[Music]
Hey everybody, welcome to Phantom Power Artist Hour.
This is episode 6.
It's the Sunday.
We're going to try to be putting these out every Sunday from here on out.
So if it's the Sunday, it's going to be the Phantom Power Artist Hour.
And in this episode, we're going back to Tanzania.
We're going to talk with the lovely Enid Malel.
Now, when I first heard this song fly that you're about to hear,
I could have sworn I was listening to an artist who was in their late 20s, early 30s.
Well, you're about to hear that she is not that.
She is a very impressive young lady who has already finished college.
And just wait until you hear what she's done with another foreign language and how she goes about her recording and all that stuff.
I won't give it away.
But we're going to kick it off here with a song called Fly and then we're going to end the show with a song called "Corquet."
And then she's also got a little snippet of a brand new track for us to listen to.
Don't forget to load up your wallet and send Enid some sats, right?
This is a value-fifvalue podcast. You guys know what that is.
So it's a Phantom Power Artist Hour with Enid Malel and here is Fly.
And then we'll bring her on.
♪ ♪
Hey, I just want to know every place you want to go.
You know that I will go anywhere, which I,
You just name a place and I'll be there, which I,
Take a plane, take a boat,
Or maybe we can hit the road,
Doesn't matter how well when I will, which I,
All I need to know is you'll be there, yeah.
♪ ♪
If you're like islands, that's all right.
Let's catch a fight and fly all night.
Not even the sky for a minute, 'cause we can just ride in the wake of growth.
We're not pass the limit now that I live in if you want to.
Driving with its uproar sound is a club too.
We could play my ride if you want to keep it all smooth.
Just say the word in.
♪ ♪
You're the girl that my dreams know precious.
We can go anywhere to greener pastures.
Think I made up my mind, which I must be the way I get a five-witcher.
I don't need another girl,
That's the running girl, that's the running girl.
You and I can spend all the time in the world
When you're ready, we'll lift up the skating girl.
Now I'm calling on my blessings.
Don't you know you are that blessing?
We can fly a rocket ship all right, which I,
You know I wanna spend my life with you.
I don't space with you girl,
We can fly to anywhere.
Extra to rescue girl,
You special girl, head and lead the way.
If you like islands, that's all right.
Let's catch a flight and fly all night.
Not even the sky's a limit,
Cause we could just fly to a mill.
We could go speed up as the limit,
That they live in if you want to.
Driving with its uproar sound is a club too.
We could play my ride if you want to keep it all smooth.
Just say the word in.
♪ ♪
We can fly, we can fly
[Music]
Welcome, thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you so much for having me.
Yeah, I was talking with Manlake Quex last week
and two weeks ago and he was saying,
"Oh man, you got to get her on.
You got to talk to her."
And I loved the song, "Fly," which we just heard.
So I wanted to talk to you about that.
I wanted to talk to you about your music
and I know that you also went to NYU
through Abu Dhabi.
So I just have a boatload of questions before you
and thank you so much for coming on
and doing this.
Appreciate it.
Thank you for having me once again.
Yeah, so tell us how you are in Tanzania right now.
What part of Tanzania are you in?
I'm in Russia.
I actually work with Manlake Quex
and that's how we got to know each other.
So dude is right down the hall pretty much, right?
Yeah.
Okay, great.
How long have you been working there?
Since last September actually,
I'm working at my old high school.
So I've been here my whole life.
I went to abroad to study university,
spent a year at home and now I'm back
as a teacher, which is like a whole new experience.
Oh wow.
Yeah, the student becomes the teacher as they say, right?
Yeah.
So are you working at the learning orchard?
Is that where you're at?
No, it's a whole international school.
I work in the secondary part of the school and teach math.
Okay.
And help out with music of course.
Nice.
All right, very cool.
That's another thing to talk about.
So now where are you from originally?
Are you from Tanzania originally?
Yeah, I was born and raised here.
I know the accent is a little confusing,
but I just watched a lot of Cartesian network and I think
it kind of molded what I sound like.
Yeah, that's gonna say it's like, wait a second.
She sounds like she's from like, you know, like,
St. Louis or Kansas City.
Like, you sound like you're from right in the middle of the states.
So yeah, I remember when I first flew into New York,
it was my first time I've never set foot into the US.
