And now here they are, Nick and Sue on Chatterbox.
When the stars talk, they talk to Nick and Sue.
And welcome back to the Chatterbox Redux Podcast
with Sue and Nick and in this edition our special
guest is Maya Kamara. This is Nick and Sue with
Chatterbox giving you all you need to know about
music Chatterbox UK, we're just lucky enough
to welcome Maya Kamara. Maya, welcome to Chatterbox,
how are you? Hello Maya. I'm not too bad, thank
you for having me. I'm good, yeah. How are you
guys? We're good, thank you. Yeah, we're good,
aren't we? Good to meet you. Great to meet you
at last. Been around for a little while. It was
Chris Spearer from Space Angel Music. He sent
me his new releases. So we're going back like
last year. He sent us Crush, which we put in
Hit and Miss. It did very, very well. Very well.
Great sounding song. Since then, play your games,
we've been. doing a bit weird, haven't we? So,
yes, we're looking forward to putting you, you
know, another one of your songs and hit and miss.
We play you on some of our other shows as well.
The Chatterbox show, which you're going on, also
not only has interviews, but it has music on
as well that's not part of the interview. So
if we're promoting an artist, like when we put
another one of your songs on, you probably get
played four, five, six weeks non -stop, things
like that. And of course it goes to all those
stations as well. That's how we got to know you,
and we just thought, we've got to interview that
girl. We've got to. And I saw clips of you on
your Facebook, and I guess we follow you on there.
she's lovely we just got to interview you you
know we could just imagine how great it's going
to be to meet you and what you're going to be
so and here you are now so that's all good thank
you so much for all that support that really
means a lot to me thank you well you deserve
it all you've done it yourself really we're just
the ones that play the stuff you know so that's
what i always do and it's like chatterbox the
and hit and miss the stars are to guests and
the people who we're playing you know that's
how it is you know um Anyway, tell us how it
all started. Your music. When you were a kid,
did you want to be a singer, a songwriter? When
did it start? I've been singing. I actually don't
even know how long. My mum would say since before
I could talk. I don't know if that's an exaggeration
or not. But I've been sort of singing and performing
since I was an infant. Songwriting since about
seven or eight years old. I first recorded at
12 years old. So yeah, and I'm 38 now, so it's
been a while. It's been a long time doing what
I do. Unfortunately, I'm not able to do it full
time as most musicians aren't, but I still do
it weekly, daily, but not as my income, unfortunately.
That's the only downside, but yeah. Yeah, you're
definitely not alone on that. But at least in
the present day, you know, we got this sort of
situation where you can have interviews with
people like us via Zoom and things like that.
And it's just so it is like you're there in front
of us because you are. I mean, it's incredible.
I mean, I do go back to the days where, you know,
There was a spare room underneath the local theater
if I was doing something on Radio Sussex couldn't
get the Brighton and it was so this is how it
was in the late 80s and you'd have this old landline
and you'd have Have to have the the receiver
off of it Speak into a mind it was a really weird
thing and all the time that that land like the
receiver was off of this old landline I was connected
to Brighton for any reason got put down or that
was the end of it and that is the technology
of 1986 and 87 It's come a long way since then.
That's how you could do Hastings to Brighton
Live. Now we're talking, are you in London? I
think you are, aren't you? I am, yeah, I'm in
London now. Talking to you in London, crystal
clear, without leading an old receiver on a desk
next to me. It sounds so antiquated, doesn't
it? It's incredible. Well, there's a will, there's
a way. That's what I say. It's totally different
then. Incredible. What about gigging and stuff?
Do you get to do concerts and stuff around London?
I haven't for a minute. I think my last gig was
probably just over a year ago, unfortunately,
because I don't have a band at the moment. It's
just so hard to find people that will commit
to rehearsing once or twice a week. And then
you've got the grind of looking for venues and
the promotion of it all. When stuff comes up,
I, of course, will take the opportunity to get
on the stage. But currently I'm just recording,
recording, recording, recording and just more
in studio than anything else at the minute. But
who knows? That might change this year. We'll
see. Yeah. So obviously live stuff is something
that you you would do. You do do when you can.
Yeah. We'll do the future sort of thing. Yeah.
OK, right. I got this album. It came out last
year, towards the end of last year, I think it
was. Wanting You Now? Yes. Tell us about that
and some of the tracks on it and the influence
of the album. So Wanting You Now is actually
quite a small album for me. So I think eight
tracks, I think. And I recorded it. It was produced
by my friend Kevin, who goes by the production
name Celerect LA Dreams. And he's based in LA.
I've written more with him than anybody else.
We're both like obsessed retro heads. So anything
sort of 80s inspired or a little bit of 90s inspired,
that's kind of the soundscape we like to sort
of play around in. But yeah, the songs are a
combination of things. I guess if there's a theme
to this album, it's probably nighttime themed.
All the songs are based around the night, whether
it's clubbing, whether it's um just you know
when you're at home reflecting on things and
the emotion of things or you know having a little
bit of time with your other half that kind of
thing um yeah so it's actually it's funny you
mentioned that because the album's currently
in the process of being remastered um and the
reason for that is because a few people were
like love these tracks love these tracks and
then i thought hmm We can maybe look at getting
them done and vinyl and things like that. But
that is a big undertaking with getting it mixed
just so and mastered just so. So it is currently
in that process, but hopefully in a few months
time that will be done and ready to go. Yeah,
I can smell the vinyl now as I'm opening it.
It's been the first time. It's not what it sounds
like, I just smell it now. I know what would
mean though, vinyl does have that, it does have
that scent when you open it and it's, yeah. Nice.
And of course, that vinyl will be my Kamara.
So, you know, even better. That's what I can
say. On wanting you now, we've also got the title
track, wanting you now. What else can we find
on that album? So there's a song on there called
Dream Away. which is it was actually written
initially for my last album, but we decided to
hold off on it and put it onto this one. It's
quite a big sort of ballad. And it's basically
it's I tend to write a lot of songs in random
characters, so I don't always write from my own
experience. So if I see a film or something that's
inspired me, I'll write in that character. So
Dream Away is kind of written in the character
of Molly from Ghost about how she only sees her
other half Sam when she's sleeping and she you
know she doesn't want to wake up because she
wants to still be with him but life goes on and
the pain of it all so that's that's a big song
for me I really enjoyed writing and recording
that one. One thing you know of course the title
track which is become really, really quite popular.
It's one of my most popular songs actually. That
one's a little bit more risque, a little bit
more 50 shades, which is so not me. It's again
me writing in character. It's kind of, if you
imagine what a woman would say to her husband
when she's like, hurry up and get home. That's
the most PG version I can give you. um yeah there's
several tracks on there um street moves is one
that people seem to like about just sort of hitting
london town and clubbing and having a good time
and yeah there's a few trying to think off the
top of my head so what about singles that have
come from the album or might might still come
from the album what about singles from it yeah
so wanting you now was the first single um love
takeover was um was the second single on that
album and that was basically about meeting someone
and you really are intrigued by this person,
you really want to maybe strike up a relationship
with them, you're willing to hand in your single
card, we'll say, and be with that person, so
that's what that song's about, yeah. I haven't
released any other singles off of it, because
it's a short album. I thought I'd only just drop
a couple and then leave the main album as it
is. This would be the fifth album that I've released
anyway, of course, there's a lot of songs that
haven't come out to anyone yet, but yeah. Now,
we got to know you through being sent Crush,
as I said. My absolute favourite. That is a great
song to have met you through. Thank you. And
I know that Sue loves the song as well. Two questions
to ask about that. All yours, Sue. Your song
Crush, what's it about? So Crush is about, you've
gone out to like a function, a party or something
like that. a gentleman walks in the room and
it's the kind of man that most women would be
drawn to, like all the women's eyes dart over
to this guy, like who is he? Like everyone's
intrigued. And you're kind of thinking, how do
I get his attention when there's all these other
women in the room? That's basically what Crush
is about. I love the lyric, you turn me on like
a light switch, there's a glitch in my matrix.
