Maggie Szabo – Singing About A Beautiful Disaster (Interview)

One single with a great songwriting indeed, putting in light a faired-hair young woman not as fragile as you might think

But strong enough to find her balance surrounded by these tidal waves and hurricanes.

Matter fact, her talent actually made a tidal waves in the music industry:

Indeed, she has over 13+ million Youtube hits and has been featured on Perez Hilton, Ryan Seacrest.com and Yahoo Music!

Aside from having her original music placed in many notable film and TV projects, Maggie has recently landed two co-written songs.

Plus Maggie also won the 2014 Toronto Independent Music Award in the category for Best Pop, and most recently was the Pop/Top40 winner for the International Songwriting Competition.

She also is the featured vocalist on the upcoming album from DJ Schiller who has sold over 7 million records worldwide. 

WIth her quickly growing fan-base and a social media following that tops some of the nation’s most established pop artists, she’s now gearing up for the next exciting chapter in her musical journey—an album of now songs and a tour to follow.

INTERVIEW

Congratulations on all your achievements so far!

1) What are the best values you’ve learnt growing in Dundas?

Dundas was honestly a really great place to grow up.

Because it’s a small town, it really taught me the importance of community, strong values, and hard work. I grew up singing at local events, and it was a nurturing environment for me to start performing in front of people.

Now living in a city like Los Angeles, I think it can be pretty easy to get caught up in stuff that really isn’t important; going back home to see my family is always a reality check.

It’s just a reminder of the importance of family, roots, and the bigger picture of life.

2) What is the most valuable thing you’ve ever learnt during your musical career?

The most valuable thing I’ve learned during my music career is honesty.

It may sound a little crazy, but it’s so easy to forget how to be honest not only with other people, but with ourselves.

Especially since moving to Los Angeles, it’s really important for me to stay focused on being the artist I am, and writing songs about what I’m going through; not getting caught up in anything else.

3) Eva Cassidy, one of your inspirations, is such a great soulful writer. What does she specifically inspire you?

The material of Eva Cassidy that actually hit me the most growing up was her album ‘Songbird’, which were all songs that were written by others.

What inspired me the most about this album was her vocals. They were so beautiful, and conveyed such emotion.

She is a vocalist I have always looked up to. Her version of ‘Time After Time’ is one of my favourite recordings.

4) About your own songwriting, how did you write Forgive and Forget? Tell us more about your creative and organic process?

I wrote Forgive and Forget within a year of me moving to Los Angeles.

I had gone through some relationship woes, and one night while I was at home, I sat down at my piano and it all kind of just came out.

It was kind of a blur, and the song itself happened pretty easily. I guess there was a lot of stuff I needed to get off of my chest.

A while after, I started working with producer Lee Miles, and I played him an iPhone recording of the song. That’s when we started working on it together.

5) How did Maggie Szabo grow from 2012 to 2016?

Moving to Los Angeles definitely made me grow up a lot!

I knew this city would change my life, but I don’t think anyone can ever really prepare for the kind of impact it will make.

Two things that I think of have learned the most since 2012 are: honesty (as I mentioned) meaning just being true to who I am.

The second thing is not being attached to the outcome. Making the jump to Los Angeles was intimidating, and I would terrify myself by always asking questions like, ‘What will happen if’, or ‘When is this going to happen?’ I’ve learned to do things because I love them, and because they make me happy…not because I am attached to a certain outcome. Especially with my music, I am just so grateful that I get to do what I love in a place that I love, and really that’s all that matters.

6) What would the 3 year old Maggie say to the today Maggie?

You better still be following your dreams!

7) What would be your mission statement for your artistry? What do you aspire to for 2016?

My mission statement: Finding strength and beauty in imperfection. For 2016, I want to continue to share my music with everyone, everywhere, in every way possible.

8) As your upcoming album, another long time project, proposes honest music, and is supposed to tell the whole Truth about you, best reflecting who you are, how would you define this album in one sentence?

My new album is called ‘’Beautiful Disaster’.

This album is about just that: finding the beauty in things that may seem terribly wrong.

9) When it comes to honest music, what could be the scariest things to face and stop hiding?

I think we all like to try to portray ourselves in the best light possible…. the scary thing about honest music is admitting that things aren’t perfect, I’m not perfect, but at the end of the day I think that’s the great thing about music.

We can all relate to it, and the honesty brings us all together.

10) Besides the USA, which country would you be willing to reach the most with your music? Why?

Actually, I am going to have some music on an upcoming album by Germany DJ, Schiller, to be released on February 26th.

While he was in LA we did some writing together.

I am really proud of the material we worked on, and I am super excited that I will be featured on his new album.

I think Germany will be a great place for me to share my music!

Thank you Maggie Szabo!