Melina Blanco - Counting (single review & interview)
Melina Blanco sits down with WORDPLAY Magazine to discuss her single Counting, ahead of her anticipated first EP release, It’s Happening Again, out February 2025.
Singer-songwriter Melina Blanco is Argentinian born and London based. Melina is that girl. She’s the voice we had inside ourselves growing up, from girlhood to womanhood and all that exists in between. Shying away from the ‘pick me’ label thrown around when accusing a woman or girl who identifies as ‘not like other girls’, Melina’s music invokes quite the opposite sentiment. Her infectious, guitar laced tracks whisper and shout lyrics most female identifying people relate to. Feelings of not fitting in, of social anxiety, and the quiet strain of pressure felt in a largely patriarchal society. Her newly released single Counting is a triumph. It is a brave homage to days spent counting calories and living through the frustration of feeling unable to be present, even amongst loved ones, because of those conditions. It holds a message of contempt for those earlier thoughts, and presents a cautionary tale of what it feels like to live in the shadows, even within oneself.
We talk about being our authentic selves whilst navigating the pros and cons of social media, fan art and finding our identities.
It’s great to meet you, Melina. Thanks for catching up with WORDPLAY Magazine ahead of your upcoming single release Counting, released January 24th 2025.
Jessica L Holmes: You're originally from Argentina, is that right?
Melina Blanco: Yes, I was born in the capital city, Buenos Aires, and my family are all still there. I was born but not bread, I moved out when I was two. I still consider it home, and still identify with that being my place, but I lived in the States until I was ten, and then I came to London when I was twelve which is where I am now.
JLH: How have you found that your upbringing has influenced your identity, both personally and as a musician?
MB: Yeah, I think it's a weird thing in general. I think about identity all the time. It is muddy, you know? It can feel as though (when being brought up amongst multiple cultures) you’re from everywhere but also from nowhere. I have a lot of imposter syndrome sometimes. No one assumes that I’m English, because I’m not, and that’s fair, but no one assumes that it’s where I’ve lived for the majority of my life. That’s mostly because of my accent really, but that’s because I learnt how to speak English in the US and then it (the accent) never really went away. I feel that connect but also disconnect every time I go to Argentina, because it’s where I’m from and where I was born, and where my family lives, but I don’t have a point of reference for people my age there.
It’s something that’s a goal in my life, to reconnect more with where I’m from. Because I feel so Argentinian! But then, I get there, and I’m like - I’m not enough to be able to say that. I’m sure a lot of people who have similar experiences feel like that, like they’re imposters.
I guess, with music - I grew up in a household that was very musical. My Dad is the biggest Beatles fan ever, everyone (in Argentina) is obsessed with the Beatles. Being Argentinian influences me in certain ways, but not in others. My parents loved rock music, so I feel a lot of influence from that genre. They listened to a lot of La Oreja De Van Gogh when I was growing up, but you develop your own music taste over time. We’re all a product of what our friends are listening to, as well. So, it’s a bit of a mix I think.
JLH: So, who would you compare your style to?
MB: Oh gosh, I feel like I fit into a specific world of pop and indie adjacent artists. Artists like Pheobe Bridgers, MUNA, and HAIM. I feel like (the music they’re making) is a really prevalent genre right now amongst people my age. But then, I think my new single Counting is on the rockier side of my sound, so there’s always that influence too.
JLH: Talking about your upcoming single Counting, it’s obvious from reading the lyrics that this is a very personal song to you. It goes back to a time when you felt you had to count calories at birthday parties. That made me think of the concept of maturing. It can be such a daunting experience, especially for women, who often carry a huge amount of societal pressure on their shoulders. What message were you hoping to convey in Counting, and what does that message mean to you?
MB: Counting is interesting because I wrote it after I had gone through that. I don’t think I would have been able to write about it whilst I was in the thick of it. On the surface level, there’s nothing in the lyrics that’s like, body positivity! really, it's a pretty pessimistic song, because the narrator is in that head space. But I think the message is something that I saw online a few weeks ago, it was a quote that read: Comparison is the thief of joy.
I think that’s what the song is. It’s about disordered eating, but specifically the competitiveness of it. The feelings that come with being in social situations with people that you love and having to detach from that impulse. It’s the feeling that you’re comparing yourself to the people you love. That can make you feel guilty, and like a bad friend.
There’s a lot of guilt and shame coming through the song's lyrics. The message is pretty obvious, it’s not saying, this mentality is great! It’s just about putting those negative feelings to rest. There are a lot of drastic lyrics in there like, ‘I don’t need to breathe’, and no one should be feeling like that. At the end of the song, the narrator goes home and reflects on not being able to enjoy a social setting with their friends, it’s an awful feeling. I think it’s something a lot of women, but especially teenage girls, feel.
JLH: Do you find songwriting a cathartic process and is that how you relieve yourself of these quite heavy emotions?