And like, I was just dragging my suitcase.
I felt so like different in like, I remember someone saying,
welcome home and I was so confused.
I was like, why would you think I'm from here?
I'm from a completely different land.
Like, oversteeds.
Like, I had to cross-ocean to get here.
Wait, you're, yeah, I mean, your English is exceptional.
The only part of the accent that I picked up on was when you said land, right?
The rest of it, I'm like, wait a second.
She's like, she sounds like she's from the very
Kansas, like in the middle of the country, right?
All right, well, that's cool.
Now, tell me about getting into NYU.
Now, because I saw this on your Instagram,
you're a graduate of NYU and I'm through Abu Dhabi, right?
Yeah.
Okay.
What would you get your degree in?
So, well, this is a whole town, anyway, when I was in high school,
I was super interested in like both music and art, like I actually paint as well.
So, I'm very artistic, but I'm also like into numbers and science.
I also did math and whatever.
So, I initially thought that I was going to end up with an engineering degree,
so I went to NYU pursuing engineering, but then halfway through,
I had this like life-changing experience.
Basically, they have this summer program where upper-classmen
spend a semester, not a semester, a summer in New York, and they create a play.
So, you write a bunch of sketches, a bunch of music
that talks about potential issues that freshmen might face when they come into uni.
So, mental health and really promoting the resources around campus, like counseling services,
and like the...
We had a hotline just in case you're not really feeling like you want to subscribe to life anymore.
Yeah.
So, we had all of that, and basically the play was to promote all of these resources.
And I wrote a lot of the music, a lot of the songs that I've used in that play.
And I didn't really think of myself as a songwriter before that.
I wrote songs, but I never really liked them.
And during this experience, I got the validation that I really needed.
Like people listened to my music, they loved it, and I was like,
"Whoa, I can actually do music." And like, I really...
I didn't feel the same way when I went back to class and started doing like computer science.
I didn't feel like I contributed in the same way, or as driven about it.
So, that experience really helped me change my direction a little,
and that's when I pursued music formally.
Well, after going through computer science, but then I went into music.
Yeah, so is your degree in computer science?
Or did you change majors? Did you change to a music...
I changed majors.
You did, wow.
Okay.
So, what is your degree in?
It's just music.
But I focused more on production and performance.
We did have to do like a bunch of like historiography classes as well, but
I'm more interested in the performance and composition aspect of music.
That's really cool.
So, is NYU still using any of this stuff for incoming students?
Are they still running this play?
So to speak?
Yeah, it's an annual play, and some of my songs made it to like later editions.
So basically, each year they have a new cast, and they obviously come up with new ideas,
and they have new songs that they write, and they try to use as much new materials
possible. But it was really interesting how they still use some of my songs.
There's a song about "Consense" that I wrote, which was really nice.
I don't think I'm allowed to share any of that, but it was really nice to hear.
Yeah, there's some videos up for the New York campus, but
our campus doesn't really share that stuff online, unfortunately.
Interesting.
Yeah, because I would think as a songwriter, just from a legal standpoint,
from a publishing standpoint, you would still have rights to it,
like if you wanted to share it for whatever reason.
That's interesting.
But it could be a little--
We sign a contract.
We sign a contract where we kind of like relinquish any rights.
Ah!
Yeah.
You know, that's not uncommon when you're kind of, when you're kind of starting out.
That's okay.
That's not uncommon.
So, how old were you when you started playing music and what was your first instrument?
My instrument has always really been my voice.
I don't play any other instruments.
Really?
Well, I guess I just played the keyboard a little, or the piano a little,
the guitar a little.
I just know some chords, but I wouldn't say that I'm a piano or guitar player.
I sang primarily, and I think I was very much inspired by my parents,
because they loved music.
So, in the little time that I did spend in my dad,
he played music.
My mom loves to sing and karaoke.
And, yeah, she is, like my primary inspiration.
I feel like if she had the same resources that I did,
she would have been a musician, but--
Wow.
You know, it's funny because when I listen to fly,
I don't get the impression that you,
that you don't play a lot of piano or you don't play a lot of guitar.
Like, I mean, it's such an impressive first single for lack of a better term.