How did you come up with that? It's brilliant.
Do you know what? I think the whole, you turn
me on can mean many things, right? It can mean
you intrigue me, you get me a little hot under
the collar. So that one was just an easy one,
but there's a glitch in my matrix. Literally,
I was like, how do I rhyme with switch? Or kind
of rhyme with switch? It was brilliant. And then
I thought, hmm. I'm gonna use it as a metaphor,
as if to say, like, you know, as if to say, like,
your body, your system is malfunctioning, because
all of a sudden, you can't really control your
feelings, your thoughts. You're just a bit flustered
by this person. So that's where that lyric came
from. There is quite an abstract one now you
mention it. I hadn't thought about it till you
asked. But... Well, you may be pleased to know,
actually, now that you've mentioned Crush, I'm
actually putting out a project later this year
with some of the singles that I've done. with
Matt who produced Crush I'm re -releasing them
with new songs as an album and Crush is going
to be on that and that I am going to do some
merchandise for CDs and stuff because yeah people
people really like Crush for some reason so I
thought yeah. It gets played a lot a hell of
a lot. I've actually got a pink book and it's
got two else banging tunes and you're actually
in that it gets played every time. My favorite
song of yours. Without just humoring you because
we're talking to you right now, those couple
of lines in Crush are basically among some of
the finest lines ever been written, and I mean
that. Yeah. Wow, that's a huge compliment. Wow,
thank you. I don't know what to say now. You've
got me all flustered. We've even had the odd
beetle on as well. So there you go. So yeah.
Thank you so much. That's so great. So yeah,
yeah. Amazing line. So there we go. All your
stuff's good, but that is just, yeah, that's
it. Yeah. Okay. So we're still quite early into
2020. Whatever. When that comes out, uh crush
on the other songs and the new material do get
into make sure that we know sure of course tell
us but make sure we know we'll have another chat
then if we put oh definitely we'd love to chat
something about those other songs because it
would get us us to use to some of the other stuff
you've released as well before we got to know
you so it gives us a chance to play some of those
as well as the new things going on the album
have you got a favorite song of yours that you've
done oh That's a really hard question. I have
a handful. I can't say I have the one track.
I can maybe name four or five. So one would be
a song called Good Time, which is basically what
I call a caution song. So it's about a girl goes
out with her friends and she They basically ditch
her and she ends up caught up in a mess with
some gentlemen, shall we say, having to do the
walk of shame home. And the whole time she's
thinking, I should have listened to my dad. I
shouldn't have been so careless. And all she
wanted to do was have a good time. And she ended
up completely regretting the whole night. So
that's one of my favorite songs that I've written.
A song called Photograph is another one. And
that one's kind of a soul ballad about a woman
stumbles across a box in the closet, falls out,
and all these pictures fall out, and all these
old mementos of her lost love, the one that got
away. And she's kind of saying, I kind of miss
him, but it's my fault that it ended, sort of
thing. So that's one. I would say Radio Call,
which I think is the song, Matt who produced
Crush, I think Radio Call was the single that
he and I did prior to that. And that one's about,
well, you'll know this from being radio DJs from
back in the day as well. where somebody used
to call up the radio station and request a song
for somebody that they kind of had a crush on
and they maybe make a dedication and hope they
heard it. Radio calls about that. So it's me
as if to say, I'm going to call up the radio
and dedicate a song to this person because I
don't really have the words to tell them how
I feel. So if I ask for whatever the track is,
maybe that will kind of get the message out.
That's... probably one of my more popular songs
actually. I can't think of a whole bunch off
the top of my head but those are three that come
into mind. So 2026 is obviously still quite young.