MB: I think so. It helps me categorise them. I know a lot of writers go with the flow whilst they write, but I'm increasingly becoming a writer who needs to know what the song is going to be about before it’s written. I need to start with a headline. A lot of the time it's a process, I’m putting these feelings and thoughts into little packages that become songs. It does help me deal with it, whether that be during the writing process or once it’s done.
JLH: Do you think that sense of wanting to categorise things has been affected by social media? On TikTok and Instagram, we’re all looking for that instant gratification - that headline that makes us stop - do you think that you need to know what the point of your message is because you’re thinking about it from the listeners/viewers perspective?
MB: Yeah (kind of), although I definitely think Counting was a release where I wasn’t thinking too much about the listener because I actually wrote it for a Uni assignment. So, it wasn’t a song I was writing thinking about how it was going to be perceived on TikTok. That was great, it makes it so much more freeing. But I agree, a lot of the time it can be helpful, but also a detriment, to have in the back of your mind whilst you write, what’s the hooky line that can become a trend? That’s the killer of songwriting almost. It’s restrictive.
JLH: What do you think about that concept, of thinking of yourself as a brand?
MB: It is super strange. I saw a video a few months ago from a brand advisor on TiTok actually, who said that artists should think of themselves as separate people in order to be able to create a brand that is marketable. It’s an odd thing, because sure, we can try to do that. But then, the songs are about me. It’s something me and my musician friends talk about all the time. There’s something so strange about going through something like that; one minute you’re going through something so life alteringly traumatic, and the next, you’re thinking about sending out a pre-save link! You’re looking at a Google Sheet of TikToks you have to make, you’re having to create a brand and an aesthetic around something that is really real. It’s odd. I do enjoy it sometimes, but other times it’s quite dystopian. You never want to trivialise something you went through, especially with a song like Counting, that means so much to me. It’s really hard, you want to promote it, but then you don’t want to take away the seriousness of it either.
JLH: What advice would you give to younger musicians who want to be authentic and keep their hearts in the process, despite all of the things they’ve got to think about in the age of social media?
MB: Good question. I think working with friends is a really big thing that I have realised is important to me and my process. I’m releasing a project next month which I haven't announced yet, but I made it all with my friends. My friends Phoebe Murdoch and Rahul Menon are both incredible producers. Before meeting them I was producing music with my Dad. We’re both decent producers but we just kind of do it for fun, so it’s been working with Pheobe and Rahul now, too. I couldn't imagine doing it with people I don’t trust.
Even though promoting is a bit of a strange thing, it’s that creative process where the beauty comes from. It’s about making music with friends. That’s where the most fun, most creative ideas come from. In music and in my life, those are the people and processes that ground me.
JLH: The art work is really beautiful - it made me feel so cosy and warm, but also gives that air of nostalgia which can be quite a somber feeling. What inspired the cover art?
MB: The pictures on the wall are part of the shoot we did for the EP which is coming out next month. My idea for the picture frames came from the concept that the EP focuses on lots of different moments - snap shots - if you like, of my life. I don’t like to let go of things. I have a box full of stupid receipts that I know I’m never going to look at again, but I like those things. This project is like that, these songs have been with me for nearly four years, and they’re all about little moments that I’ve kind of been clinging to. I saw that connection and wanted to put all of those things together.
We did a whole fan project which was really cool. I knew that I wanted some of the pictures in the frames to be drawings inspired by the lyrics of my songs. I asked on my Instagram for people to send me drawings, they didn’t have to be an artist, and it could be drawn on the back of a napkin, but that’s how the project became what it is today. We chose one drawing to represent each song. A sofa for my song Sofa, a mermaid for my song Siren Song, a birthday cake for Counting, and so on. I printed them out and put them in the frames.
I didn’t want to just print random pictures from Pinterest. Counting is a song about body image and the artwork didn’t need me on it. It would feel weird, you know? A song about body image and there I am posing, trying to be hot, not representing the mood of the song, from a time when I felt really bad about myself. The wall is way more melancholic. It breaks a sort of illusion if you can see the body I’m talking about on the front cover of the song.
JLH: You recently played at the 2000 Trees festival, and frequently play live gigs around London. What’s your routine for preparing to go on stage?
MB: I’m usually a nervous wreck. It’s weird because I’ve done it so many times now and I still get so nervous. We usually rehearse all day, which I find so fun, because I get to hang out with my friends all day! Gig day always feels like such an event for me. I wake up in the morning and I’m like, it’s gig day! I always print out the setlist for my friends and draw little doodles on them. We have a few things planned for the EP launch events, but nothing set in stone yet. I’m so excited, it’s an EP I’ve been working on for a long time, and can’t wait to share it.
Melina Blanco’s single Counting releases Friday the 24th of January 2025 across all major streaming platforms. Follow Melina Blanco below to stay up to date:
Interview: Jessica Holmes