I mean, I guess we know now that it's not your first song,
that it's because you've written for the school,
and you've had some commission to works.
But when I listen to the chord structure and the production,
and then of course, your melody, which is fantastic,
I'm like, damn, that's an impressive first track coming out of the gate.
I wonder how she wrote it.
Like, she wrote it on piano or did she write it on guitar for you to say,
I really don't play any one of those instruments.
I'm like, wow.
That's impressive.
That's cool.
I don't know what to say.
Thank you, but I think I just listen to a lot.
So, I listen to a lot of artists who play around with their melodies
in very creative ways.
And I think having listened to so much of that,
I got inspired and kind of found a way to incorporate it in my own work.
I'm really, I love vocal production.
I think that's, well, my voice is my primary instrument,
and that's what I love doing.
So, even when I'm recording music at home,
I just love adding harmonies and ad lives and all of this.
It's something I'm really passionate about.
When did you start recording at home?
Or just, or like, when did you start writing?
Like, your very first song.
Oh, I wrote my first song when I was like 10.
Okay.
It was such an interesting song.
It was like, it was called "Not the one for me"
or "Not the one for you."
I don't know what it was, but I was writing about it.
I was writing, I think it was like, about a bad boy
who was like, definitely not for me.
And his sister was just like, yeah,
he's just not for you.
He's bad for you.
I'm gonna laugh.
I don't know where I was getting this material from as a 10-year-old.
To now, I don't know where it came from,
but that was like the first thing that I wrote.
And I still remember like part of the melody is like,
which is like, like, it felt like it was gonna be like my biggest song ever.
I thought, like, the nice melody.
Thank you.
You ought to, you know, it's funny.
I was talking with Quex last week, right?
And we're both laughing about how bad our first songs were.
He was talking about how he was trying to be a hardcore rapper, you know,
and I was talking about like some stupid two-chord song I wrote about a girl who broke my heart.
And neither one of like, and the melody was not nearly as interesting as,
[singing]
I mean, like, that's your first tune.
You got some talent, girl.
Good district.
Thank you.
Yeah, so, all right, so then you do a lot of recording at home,
like, are you doing it on a, on a DAW,
you know, on a digital workstation, are you doing it on your iPhone?
Like, how are you doing?
You're tracking where you're at now.
So now I'm advanced back in '26, '22, at an iPad, and like, you know those like wired earphones that
come like a little mic?
That was like my studio, right there.
Yeah, that was my studio.
And so I did all recording covers, and from there,
well, I went to uni, and I was still using my wired earphones to do covers,
and I later on decided that it would be a good idea to spend
to invest in my music and invest in a mic.
So I bought this Starlit studios that came with like a mic, a condenser mic,
headphones, and the sound card.
And from there, I started recording better quality material,
and like, I was really impressed by how my stuff sounded.
So right now, I'm using Logic,
nice, a little more advanced, I can do so much more.
And I recorded a song recently, which I'm super excited to share.
I just need someone to help me mix it, and I've sent it to a friend, but maybe I'll share it
on this podcast.
Who knows?
Yeah, hey, that, yeah, if you're okay with that,
we can put it in at the end of the show, we don't have to put it up on the RSS feeds like,
if it's not done and you don't want to share it officially,
you know, I can embed it in the show rather than put it up on the RSS feeds,
where everybody will find it.
Now, you were breaking up there for just a bit, so like,
you got your iPad and you had click-in headphones with a mic and you were using that,
and then you graduated into another platform,
and now you're using Logic, right?
Is that, did I hear all of that?
Yeah, exactly.
Okay.
Yeah.
Cool. How do you, as a musician, how do you like Logic?
Is it easy for you to use?
I like the user interface, like, in comparison to other digital audio work stations that I've
worked with, it just, it feels so much like visually easier to like understand, if that even
makes sense. I've worked with Pro Tools as well, which is pretty ugly, but it's so, like, I love what
my voice sounds like on Pro Tools when I record there, so when I was in uni, I had access to
Pro Tools for free, and I was able to use it to just practice my recording and mixing and mastering,
and all of that. But Logic is definitely so much simpler to look at for me, and it motivates me to
actually work. Pro Tools can be a little intimidating and so can other platforms like FL Studio.
Some people love it, like people love it here, but for me it's like, it's too intimidating.
Really? Have you tried Ableton at all?
I think I got it for free, well, not like the full Ableton,
and I still didn't, like, I didn't understand it. It looks like it's like, it looks nice, but it's still not,
I think it's challenging because I started with GarageBand, and I think moving to Logic was easier
because it's just the same formatting. Yeah. Yeah, I feel like I'm attached to that kind of, like,
layout and moving to another one is daunting. Yeah, I hear you. I hear the same thing. I've got
buddies here in Nashville that use Logic, and they have said the exact same thing. It was a nice
transition from GarageBand into Logic, like it was very easy to understand the flow in the thought
process. I started using Pro Tools way back in the day in 2001, 2002, and so that's kind of where I
learned. Then I took probably like 10 years off from recording, and during that time, all of these
other platforms came out Logic and Ableton and K-Quack and all this other stuff. My Pro Tools
license had expired. Now I use K-Quack, which is actually an open source and free, and I've used it
now for probably six or seven years. To me, that was the easiest transition of going from what I had
learned 25 years ago in Pro Tools to what it is today. I've tried Ableton, and I use Ableton a
little bit around Nashville for live shows, and Ableton is just like, for me, it's a headache.
I don't understand the layout. I always have to go back and read the manual to find stuff,
it skips and crashes on me a little bit. I'm just, "Grrr, drags me nuts."
All right, so talk to me about the single fly. Where did you record it? What was the inspiration for it?
Give me the background on the song. Okay, so, well, I'm really bad at telling stories, so I'm going to
start like, "Oh, you're doing great. This is good." In 2020, when the pandemic was at its peak,
was a 2020 or a 2021, I think it's either one of those years, it's a blur in my mind, but basically,
we didn't have in-person classes, which kind of sucked, but at the same time, it opened the doors for me
in terms of like, exploring classes outside of my campus. I could take online classes from New York,
and I took a songwriting class. I taken it the semester before, but in the second time that I took it,
that's when I met my co-writer's, the people who worked on this song with me. And we had
done some songs in class, and afterwards, I was a little bit sent over the beat, so it was just like the
chord, and like, the drop, and the bass. And it took me, I owe, to write to it, like, 36 months or
some days, like, I came up first, fine, and then, I went along, and I finished it off in, like,
New York. And I, my part, I sent to him, and he, "Oh, this is really good." And we remembered this
other guy in our class, and he's the, he's, you know, the, he's on the track, and he did a verse
to it, like, his rap, then, things, being then big, still. But I had recorded my part in my bedroom,
in Arusha, back from New York. It took a long process, like, we had to, the f*ck, I've
old it, from Arusha, do you, I don't know where this guy was in New York, that, sing a, or that,
it's just bounced places, anyways. Wow. That's cool. I recorded my, in my room,
and sent it to them, and they come after it. It's what it is. Now. Yeah, that's cool. So it took about six,
so once again, we were having a little bit of a pack hiccup, and that's okay. So it took about,
you were saying, it took about six months to write it. You were bouncing ideas back and forth
between Arusha and New York, right? And, and sing a, and then you, and then you cut the vocals,
in your bedroom in, in Tanzania. Yeah. Wow. Okay. What, what, where was it mixed? What, was it mixed in
New York? I think in Singapore, actually, because it's hard to tell. Yeah. You know, that's funny.
It's hard to tell anymore when, when songs get bounced around, and somebody says,
oh, I got a, I got a great guitar player for this track, and then a, you know, something comes in,
and you're like, what, where the hell is that dude? And you're like, oh, he lives in Alaska. What?
So, yeah, it's, that's one of the great things. That's one of the great things about being an independent
musician in this age is, you know, you're in Tanzania, you got an idea from, for a song, and
literally the ideas come bouncing in from around the world, and you merge, merge the tracks together,
and boom, voila, you've got something magical. That's really cool. Yeah. It's really cool. I was really
happy with this song, and super excited to share it when it was done. So, at, so who is B-Leo? It is
B-Leo in New York, or is he in Singapore? Where is he at? He is based in Singapore if I'm not mistaken.
Okay. Okay. Cool. Are, are you gonna do any more work with these guys? Or was that just a one-off?
a one-off song with them? I hope so. I've sent something to one of them, and hopefully
something will come out of it. So far, like, well, last year or, and in 2020, I just wrote a bunch of things,
and because I was unable to finish them, I just reached out to people, so I sent one of them to one
of the guys I worked with on the song. I sent another to an artist that I discovered on Apple Music,
Heads from Mexico, and I had the crazy idea to reach out to him and text him and be like, oh,
be so nice to be collaborated. And he said, yes, and I was like, oh, my god, I don't think this would
happen. So, I sent a song to him, and hopefully it's in Spanish, and hopefully that will be done
this year, but I have a lot of, like, pending work that at this point, it's like not in my hands anymore.
It's just like in the hands of the people I sent it to. Yeah. Yeah.
Hey, you know, a lot of the writers in Nashville are doing the exact same thing. They're working,
you know, they're bouncing ideas back and forth online, you know, they're not writing, you know,
the pandemic changed a lot of the writing, you know, people writing over zoom. So, you're doing it
just like they do in Nashville. So good for you, man. That's really cool. That's really cool.
Now, tell me about the other song that you put up on Wavelake called "Porkay." How that one come about,
where'd you record it? "Porkay." I recorded that one in Abu Bhabi, and it was, I started it in New York.
Again, I feel like my songs just traveled with me. So, I was watching this really dramatic
"Telenovela." I love "Telenovela." I don't know if you know what those are. Yeah, it's a, it's a,
it's like a soap opera. What we would call a soap opera, it's like a cheesy romantic
lots of drama overacting type of like daily show, right? Exactly that. And I was watching this one.
It was super messed up and dramatic, and I used it and like wrote from the perspective, or like
some of it was written in the perspective of the main character who, like her husband cheated on
her with a friend of hers. I mean, we're planning to alope, but then the friend died, and the husband
is in a coma. And it was just nothing. Anyway, it was a hard spot, man, that sucks.
But she still stayed like, I think for the first half of like the "Telenovela," she was still like
looking after the guy and all of this. So then some of the lyrics were just like about her reflecting
on like why, why she there when she knows that this guy doesn't really like her anymore. And then
part of it is like, it's just a made up story, so it's not really from the "Telenovela," but I was
really feeling it, and I recorded, well I needed to write an original piece or two for my capstone,
my final year research project. Okay. So I ended up using that, and I think it really helped me
to have that pressure because otherwise I wouldn't have finished the song. So I finished writing it in
Abu Dhabi because I only had the verse, the first verse chorus, and second verse actually done
in New York, but I didn't have like that middle ending bit. So I finished that in Abu Dhabi, and then
I recorded it in a student lounge, so like not even in like a proper... I fully did.
It was just like one of these common areas. I grabbed my mic stand and my sound card set it up,
and it was noisy, like there was like a seas and whatever, but I got pretty like a lot of good stuff,
and like the ideas were just flowing. I always feel like my background vocals are better than my lead vocals.
Yeah. Interesting that you would say that, because you have a very strong voice.
Why do you think your backgrounds are better than your lead?
I feel like they're more interesting. Like I don't know, like I always come up with such cool ideas
when I'm doing background stuff than when I'm doing like the lead vocals, but obviously I'd need
the lead vocals to build off of to like make the ad-libs and whatever, and the harmonies that I'm
doing the background, but I just have so much more fun doing the background stuff.
And I think it's because my voice isn't like as forward and like I add so much more reverb and it's like
it makes sense in my head. Yeah, no, I get it. I get it. I just, you're the first singer that I've run
across where you're where you're like, yeah, I like my background voice more than my lead voice.
I mean, you're not wrong. Like, you know, backgrounds are cool because you have much more freedom,
you know? Yeah. And especially once you start toying around with compression and delay and effects
and things like that, yeah, that's it. That's interesting. That's really, you know, for somebody who
your voice is your main instrument, but you prefer it in a secondary fashion as a backup rather than
a primary. Interesting. I'm just my biggest hater. Like, I think that's what it boils down to. Like, I
feel like I don't really like the sound of my voice a lot and it takes other people listening to
my music and saying that it's good for me to kind of be like, oh yeah, actually, it's not that bad,
but I think maybe it's because I listen to my work over and over again and I just get sick of my own
voice. But, um, well, yeah, I mean, we're all, we are all our own worst critics, right? And nobody's
going to hear us more than we hear ourselves, right? Yeah. I mean, I've been playing piano for like
40 years and in there are days when I'm like, God, I'm just, God, awful at this. Like, why can't I
figure this out? Right? And I know that I'm better than average, but I understand completely where
you're coming from. Like, we're our own, we're so, it's such a weird thing to be an artist to have
this gift of being able to play music for people and to be able to share it, but then to be so
self-critical and self-aware of it and almost to the point of ashamed of it in terms of, oh,
God, that's awful. I would never share that. When it like nine times out of 10, it's pretty damn good
and people who have no musical ability are going to enjoy it, you know? Yeah.
Yeah, that, I had, it's interesting. I hadn't thought about that about the secondary
music or the secondary voice thing. Okay, so back, so you cut the lyrics or the vocals for "Porkay"
at school when you're over in Abu Dhabi, what about the music production on it? Did you,
did you take care of that or did you have a partner at school? How did the tracks come about?
I actually produced all of it by myself. But God, it was part of, thank you. It was a part of
my thesis. I had to do the production and songwriting all by myself and reflect on it. It was,
well, I'm supposed to know my thesis at the top of my head, but I forgot for now. But I did all of that
at home, well, in my room at school. And it started off, I started off using a, a core generator.
There is this website called onemotion.com or something and they have like this core generator thing and it
generated a, like I put the chords in, but it generated a pattern, like it played it in a specific
arpeggio, which I used. So I downloaded the MIDI from the website and then I changed the instrument
on my, on logic. Or, I don't think I have logic at the time. I think I was working with Gauraj,
but actually. And so then from there, I started just like building on it and trying to add different
instruments. And I used some drum loops because I didn't really know where to start, but then it just
fits so well. And it just came together not in one sitting. I had to kind of go away, come back and
listen to it. And I ended up with something that I really liked. And I think because it was like a
a ballad, I didn't really have to do too much. Like I didn't, I didn't need to because I felt like
it would overpower the vocals. So I just, but there are still so many things that went into it.
Yeah. All self-produced, wow, using core generators or pegiators. That's really, I mean,
you really are like a modern composer, a modern songwriter. That's cool. Like you don't have, I mean,
it would be lovely of course to be able to track this in the studio with a live band, but
for those of you who are listening who don't have background in terms of what it's like to work in
a studio, like there's so many, what basically she was just saying is like there's so many great tools
that are out there online that you can use to generate the chords and generate the lead lines and
generate the beats and everything. And you can just, you know, you can just kind of piece it all
together in parts by yourself in your bedroom in Tanzania and release it to the world. It's, it's kind
of like what's that dude's name who did Old Dirt Road? Is that, oh, I can't remember that guy's name.
That rapper from from Georgia who did that song with Billy Ray Cyrus, he cut the whole thing
by himself in his bedroom and make him beat. Little lost, right, that's it. That's it. That's like, I mean,
you're basically doing the same thing. Like, you know, that's fantastic. So,
and obviously the decision to do it in Spanish was based upon the fact that you were watching this
novella. So, are you fluent in Spanish? I'd say so. I just haven't spoken it enough for me to feel
like I'm fluent, but I took an advanced course and did very well. Like, we were writing essays and
stuff. So, I'd say yes. Yeah. Wow. Okay. See you've got English. Go ahead. Oh, I was, I was saying it's
something that I've always been passionate about. I've always wanted to learn Spanish and I wanted
to take it at school, but it was clashing with other subjects and I later picked it up like in the
most random way. So, I was watching Callum of Elas, which I love with subtitles and then slowly,
but surely like I could watch them without subtitles. Then I decided to take a Spanish class during
the pandemic. So, I took one from NYU, New York online and my teacher is just like, what are you doing
here? You're way too advanced because I knew too much. So then I just jumped to an advanced class and
it was really nice. I got to like learn about like Spanish history, like, well, history of like
Latin America and Spain and all of that and just read materials in Spain in Spanish. So,
writing in Spanish for me is a way to like use it because otherwise I'm not going to use it,
no one speaks Spanish here and I'd actually have Spanish-speaking friends, unfortunately.
Yeah. What an interesting choice on your part. I mean, you must have been really studying it
on your own for you to jump ahead at the college level. That's really impressive.
Callum of Elas? Telling of Elas will take you places. Watch Telling of Elas, guys.
Well, now, how did you get into NYU? How did that come about? Did somebody at your school and
at your quote unquote high school in Tanzania recommend it or what was the process there?
A representative from NYU of a Bubbie came and I think they gave us a bunch of flyers
and I read through and I was really impressed by like the outcome, like you know, on the brochures,
they'll be like, "Oh yeah, 90% of our graduates are employed after whatever." It was really
impressive numbers and the school looked amazing. And I was like, "Oh, I'd want to go here." So,
I filled out my common app because I think I don't remember if I applied to any other American schools,
but I filled out my common app and I did really well at school. I think that really helped as well.
I was a great student and I did a lot of extracurriculars and I just wrote my essay and got in.
And because they were really generous with their financial aid packages like NYU of a Bubbie specifically,
I think that's why or how I went because otherwise it was way too expensive. $80,000 a year is no joke.
Yeah, man. Yeah. So,
stay at school kids. Yeah, one of my daughters friends goes to NYU. They're in New York City and I'm like,
"I don't know, I don't know how the hell you'd be able to afford that." Woo! That's not cheap. So, how much
time did you spend online in the classes and how much time did you spend over in Abu Dhabi doing classes?
So, I spent my first year was fully in person in Abu Dhabi and then I spent a summer in New York,
2019 and then I became back and I went to China. I went to Shanghai because NYU has a campus there as well.
So, I went there for what we call a J-turn. So, in January, we have these intensive three-week courses and
that's what I did in China and that was literally when COVID was emerging. So, as I was at the airport,
I think we just saw news of like, "Oh, there's this virus spreading." And God. So, I got back to campus and things
were okay. I thought that like, the virus was just a passing thing but then months later, the school shut
down. So, I think it was from March or something that classes just fully became remote and I continue
taking remote classes from Abu Dhabi and I didn't go home back here because I was worried that I'd be
locked out and I wouldn't be able to come back. So, I stayed there till December, then I went home.
We came back and we were still doing online classes but it was January 2021. I think that they allowed
us to take online classes from different campuses and that's when I started taking my songwriting classes.
And then I also took, no, I took the songwriting class the term before as well. And then I took it in
January as well up till March or the other way around. Then from there, I went to New York in September
where August, when the borders actually opened up, but I did have a chance to do a bunch of like
in-person things, luckily, I'm so grateful. So, you were in, okay, so you were in New York in the summer of
2019 and then January and fall. Okay. Yeah, 2021, all 2021. All of 2021, all right. But let me go back
to you going over to Shanghai. So, you went to Shanghai in January of 2020? Yes. Okay. And,
yeah, and then COVID, because I was in Seattle, I was in the West Coast when COVID started coming out.
And then I was down in LA at the Big Music Convention. And then it wasn't until March that
COVID really hit here in Nashville and shut everything down. So, you were in Shanghai
in March of 2020. How long were you in Shanghai before you could leave and go home?
Oh, I think I didn't explain it properly. So, I was in Shanghai for three weeks. So, it was just like
January. And then back in, yeah, I was back in Abu Dhabi late January or early February. I can't
remember. But at that time, I was in Abu Dhabi and we still had in-person things when I came back from
Shanghai. But then, slowly things started closing down. People were repatriating back home. And
classes were shutting down. So, I was just in my dorm room for the rest of the year, really.
That sucks. You have a cabin fever, right? Well, that's cool that you got out of Shanghai so fast,
because man, you could have got stuck there for the better part of 2021.
For the better part of 2020. Wow. Man, you really traveled around. That's great. Good for you.
That's, you're packing a lot into your young life so far. So, that's really cool.
Yeah, well, I know we only got a couple of minutes left here because I know you got a hard stop
at the top of the hour. So, tell us a little bit more about what your teaching now and what your
plans are for music in the future. So, at the moment, I teach math. So, I'm more of an assistant
teacher and I help out with, well, we call them IGCSEs and A-levels. So, that's like what?
10th grade all the way to 12th grade. If you have a 12th grade, don't know how the Americans
are some words, but I help out with that math and I also lead a class for, it's a coursework-based math
class where we have challenges that we do each week and we submit those. I also help out with music.
