Mæhila: Five Steps to Making a Record

Musical Theatre and Staying Open to Discipline

I never wanted to focus on one main thing because I want to stay open to any discipline. I chose musical theatre, mainly because I wanted to study all three topics; acting, singing and dancing.

Music has always been something in my life but I didn’t really have the tools to create them. So when Sacha offered me a way of creating music by producing for me, I thought that was an amazing opportunity and I have to take that chance.

Mæhila Five Steps to Making a Record 

Step One: Always be writing

I have always kinda just written text, sometimes in my diary. It’s never really lyrics, sometimes I wake at 4am with an idea and jot it down. During our collab-ing Sacha showed me this one track that he made and I loved it instantly and could imagine some of the lyrics I had written in my diary instantly.

Step Two: Get out there and be seen

I met Sacha because I was a dancer in one of his music videos. I had been uploading videos of myself singing covers to my instagram and Sacha had come across them and told me “you sing great, I am a producer and do you want to work with me”.

Step Three: Find yourself a great producer

was a bit lost at first but Sacha made me super comfortable with the whole process and we really gelled together. He made me super comfortable and it felt like no idea I had was ever wrong. It felt like two friends sharing music together and it made me feel more confident. Sometimes Sacha would make the changes I wanted to make without myself even vocalizing them.

Step Four: Take Your Time

Gentle took around 3 or 4 days of 8 hour sessions. It included a lot of time just hanging out, getting inspired, finding the melodies.

Step Five: Be Vocal

Sacha produced the track but I am a perfectionist so I gave ideas of how to change the instrumentals. I don’t know much about producing music at all but I still really want to get my fingerprints on the track. 

Releasing Music To The World For First Timers

I had never released music before so I thought it worked a little differently. I assumed you could just upload it immediately as soon as we finished the track but we had to wait for a couple of months for the release radar and to upload it to streaming platforms like Spotify.

How to get your track on Spotify’s “Release Radar”

• Spotify doesn’t include a song in a listener’s Release Radar if they’ve already listened to it.
• Spotify only include songs where you’re a main or featured artist (not remixer)
• Spotify don’t include songs by Various Artists
• Spotify don’t include re-releases of songs already on Spotify
• Each listener only gets one song per artist per week
• They include a song for up to 4 weeks if a listener hasn’t heard it

I scheduled the release for the track via DistroKid for a date when I knew I would be in Madrid with all my friends because I wanted to be around people and party and have fun when it happens. It was on the 5th of December and we had champagne, it was a really fun process and it helped me not get inside my head and be like “what now” so I put my phone away and my friends loved the track and we were just vibing.

Music Distributors to upload your music to streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music etc:

1. DistroKid
2. CD Baby
3. EmuBands
4. Record Union
5. Vydia
6. 6. iGroove

New Goals and Staying Fresh

Yes we’re working on new songs but I don’t want to just have one genre, I wanna try loads of different stuff and see what works best for me. The goal is that I really want to surprise people with my songs, instead of just releasing the same stuff.

The Eye Opener

Last summer after my second year of university, I was like I don’t wanna do anything right now and had a period where I was unmotivated. I believe that unproductive moment ended up inspiring me to shake it off and be more productive.  I think everything happens for a reason as cheesy as it sounds and I think it was the best for me because thanks to the pandemic I was in Luxembourg and I was able to produce this song.

“I think everything happens for a reason as cheesy as it sounds and I think it was the best for me because thanks to the pandemic I was in Luxembourg and I was able to produce this song.”

Mahila on the pandemic.

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