Take your time with Mai anna
Meet your new closest homegirl! Mai Anna, a Japanese/Puerto Rican from Queens, New York who is all things real and down to Earth with a message to take your time in life and let inspiration come to you.
Marley: Your friends all call you Anna, who is Mai Anna and what do you want your fans to think of when they think of you?
Mai: Mai is my middle name, and I wanted to have a name that no one could google to find out that I was making music, so I put my middle name in front of my first name. But I guess, what I want people to think about is somebody who has something deep in their heart that they want to share with you. Someone you can relate to, and go to when you need to cry. Wherever you need to feel out each emotion, you come to my music.
Mar: So you aren’t just a singer, you're also a Harvard student. What are you studying and how has music helped you through college?
Mai: I study psychology and education. So the intersection of developmental psychology of how we learn and how we can implement that into schools. I actually fell in love with music when I came to Harvard, which opened up a whole community that I didn’t expect to find here. I was able to express myself in new ways with other people as well.
Mar: When you aren't studying or writing music, where can we find you?
Mai: Recently, I’ve been ice skating. I have a little highlights area on my Instagram if you want to check that out. I started when I was 10 and bought a pair of skates over the pandemic and got back into it. For me, it’s been a new way of expression through movement and dance while allowing the music to pulse through my body.
Mar: You always have a skateboard in your hand, what is your go-to trick?
Mai: Okay, so I am a fake skateboarder, I only cruise. I skate for transportation and never learned how to land any tricks. It’s always awkward when people ask me to do a trick, because I only use it to avoid walking. Someone actually called me out on this the other day saying, “So, you’re just gonna skate away?!” and I looked at him and said, “I don’t walk bro”.
Mar: Can you talk about your creative process as an audio engineer vs a songwriter?
Mai: I’m a jammer. I will always end up jamming out with people for way longer than I should, and sometimes I leave the studio without even making a real song. However, my style is just freestyling, singing what I feel, making melodies and then I build the song and make it all work after.
For audio engineering, I’m a perfectionist. I know the exact EQ that goes with my voice. The exact level of reverb, the compressor has to be like three different compressors and so on. It took me a long time to find my voice, and I finally had this moment where I got over the desire to be heard, seen, and famous, and realized that I just want to make music to express myself. That and working with different engineers helped me learn to trust the process and believe in myself.
Mar: You took a semester off of college as a HARVARD student, what made you decide that now was the best time to focus on your music career?
Mai: Yeah, I took a semester off last Spring and this is going to sound crazy and made up, but I swear it’s a true story. I was on the Subway and it was final’s week of fall, I hadn't made any music really, I couldn't collaborate with anyone, and just felt uninspired. While listening to my own song on the Subway, I felt goosebumps and a feeling of clarity like, “I need to pursue this right now and begin the process of becoming an artist.” So, I texted my mom and told her that I wanted to take a semester off because of this crazy exciting feeling I got in the subway. I just wanted to know what it felt like to wake up everyday and intentionally decide to inspire myself and be creative.
Mar: Your song ‘Dubbin’ has over 1,000 views on Youtube, can I ask who the song was about and did they ever stop dubbing your calls?
Mai: If I answer this they will know who they are…but, okay. It’s about a girl that I was with when the pandemic started and we both admitted that we werent ready for whatever we were jumping into. We made a lot of mistakes by not setting the grounds of what we wanted and needed from the relationship. Then, we were both petty and ghosted each other, and yeah.. I’m still Dubbed’.
Mar: What makes you most excited about growing as an artist?
Mai: Touring. I can’t stop thinking about it, I can’t wait to be ready to tour and feel that electric feeling from the audience and band. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
Mar: When will you know you have “made it”?
Mai: I’d say when I get to tour. Even if it's at small venues, I just want to experience that. I think I would have made it, if I could pull off an ice skating music video to a song I've created. I’m kidding! How I know that I really have made it is when I can put other people on. When I can put the whole squad on, then I’ve made it. That’s my final answer. Locking it in.
Mar: If you could give a message to the world, what would it be?
Mai: Take your time. We have so much time, and you should trust the process. Make bad stuff, make good stuff, make weird stuff, and make basic stuff. Just create and don’t worry about every single thing being a finished product. Don’t rush it, because when the time is right the opportunity will be there.
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