music, only different, and I, too…
am different.
What’s next?
I make music for me, first and foremost. I don’t care about the riches or the fame or the popularity or the mentions. None of that drives me, nor does it matter. It is simply a way for me to free myself and my thoughts. To speak my mind and heart into an existence that is not deterred by the worry of failure, unsolicited responses, people-pleasing or the lack of hype. There’s nothing to fear and nothing stopping me when I do it for me, when I do it because it’s fun, when I do it because nothing else makes me happier, when I do it because I have a message or a moment to share. I don’t care what’s down the road, because I finally found the thing that made all the living, all the surviving, all the trials and tribulations, all the romance and heartbreak, the depression and joy, worth it. It’s brought everything collectively and has made me present, and given me a reason to constantly rejoice.
I write my songs in way that not only tells my story, but also allows people into my world. I write in such a way that is so vulnerable and raw, that if that someone else were to come across it, I hope it helps them just as much as it has helped me. Even if it means I can help someone feel little less alone, a little more understood, a little bit more heard, a little more seen, or at least feel 0.01% better than they did before by just resonating with what I have to share. The gift I’ve been bestowed, is both a blessing to me and all those willing to listen.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/mael_morningstvr
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mael_morningstvr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@mael_morningstvr
- Other: https://ffm.bio/mael_morningstvr
