Matilda Marigolds On Her Creative Process for “MOSQUITO” And The Charm Of NYC

Photo via Matilda Marigolds.

NYC-based artist Matilda Marigolds is about to be a household name very soon. During a time when musicians are genre-blending and experimenting in groundbreaking ways, Marigolds has her pulse on the scene. Her new single “MOSQUITO” is bursting with rich, sonic flavors––music and tech blending together to create an addictive masterpiece. Reminiscent of artists like Imogen Heap and Emory, Marigolds is stepping into new territory in her discography that leaves you wanting more.

We got to sit down with Marigolds ahead of her single release and chatted about evolving as an artist in the city, the comfort of her childhood bedroom, and the pesky insects that inspired her new track. 

You grew up in Brooklyn, and we know that NYC has a rich and vibrant music scene. Is there an artist you’ve seen in concert in the city that has made an impression on you as an artist?

Oh man, there’s so many! I went to see Bonnie Raitt when I was I think 12 at the time. I am obsessed with Bonnie Raitt. One of my favorite songs of all time is “Angel From Montgomery.” And I got to meet Bonnie Raitt.

Oh my gosh, shut up. Wow.

Dude, get this. I am absolutely geeked, and I’m like 12 years old. I get to go backstage and meet her because one of my parent’s friends is tight with her. I get to hug her, and she’s this tiny little lady, and she smells like sunshine and rainbows and happiness and everything that’s good in this world. She takes my hand, looks at me, and goes, “Now what’s your name?” And I go, “My name’s Matilda, nice to meet you!” And she goes, “Matilda, I love your name.” That was probably one of the most impactful things. I think about Bonnie Raitt all the time. I think she’s amazing, and I love her to bits. She’s very much a big influence for me.

You grew up surrounded by music, both through going to your dad’s gigs and going to music school. How do you feel like growing up in such a palpable music scene influenced who you are as an artist?

Oh man, I feel like it’s influenced me to be an artist. I've asked my dad, “Hey, did you put something in my water when I was little? Did you genetically engineer me for this?” And he was like, “No, I don't want you to be a musician. Not because I don't think you're good at it, but because I wanted you to make your own decisions and do your thing.”And I asked him, “Okay, well, obviously I was a part of your music school and started playing in bands really young.” And he was like, “Yeah, because being on the stage and performing and having to be nimble and quick on your feet is the only way that you can really tell if that's what you want.” And so he said, “That was the only thing that I pushed you to do, and you loved it, so I didn't do anything else.” 

I think that growing up in New York City especially, you just have cool shit to do. My mom is a visual artist; she works at the Drawing Center as an educational curator of sorts. My parents' friends are so dope, my parents are so dope, and I think that my parents gave me the ability to sniff out people who are just on a different wavelength creatively. I think that has a huge impact on my music and me as a person. 

It’s hard though to answer questions like that because I feel like my personal growth as a human being and my music are so intertwined that there's never going to be a point where my environment isn't influencing my art, and my art isn't influencing my environment. You know what I mean? 

Do you feel like the picture you had of yourself when you first started as an artist is different from how you look at yourself now?

Oh my gosh yeah, totally. I was a little freaking baby. I was literally 16, and I'm 22 now. That's so insane. I signed my first record deal when I was 16 years old. I don't know what the fuck I was thinking. I mean, no, I do know what I was thinking. It was so fun and amazing, even though I will never listen to that EP again in my life. It's part of the lore. It’s part of the arc. It's part of the growth. 

I feel like a completely different person now. I think about personal development and artistic development as an onion, and you just are peeling back the layers and leaving some and shedding some others. That’s just how life goes.

I do think so much about my personal development and my emotional growth––[how] there is never going to be a point where my art is not influenced by that. As much as I wish I could be that kind of artist that has a very clear boundary between those two things, I'm not and I just gotta be okay with that.

But I've changed so much. I mean, I live in New York now. I make completely different-sounding music. I know so much more. I think that I am what I wanted to be though, when I was younger. I feel that way. I really do.

Your new song “MOSQUITO” feels spontaneous and exploratory, marking a new direction in your artistic journey while still holding your sonic DNA. Talk to me about how you developed the idea for the song. 

I just moved back to New York. I dropped out of Berklee. I had just broken up with my ex-boyfriend. I also had spent the last year in a weird creative drought of some sort. It was very strange. Unfortunately, when your emotions and personal growth are tied to your art, you feel like shit when you don't make art. And then you just feel like shit period. It's terrible. 

Photo via Matilda Marigolds.

One of my best friends from Berklee––her name is Ruby Plume and she makes amazing music which you should go and listen to––she had a session with this guy named Ben and was like, “Oh my God, my friend Ben wants to work with you.” And I was like, “Sure, I'm pretty useless right now. I'm kind of just a bag of skin and bones and don't have much creativity inside of me. But fuck it. I'll do it.” So I go, and something happens whenever I walk into a session where I forget that I'm some moody, emotional artist, and I'm like, “I must lock in right now and create something. This is somebody else's time, and they're investing in me, and I can't be a little pussy bitch about it.” And so I was like, “All right, this is what I'm gonna do.” 

