Tracking Back: Maya Law
Maya Law has been on our radar for some time, blessing the East of England with her relaxed soulful sound. Maya is growing her fan base steadily and doing so in a commendable way, hopefully you managed to catch her Lock-In session earlier this month?
Mixing influences from Jazz, Neo Soul, Hip Hop and Folk, Maya Law is on to something special, you should expect to hear the name more often this year, let’s find out what formed her sound…
1. What is your earliest memory of music as a child? We’re talking nursery rhyme early.
My earliest memory is either singing along to Chain of Fools with my brother (Dlore) in the back of the car and him giving me pointers on how to be a better singer hahah. Also, I vividly remember making up a dance routine in my living room to Ray Charles’ Leave My Woman Alone wearing my great grandad’s trilby. Not a good look.
2. What music were your parents/guardians into? What was played around the house growing up?
Well, my older brother and sister kind of ran a Reggae night in Norwich but that was when I was really young. So, a lot of old reggae was being played whilst I was growing up. From my parents, though, my Mum loves Carole King, Janis Joplin and loads of women who ended up being strong female role models for me. My Dad loves George Michael and Luther Vandross but will probably kill me for telling you that.
3. Did you have any tapes or records bought for you?
My oldest brother Ben bought me my first record when I was 10 which was a Damian Marley 7” ‘Welcome to Jamrock’. Still got it, still love it. I also had every single Ellie Goulding album bought for me every Christmas. I was a big big fan.
4. What is the first music video you can remember?
We always had MTV on in the mornings before school so I’m fairly sure it was Dirrty by Christina Aguilera. And Lady Marmalade, I was a bit obsessed with that probably because I could pretend Mya was me.
5. What was the first record/tape/CD you bought for yourself? It can be a single or album.
The first vinyl I bought myself was Frank by Amy Winehouse (fave album ever) once I inherited my oldest brother’s record player. I think the first CD I bought was probably an Ellie Goulding deluxe album, my obsession was a bit intense when I was in middle school.
6. What music were you into in the early days at school? Were your friends into the same thing?
I really only listened to what my parents played when I was growing up, a lot of Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Otis Redding. No one I knew in school listened to that kind of music so I did try and get into the music that was coming out at the time but my parents absolutely refused to listen to any Now That’s What I Call Music albums.
7. As a teenager did this change?
I definitely found my own taste when I got a little older; finding new artists and not strictly listening to old school stuff. I actually just remembered that I had such a hardcore obsession with the girl band Fifth Harmony. I think I suppressed that memory a bit but it’s all flooding back to me now. I started finding more neo-soul thanks to Colors (Jorja Smith, Cleo Sol, Mahalia) which just opened up a whole new thing for me.
8. Did you play an instrument at school and can you still play it?
I used to play keys a tiny bit but was never very good so I started teaching myself guitar when I was about 12 and it stuck. I’m still learning and finding new ways to write on guitar which is real nice. I was also in a steel pan band in middle school and some of high school ha.
9. Give us a fond memory of one track at high school/college. Any house parties, road trips, holidays...
Consideration by Rihanna ft. SZA is definitely the soundtrack of college for me. Every house party and every gathering it would be playing in the background. I once had a house party the first time my parents left me alone and it was an absolute disaster. I remember sitting upstairs getting really upset in my room alone and hearing that album playing through my speakers downstairs and being like “how the fuck am I gonna get everyone out of here”. Never ever again. Terrible at the time but funny now.
10. What was your first experience of Soul music? How did it make you feel? My first proper experience is listening to Aretha Franklin but I don’t think I was really aware of that being soul when I was so young. So, I think it was probably when I was a little older and finding the neo-soul scene and kind of being like ‘Oh right, yeah this is what I want to make and this is what I like.’ It was a kind of revelation for me – finding people like Nao and SZA changed the way I thought about music and what I thought it had to be like. They changed the game for me totally.
11. After discovering Soul, which artists did you listen to the most?
I fell totally in love with Nao when I heard her album For All We Know so I was rinsing that for a long time. I got really into finding artists on Soundcloud and making playlists and burning them onto CD too. People like FELIVAND and Willow Smith who’s tunes weren’t yet on Spotify or Apple Music. I really liked feeling like I’d found something that no one else knew about yet and keeping it a secret but I’m also really glad those people I used to listen to are getting the credit they deserve now. Also a massive fan of Pip Millett, Baby Rose, Jaz Karis.
12. What made you pick up a pen and start writing bars, or what gave you the confidence to start to compose music yourself?
I started off like a lot of people just singing covers of my favourite tunes. When you’re 12, there’s not a lot of drama to write about so I spent a lot of my time making up situations in my head and then writing about them. It’s quite weird reading those back because some of them actually ended up being quite relevant to things that actually did happen to me! I kept the fact that I wrote my own music a secret for a really long time but as soon as I wrote something that felt authentic to me, I posted it on Soundcloud and everything else seemed to fit into place after that. I used it as a bit of therapy really.
13. Would you say your sound today carries influences from your childhood?
Yeah definitely, I try to write honestly like Winehouse. Her music resonated so much with me and the thought that I could potentially do that for someone is just a big dream really. Musically though, I think I’m still trying to figure that out. Whenever people ask me what kind of music I make, I don’t have an answer. Obviously, I’m influenced by soul and hip-hop but I don’t think I necessarily fit into either of those all the time. I like picking pieces from lots of stuff and shoving it in!
14. Do you have any idols in music? Have you met any?
Amy Winehouse for sure. A lot of people I’ve supported have shown me a lot about being in the music industry. Connie Constance was so lovely to support and Loyle Carner too.
15. Finally let’s end on an embarrassing question. What is your guilty pleasure today in modern music? I don’t think any pleasures should be guilty! I am looooving the early 2000s RnB at the moment though... Can’t Nobody by Kelly Rowland is a banger.
Check out more artists on the Tracking Back series: