Oh, how it hurts to fall for someone you know will never feel the same. Mikalyn’s latest release, “Never Mine,” is powerful in its exploration of the complexities of love and the pain behind unrequited feelings. We had the pleasure of interviewing Mikalyn, and here’s what she had to say:
Q: What’s the story behind “Never Mine”?
MIKALYN: I wrote this song with Chris Grey, who happens to be one of my best friends! Writing with Chris is always fun because it’s unpredictable – we will be hanging out, and a song will come out of it which is awesome. In this case, we were binge-watching the TV Show “Twenty-Somethings: Austin,” and were intrigued by one of the relationship dynamics on the show. It was a situationship in a sense, they weren’t officially together but got upset when they saw the other person with someone else. This is also a common situation I see around me, so we decided to write about it. It’s about the illusion of relationships, and imagining what a future could be like when you know it’ll never happen.
Q: I like the atmospheric sound of this song! Can you walk us through the production process?
MIKALYN: Although I’m not a producer, I’m very comfortable with Chris and am able to express myself and what I want the records to sound like, and he almost reads my mind in a sense and creates the track. I knew I wanted a dark bass, and synths, so that’s what we started with. Then, we freestyled some of the melodies! It’s always fun looking back on the first voice memos in the writing process. The lyrics came after that, followed by tracking the vocals. Most of my songs have a lot of layers and background vocals, so this part can be the most time-consuming but the most rewarding. I think the harmonies contribute a lot to the atmospheric vibe, which is what I was going for!
Q: What was your best part about creating this song?
MIKALYN: I think the whole writing process was super fun, it’s hard to narrow it down to one part! I think my personal favourite part of recording this song was coming up with the harmonies and the outro. Usually, the ad-libs and harmonies are freestyled, I just play around until I find something that sticks. In this case, the outro was too and it ended up being my favourite part of the song! It was very serendipitous.
Q: What is your favorite memory from your musical journey so far?
MIKALYN: A highlight for me is definitely a trip I took to New York last year for a writing camp. The camp was called SongCon, and I got to meet and work with so many amazing artists, writers, and producers. It was a very inspiring experience, and I just love New York as a city so being there was great as well.
Q: Who is one artist you’d really love to work with? Why?
MIKALYN: I would love to work with Marina. She is my biggest musical inspiration and I’ve been a fan of her since I was 11 (turning 21 this year, so we’re going on 10 years!). I think she influenced a lot of my earlier writing, and those songs/styles have gone on to influence me now. I would love to pick her brain about the industry, and get the chance to write with her! She’s coming out with a poetry book soon that I can’t wait to read. I would also love to work with Frank Ocean because he is my favorite voice in the industry. He could sing the phone book and I would listen to it!
Q: What is one thing you’re really looking forward to achieving musically this year?
MIKALYN: I have a bunch of songs lined up for release, and am most excited for those to finally come out! I’ve been writing so much over the last few years and have really come into my own regarding my sound. Now that I’ve put in the work behind the scenes, it’s finally time to show everyone what I’ve been working on! Other than that, I have always loved performing and can’t wait to do more of that this year.
Interviewed by Zoey King
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