All that week––I had just moved back to New York and it was still summer and warm––there were like 20 mosquitos in my room eating me every single night, and it drove me up the wall. I was so mad. This is a little bit psychotic of me, but I would hear one buzzing, get my flashlight and make a little pinhole with my hand against the wall, wait for them to come, and then just smack it against the wall. I got really good at killing mosquitoes that week. Anyways, it really fucked with my sleep, and I do not like it when things mess with my sleep. 

Also, when I'm not doing well, I'm not sleeping well. So I kind of personified these mosquitoes with so many other things in my life that were just really annoying me. The breakup I was going through, complex friendships, shedding old layers of me. I was just annoyed. I was like, “Why can't shit just be a little bit easier right now? Why can't I just sleep through the night? Am I asking for too much?”

I was really mad one night and wrote down a bunch of really evil things about these mosquitoes. I was looking through my notes, and at the time I was listening to a lot of FKA twigs, St. Vincent, Chanel Beads, Nilüfer Yanya, Loukmen. Also Charlie XCX, but not brat. The EP before that. I fuck with brat, but the EP before that––that's my caviar right there.

I felt like a lot of issues in my life translated to this metaphor of having mosquitoes buzzing around me and sucking the life out of me. Not being able to sleep, feeling super watched by people. I don't like that. I don't like people watching me. It's so funny that I chose this profession, but I really hate that. That was kind of the baseline for “MOSQUITO.”

Ben is such an incredible collaborator and just the biggest homie. The final touches were done by me and one of my really good friends, Christopher Normann, who also makes incredible music and is an incredible producer. He mixed the track, and I sat there with him and mixed the song because I cannot be trusted to mix my own music. It'd take me literally 10 years to give music to the world. 

During your creative process, how do you know when a song is done?

That's such a good question. Wow. It's interesting. It really depends. Sometimes I just write songs and then I produce them later. But I've been really exercising a different muscle of building a song with the production from the ground up, with somebody else co-producing with me. [It] expedited my process so much. 

I always get stuck at the mix. I'm a really good producer, and I know what I want production-wise, and I love collaborating with people production-wise. That is what gives me joy in life. But then I get to the mix, and I am so sad.  It has been a really hard thing for me in the past. I feel like people don’t talk about this enough, but the mix is everything. A well-produced song that's not mixed well––you're not going to be able to hear any of the cool things that you produced into it.

My song is done when I feel like I can hear every single little thing. I need to have that ear candy in this side of my head panned at this time and at that time on this side. I'm a very visual-sound person if that makes sense. I know a song is done when I can sit back and let it happen to me, and I'm not listening for the next thing, or put off by something.

Collaborating with people is something you love to do, and something you’ve touched on a bit–––whether you are working with producers, listening to other artists for inspiration, or brainstorming visuals. Has working with a specific person or listening to a certain artist weaved its way into your upcoming stuff?

Artist Credits: Abbey Bear.

Oh my gosh, yes, for sure. I have just been listening to a lot of really textured music. I've taken such a liking to Saya Gray. Saya Gray's music is so incredible, and there are definitely elements of the decisions that she makes. It’s also inspiring to see a female producer making music that is so outside of the box. Her stuff has been weaved into my brain I think subconsciously, though, because I don't think that my music sounds a lot like hers, but I understand that there are sensibilities that our brains probably both have. 

And then working with Christopher––I really love having almost like an executive producer type-vibe with him. Obviously, I am the executive producer, but working with Christopher has been fun because I feel like we really see eye to eye aesthetically––on what is meant to happen in my music. He’s much better on the technical side, and I'm very good at articulating what I would like. I'm also good technically, but [working with] somebody who just completes the half of your brain has been fun. 

One of my good friends, Abbey Bear has been drawing all these little characters for my upcoming releases. I'm really excited about that. It's those connections where you don't have to say much––you just send them the song or you let them know the gist of it, and then they just get it. She is definitely one of those people too. Also one of my best friends, Ezra who shoots all my stuff––amazing. My best friend's little sister, Isla Chadwick also takes pictures for me, and my best friend Avalon Chadwick and I style myself together a lot of the time. It's one big happy family. 

If you could go back and re-write or re-produce a song from your discography, which one would you choose?

Oh, shit. These might be the best questions I've ever been asked. Hang on. Let me just look at my discography. 

This is so hard. I would probably do “Saltwater” from my first EP. I listened to that song the other day, and I was like, “Alright, miss five-and-a-half-minute song! You go!” I was 15 when I wrote that.

I will also always love “Time 2 Go.” That's probably one of my favorite songs in my discography because it's so baby and little and amazing. I just would probably mix it better. But me and my old roommate were doing our best. We were tiny little students. We had no idea. 

Oh, actually, scratch everything I just said. I think that I would remake Kid Gorgeous. 

Is there a spot in the city that draws inspiration out of you the most?

My childhood bedroom. I live there now. It was really weird at first, but I love my childhood bedroom. It's been the same color since I was three years old. It's a lilac purple color and has so many memories all over it. It’s really weird living in your childhood bedroom at 22, but I love my parents. I love being there. I feel like I'm just in my little nest. Every time I'm in there, I can just lock in and feel so inspired.

What can listeners expect from you this year? 

People can definitely be excited for more stuff to come—music that is not in a genre right now. I don't know how to describe it. I feel so connected to the music that I'm making, and I'm excited to be sharing it with the world. 

And also to be playing shows, working on more cool stuff in the city, and hanging out with the homies. I think you can expect the same old, same old from me. Keeping it real since 2003.