So you mentioned the album, we're crushing the
other songs on and Jiru mentioned that. The remastering
of wanting you now. So, we're still early into
the year. What has Maya Kamara got planned for
the rest of the year? If you come back in the
end of the summer or something, if the album's
not come out by then, what would you like to
be telling us that you've achieved? Oh, that's
an interesting question. Well, what would I like
to say I've achieved? I would like to say that
I've released more material, whether it's more
collaborations or more solo material that I've
written more. And hopefully that I've got some
stuff scheduled in the pipeline, maybe a gig
or two, that'd be nice. This year's kind of getting
away from us. I can't believe it's nearly mid
-February already. I know, I know. March in two
weeks' time, yeah. Yeah, so I'm a bit like, oh,
that's actually not that long. You got me thinking
about that now. I was like, hmm. Yeah, by the
end of March, so March is two weeks away. The
end of March, of course, we're a quarter of the
way through the year already. No, that's the
scary part. My goodness. I don't know. I mean,
do you know what? I'd maybe like to take one
of these songs and shoot a video. I haven't shot
a video for anything since before COVID. OK.
So it's been a while. But I think because since
then, when everybody was just captive and making
so much content. um it just didn't seem feasible
at the time and now with the way that we're expected
to release music sort of every four to six seven
weeks it can make it hard to pick which song
to do a video for because you've got the expense
of it and everything else so it's kind of like
How I feel now it's almost like put a song out
see how it does and maybe shoot one for the more
successful tracks potentially All the ones that
all the ones that would warrant a good visual.
So that's probably why I haven't got around to
doing that yet But I think yeah, I'd like to
maybe shoot something this year now that you
ask. Yeah This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox
giving you all you need to know about musical
entertainment Shatterbox! Shatterbox! Shatterbox!
You've got great artwork as well when Crush got
sent out and things like that. Yeah, some great
artwork. So do you design that yourself? No,
that one I actually I paid a graphic artist that
I've worked with over the years called M card
a he's in Germany I got him to do that I'm a
little bit obsessed with the sort of 80s 90s
Memphis shapes and prints. I love all of that
So I try and incorporate a lot of the sort of
retro imagery into my artwork when I can Although
I have made a few of my artworks myself it can
get again that can get expensive at times and
so then you're like I could use that money in
the studio or I could use that money on a bit
of kit or to take a photo shoot to promote the
next thing or whatever it is so yeah sometimes
it's sometimes it's difficult to pick artwork
actually um and obviously we crush I'm not even
in the artwork it's just um it's more kind of
based around the theme of the of the track you
know there's a martini glass so it kind of highlights
the night out and you know lipstick and all of
that kind of thing um yeah but yeah it it reminded
me of a great cover for a single by status quo
of all people must in about 1983 84 time maybe
called margarita time and barry mother was right
from the have a look when we finish baby and
you'll see what i'm saying but Yours was like
a retro version of that. I know it's not copied
but I thought Margarita time when I saw it and
you've even got the glass there and everything
else. So you look at original 80s then look at
that and you see what I mean and it's just fantastic
that it should be. You know what I'm gonna have
to look at that because it was it was inspired
by a cover in the 80s from the SOS band they
did I think it's the cover to Do It Right where
where there's a martini glass and a perfectly
manicured hand holding it and alcohol splashing
out of the glass such a great shot and it almost
looks like one of those sort of airbrush designs
from back then and i thought i'd love to do something
like that but then i kind of you know we kind
of settled on what what crush ended up as but
yeah i do take inspiration from the 80s artworks
because some of them are amazing oh yeah definitely
definitely uh without trying to sound like I'm
prying or getting well there's nothing tabloid
about the show but how do you relax how do you
and your husband relax when you're not working
you're not doing music what is me time for Maya
Kamara I do you know what it's gonna sound so
boring we like to just sit and watch Netflix
or watch YouTube that kind of thing I mean, my
husband's a big gym buff. He's a former, he's
a former bodybuilding champ, so he's always in
the gym. But yeah, like, we like to travel a
lot if we can. So yeah, anytime we can get near
the sea, because he's from the West Country originally,
he's a Bournemouth lad, so anytime we can get
near the sea, or just out in nature. We try and
do that, although the weather's not been on our
side. It's been raining almost every day since
this year started. But yeah, I'd like to say
that we do great, wonderful things, but not so
much. We just kind of take it easy. Is there
anybody you'd like to do a duo with? Yeah, there's
a few. Do you know what? I've been quite blessed.
