ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Georgia Mae

AAA Backstage is proud to introduce our new article series dedicated to showcasing some of the amazing female-fronted bands and female artists based in South East Queensland. After showcasing WAAX and their fierce frontwoman and Sunshine Coast-raised songstress Ayla, we’re now paying overdue attention to Brisbane producer and singer-songwriter Georgia Mae.

The young artist is currently turning heads, and is on high rotation in the AAA office, with her latest single Move. Following on from her warm and playful single Time With You earlier in the year, Move sees Mae’s delicate falsetto used as an intertwining vocal sample between her sternly delivered verses. Not all four of her vocal octaves are utilised in the latest track, but it’s still an amazing display of creative digital vocal manipulation and tones.

The production behind her powerful vocals has remained playful, but there’s something about Move that sounds just a bit more serious, a touch more urgent compared to her previous releases. The new track is like her 2015 single Keeper of the Key, which features some super catchy synth-harp, but it seems Mae may no longer be seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses and some things aren’t exactly going to plan, “And it’s not like I have a choice in this/I don’t”.

Her nomination for Best Pop release at the 2016 Queensland Music Awards for Keeper of the Key was the icing on the cake of an extraordinary first year for Mae as a solo artist. At just 22, Mae’s history as a sound engineer and producer has seen her produce music for feature films and US TV hits as she collaborates remotely from her home studio with musicians around the globe.

“Writing my own songs is just something I’ve always done since I started learning piano at 4 years…creating music seemed like a natural thing to do once I got my head around the notes!” says Mae.

Even though she’s making plenty of waves with her three singles, Mae says it’s important to stay grounded and continue to work hard while at the same time just enjoying making music.

“I find having specific goals in the music industry a dangerous thing. So much ‘success’ relies on luck and chance, so I keep very broad goals that I have more control over…to produce music I like, perform music I like, and to travel with my music are my main goals.

“I’ll always have ridiculously high expectations and changing ideas of what ‘success’ means but it’s nice to know that at the end of the day I can feel like I’ve kicked some goals.”

And god forgive Mae ever lost the passion for music? “I’d probably just focus on everything else in my life? I work in film so I guess more time would go into that. Or I could just bail on everything and become food critique, I’d be very good at that!”