Maltese artist Mikaela’s profile has risen considerably since she first dipped her toes in the local music scene back in 2008.
Last year was an exciting year for me, but I’m looking forward to making this one even better
Changing her hair colour to a flaming red might have helped get her noticed, but it was her determination and powerful voice that really did the trick.
In the space of two years, this young singer-songwriter has more than earned her place among the Maltese music scene’s A-listers, bagging a Best New Artist award at the 2010 Malta Music Awards, a Best Female Artist award at last year’s edition, winning the Vodafone Upcoming Artist competition and establishing herself as one of the main voices of the Xirka Rock collective.
In the meantime, she also released a number of singles, the latest of which is Hear Me Out, which proved to be one of her most popular radio hits to date.
Apart from propelling her aspiring singer status to established artist level, 2011 was an successful year for Mikaela also because she was picked to attend a course at the prestigious Berklee College in Boston, US.
“It was an incredible experience, even if I was only there for two months,” she says.
That may be true, but they were two intensive months during which she got to work with other musicians and learn about various aspects of the music industry - “from musicology to the business side to electronic production and design and so much more” – directly from professional industry people.
Although not her first connection with the US – Mikaela has already worked with American songwriter and producer Steven Mesropian – her Berklee experience was her first taste of ‘up close and personal’ immersion into a world of music that tested, or even pushed her, to the very limits.
Not one to shy away from a challenge, Mikaela proved herself by standing out during the placement auditions. She embraced every new aspect she was exposed to at Berklee, forming and playing in three separate bands and penning a brand new track while she was there.
“I was playing in a metal band, a rock band and a Blues/folk band, which meant I was performing every day; then there were the song-writing challenges too, which I enjoyed, particularly because my song got picked for a showcase performance.”
She returned from Berklee with a Certificate of Completion and an outstanding Honors report which, in Berklee terms means she has ‘definite career potential as evidenced by a superior performance in this class’.
Without a doubt the Berklee experience was time well-spent, and Mikaela wasted no time in immersing herself in music even further when, just a few days after her return from the US, she was back on stage, this time performing with the Xirka Rock ensemble at Rockestra.
Further to that, she also reconvened her band and got down to working on what will be the next step in her career – new songs and new releases.
“The plan is to release an EP later on this year, but before that there’s a lot of work and songwriting to be done,” she says, with a glint in her eye that suggests she’s going to enjoy every minute of it.
“This time, I’ve decided to write my own songs, but my guitarist Jimmy (Bartolo) will be helping me with the arrangements.”
Besides being her long-standing guitarist and musical collaborator, Bartolo is also a permanent presence during Mikaela’s acoustic performances and a pivotal figure in her musical plans.
“Although I can play the guitar, my main instrument is the piano, which is probably why the new songs will be less reliant on guitar riffs,” Mikaela says of her works-in-progress.
“Don’t expect any ballads though; the songs will still be very much rock-orientated,” she adds, underlining exactly where her influences stem from.
Not that it was ever in doubt, of course. After all, her previous releases have all had an evident rock inclination.
“That’s true, but I listen to other genres too – from Blues to metal – and I want to try and bring out these other elements in the new songs too.”
Clearly, the new EP will be more representative of Mikaela’s musical leanings.
“That is the plan. I want to inject my personal influences into the mainstream perspective. We’ve already been working on rough demos of the songs, so the next step is to start recording.”
This time, she will be working with British producer Mark McRae, a Sicily-based producer who has also been working with Anglo-Maltese alternative country act Martin McNeil & the Dissidents, the latter incidentally also featuring Jimmy Bartolo in its line-up.
2012 is only days old, and already Mikaela’s schedule is looking significantly hectic.
“At this year’s Malta Music Awards, I was named as Malta’s Export Artist, which means I will be going to perform abroad, so I’m obviously looking forward to that.”
Before that, there is the more pressing issue of putting together a permanent band.
“To date I’ve been working with musicians who have other projects of their own, but I feel that I now really need to have my own band.”
That is a task in itself, but in the meantime, she will still be performing acoustic gigs with Bartolo.
“I’m also trying to learn more about the business side of music. There’s much more to music than just getting songs played on the radio.”
Mikaela knows this only too well, particularly because two o her singles have already been used in TV shows abroad. Hear Me Out featured in an episode of 7 on MTV and Condescending was used in an episode of Bravo’s docu-series Flipping Out.
On top of all this, she’s currently also planning her next release, which may be a song called Fall Apart, and possibly some new projects too.
“Last year was an exciting year for me, but I’m looking forward to making this one even better”.
www.myspace.com/mikaelamyspace