I've got to work with quite a lot of people I'm
really inspired by, so I'm lucky in that regard.
But if I could, somebody from the 80s I'd love
to work with is probably Peter Cox from Go West,
the lead singer of Go West. He's still going.
And his voice, I've always loved his voice. I'd
like to sing with you. I think that might sound
kind of cool So who knows and putting it out
there in the universe Who knows there's loads
of people but a lot of them are no longer with
us, unfortunately What about Yes, Michael Jackson
George Michael. There's yeah, there's a few legends
that aren't with us anymore that I would have
loved to work with Good answer. Good answers
all around. And what do your family think about
your music side of your life and your music career
and your albums and stuff like that? How do they
take it? This is interesting because half of
my family are musicians. They're big into music
themselves. My brother's a recording artist,
but he does sort of grime with music. So we're
in very different worlds musically. And yeah,
I guess we both show each other, you know, support
where we can, you know, repost and tag each other's
bits and pieces on the socials, try and help
each other out a little bit. But I'll be honest,
I think this is another thing a lot of musicians
come up against. So many of us, we have family
and friends who support what we do, but they
don't necessarily listen to all of our material.
You know, so they might kind of cheer us along
and shout us out here and there, but they don't
necessarily know our material. And I don't know
that. I think that might be something to do with
the fact that they see us writing it or they
see us sort of, you know, practicing stuff. So
they already know the songs half the time. So
I think it could be a bit of that. But yeah,
I've always had a really supportive family and
friends when it comes to music. I've never had
anybody say to me, oh, why are you doing that?
It's a dream or whatever. And I have come across
a lot of people that don't have very supportive
family and friends with that. So I'm lucky enough
to say I haven't had that issue. Sure. Yeah.
Oh, have you got anything for Maya? No, it's
just been an amazing interview. I loved it. It
would be great meeting you. Yeah Maya before
we let you go Social media websites Facebook
Instagram, whatever you got as long as it takes
floors yours Well firstly, thank you guys for
having me it's been lovely getting to know you
If anyone's interested in following me, you can
find me on every social pretty much just type
Maya Kamara M -A -Y -A -H -C -A -M -A -R -A.
You'll find me. I'm on there. I'm on the dot
com. I'm on the Bandcamp on all the streaming
stores. So, yeah, and I'm pretty social. So if
anybody wants to say hi, I will respond when
I see the message. So, yeah. That's great. Also,
of course, we do have your YouTube channel as
well. So maybe people would like to go and click
the subscribe button there and have a look for
your stuff. And then when you put something else
up there and when you do your video. They can
see it there as well. Yeah, and well, you won't
miss me. I'm the girl with blue and purple curly
hair, so you won't miss me. Some people, they
color their hair and it looks dreadful. it looks
amazing on you it really does look just oh thank
you thank you it just looks great yeah it does
isn't it yeah it's very good yeah it just suits
it suits the personality the image it just suits
everything so yeah you so you sort of sat there
for years as you were growing up perfecting how
you should look as an adult and that has worked
no not me i'm just very much like i like color
and I feel like, I don't know, London's so grey
and dreary half the time that someone has to
bring a bit of colour to the situation. So if
it's me, then fine. Brilliant. Anyway, looking
forward to chatting with you next time already.
But in the meantime, Maya Kamara, thank you so
much for coming on Chatterbox UK. Thank you so
much. We'll see you soon. Take care. You take
care. Take care. Bye. Bye bye now. This week's
edition of the Chatterbox Redux podcast was presented
by Sue and Nick and we thank our special guest,
Maya Kamara If you're interested in becoming
a future guest on the Chatterbox Redux podcast
or the radio show Chatterbox UK, you're welcome
to submit songs, books or whatever it is you
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for another Chatterbox Redux podcast in the meantime
take care thank you for your company and we catch
you Bye -bye. This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox
giving you all you need to know about music entertainment.
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