Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Evie Calabasas, who discusses her origin in music and so much more.
Review Fix: How did the project start?
Evie Calabasas: It started in 2019, that’s when I seriously started thinking of music as a career. I’d always dreamt of becoming a famous artist, I tried with a few bands but I never really started putting much effort into it until 2019. That also happened to be my first year of University so I had to find my balance, but I realised that that’s what I really want to do in life. I created an Instagram account where I started posting covers and started writing my own songs as much as I could until I had enough songs to choose among to make an EP. I released my first EP in June 2020 and have never stopped working on my music ever since and I’m not planning on stopping anytime soon.
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Calabasas: Usually, for me creating the melody and writing the lyrics of the song go hand in hand. I often get inspiration from my experiences or some interesting line from a movie or a book that somehow was stuck in my head. With the melody in mind and some random lyric, it’s easy for me to pick up from there just with my guitar, so that I can create a nice arrangement. When I feel that the backbone of the song is done or needs just some last improvements, I go to my producer’s home studio and it’s there that the magic happens! I feel very lucky to work with him because he really gets my ideas and sometimes he even anticipates them!
Review Fix: What’s your standout song? How was it written?
Calabasas: My stand-out song is definitely OMG, which is also the first single of mine to be released under the independent record label The Animal Farm on May 21st. It initially started as a demo my friend and I wanted to work on for fun but I ended up sending it to The Animal Farm and they liked it, so we started working on it more seriously. We had a couple close friends listen to it and they liked it so much that we started taking it seriously. I initially wrote the lyrics and the melody on my guitar after a conversation I’d had with a friend about a recent breakup, my friend and producer Lorenzo started working on it and it turned into what it is now, which is something we’re very proud of.
Review Fix: What are your goals for 2021?
Calabasas: My goals for 2021 are very simple: I have quite a few singles that are almost ready to go, so I want to get my music heard as much as possible, build a solid fanbase and also plan some live shows, as that’s something I haven’t been able to do yet. In fact, my wildest dream for 2021 would be to perform as a supporting act of two of my favourites artists at the moment, Gion and Ryan Mack. I like to dream big, even if for the moment I would be happy just to see them performing live.
Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?
Calabasas: First of all, I’d like for people to feel liberated when they listen to my songs. I try to be as honest as I can in my lyrics, talking about personal experiences such as heartbreaks and other struggles, but the point that I want to get across is that I’m 100% willing to face my emotions, whether I’m feeling miserable or joyful, whether I’m in love or I want to forget someone. I usually talk about acceptance, not being afraid of changing and growing up, and most of all of stop trying to be someone or something that is not authentic to you just to live up to someone else’s standards or expectations.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Calabasas: There is so much news that I want to share with the world and I’m so excited about it! I’ve been working very hard on many singles that we are going to release in the next months, but for the moment I can say that “OMG†is dropping on May 21st and I’m so eager to see how people are going to react! I like to think that this is the start of my “new eraâ€, as it marks the first release as a signed artist and also with a completely new genre from my last EP. I’m really thankful to my label and producers for introducing me to a whole new world and to a whole new sound, and I really hope that people will love it as much as I do.
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