Hiya Mara. What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
I’ve always been a performer. I started dancing when I was three so I’ve been onstage all my life, and even though it’s terrifying I love it. Writing music is a really fun creative outlet with a lovely community surrounding it!
Introduce us to you and your musical history?
I’m Mara Liddle, I’m from a small city in England with a pretty vibrant and super friendly music scene. I started releasing and gigging last year and it’s been so much fun! I work with producer JB Thomas and we make music magic together.
What was life like for you before music?
I’ve always had music in my life in some way or other, so even before I was making music I was still a part of the local music scene! My sister is a musician too, my brother is an amazing singer, and my dad is one of those people who can just play any instrument he picks up. So even before I was making music it was still a big part of my life!
What was the first song you heard that steered you into a music path? It was an artist called Art School Girlfriend who makes chilled out mellow pop music. She was my pathway into pop music, and from there I fell in love with hyperpop and UKG and everything fell into place.
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
At the moment I feel like I’m still very much a local musician but I’m trying to branch out into the bigger scene. I did my first gig in Manchester recently and it was one of my best ever, so hopefully I can play some more big cities.
Whats the biggest thing you have learned from someone else in the industry?
I was talking to a friend recently about comparing our successes to the successes of other artists. There’s always gonna be someone doing better than you and sometimes that makes it hard for you to take a step back and celebrate your own accomplishments.
Tell us Two truths and a lie about you?
I’m a Virgo
I have three black cats
I panic if I’m not the first person to get off the bus
If you could wish for one thing to aid your career what would it be?
Probably just more confidence. I always downplay myself and it makes it really hard for me to reach out to people and ask for things.
Do you ever worry about people taking things the wrong way or cancel culture? Discuss….
My lyrics are all quite personal to myself so I guess there’s nothing really controversial in there. I don’t have any controversial opinions on anything really, I’m just chilling out.
Do you sign up to any conspiracy theories? If no why not?
One of my brother’s friends was in a class with me at uni and got me totally convinced that we’re living in a simulation. Apparently it’s actually extremely unlikely that this is reality. She’s read loads of stuff on it but I didn’t get too involved in case I freaked myself out.
What was the worst experience on stage?
Not music related but during a dance show when I was about 15 I had a quick change at the side of the stage during which I accidentally set the fire alarm off. No one reacted to it for ages we just carried on performing with this alarm blaring until someone came and told us we had to evacuate. Definitely a memorable experience.
Tell us something about you that you think people would be surprised about?
This is a tricky one. People are always surprised that I haven’t seen Toy Story. I’ve had a few people try to make me watch it but they never succeed. I’m not even deliberately avoiding it.
What makes you stand out as a artist?
The colour pink. It’s a pretty cool blend of hyperpop and uk garage too.
I hear you have a new song, what can you tell us about it.
Picture a perfect balance of Pop, Garage and Hyperpop, spray it in Pink, package it for the Tiktok generation and you’ve got “All Over The Place” – the final offering from Mara Liddle’s highly anticipated debut EP “Stalemate”. Akin to the likes of Charli XCX and Pinkpantheress, “All Over The Place” is the first collaboration between Mara and JB Thomas.
Already a cult fan favourite, Mara really hits her stride with the track and proves without doubt why she has been so highly tipped as one to watch by BBC Introducing, headlined festivals, and featured in magazines such as BOOT. Created in only 24 hours, the song tells the tale of adjusting to life after lockdown and invokes that feeling of excitable whiplash the world felt after being let free so suddenly.
What was the recording process like?
We actually recorded this song last year. It was the first song we’d written together, so that was a new experience for me, prior to that I’d written them on my own. Facebook official was the first song we worked on together, but that was just a rework of an old song of mine, so creating a song totally from scratch with someone was completely new.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
With the songs off the EP it was new writing with someone else. We’ve done some even newer songs recently though – 5 songs in 5 days. They’re quite experimental so I don’t know if they’ll ever be released, but it was an exciting process!
Would you change anything now its finished?
Actually no. I’m really happy with it and I think it’s a really fun song!
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
Hope you all love the new song! Stream it, share it, show it to your grandma. Love you all!
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