Again, I'm not a teacher yet, but I'm working towards a teaching degree. Hopefully that goes well.
And on the side, of course, I'm writing music and I would like to continue sharing my work with the
world and entertaining and sharing my unique story with other people.
Yeah, Hatton, just to tell me, what type of responses are you getting from people around the world
with your songs on Wavelake or people reaching out to you?
Well, you reached out to me. Thank you. Otherwise, yeah.
Yeah, you bet. By the way, you were one of the first songs that I reviewed on my review podcast,
like "The Last Fall." Thank you so much. It means a lot to me and I think that's something that I
really appreciate about this world. I'm still very new. I don't really understand how it works, but
I definitely feel valued because I did upload my music. I remember I uploaded one of my first songs,
it's called "I Love Me." I took it down, don't look for it. I wrote it in one of my songwriting classes
and I put it up on Spotify and some people listen that I didn't really feel like I got as much,
as much of a response as I would have wanted. I wasn't earning anything, but in this space, I feel like
people value my work. I actually have seen, like I've seen people's love for it in a more tangible way.
Like the whole value for value system is really encouraging for an artist like me who's starting out.
And sometimes I doubt whether my music is good. I remember I released "Fly" on Spotify first before
a meeting, "Mount Like Quicks." It was just sitting there, it's still sitting there with less than
a thousand streams. I started to doubt myself, I was like, "Is this song good enough? What's wrong?
Why am I not seeing anything for it?" But I put it up on "Rate Lake." It was just amazing.
People really liked it, people were listening to it. Just the listens, I even the earnings,
were so many, were so much more and I'm so grateful for that because it encouraged me to kind of
to continue on the stuff. Well, you have to continue because you're very good at this.
And it is completely natural to feel ignored and devalued when you put your music on Spotify or iTunes
and nothing happens. Both of those platforms are full of very talented people whose music will never go
anywhere because there's millions and millions of songs on there. Unless you have tens of thousands
of dollars to push through and promote it, your songs probably aren't going to go anywhere on those
platforms. And you're fighting against major record labels who have gained the system
with respect to playlists and things like that. And then you perfectly described how wonderful
value for value is. Just the interaction that you get from listeners. And you've got within the
people who are using Wave Lake, which is growing every day and the people who are listening on
RSS feeds and podcasts, which is growing every day. You know, to have that direct interaction with people
who can send you satoshis and send you messages directly, that is invaluable. Like you don't get
that on Spotify. You know, like if I heard Fly on Spotify and I was like, oh man, I love the song,
I want to reach out to her. I've got no way to directly communicate with you, but you can do that
with value for value, with RSS feeds, with even with Noster, right? Like with putting your music
with all of that stuff. So good. Well, I certainly hope that you continue to write and produce
and put music out. You're a great example of the modern musician who, you know, you can do
everything yourself. You don't necessarily need a band. You can do it all at home and it sounds
just as good, you know, it sounds just as good as anything that gets produced in the major cities of
the world. So there's a lot to love about your music and your writing and your work ethic and things
like that. I mean, man, you've had a great life so far. You've been jumping around the world and
college degrees and all that kind of stuff. So you are an impressive, impressive young woman. So
who does to you? Thank you. Yeah. Is there anything, anything you want to add, anything you want to
say before we wrap it up here? Like I said, I know we got a hard, or you got a hard stop here in a
couple of minutes, but anything else you want to throw in? Well, to anyone listening, thank you
for listening to my music. And I really don't know if I want to add anything. If you
have any questions, my mind kind of blanked. Yeah. All right. Last, I'm going to hit you with a
very important question. Your top five records of all time. Give me your top five.
This is so hard. I hate picking like favorites and whatnot. Like my mind literally just blinded right now.
Are you going Mariah? Are you going Mary J. Blige? What were you going?
Oh, that's too far back. I'm oh my god. Now you're making me sound really old.
I'm definitely an Ariana Grande fan. I'm trying to figure out. Um.
All right. Then let's do top five singers. Didn't do top five singers. You've already given me one.
Ariana. Okay. Give me four more. There's Beyonce. There's this artist that I discovered on Apple
music. He's from Mexico, Dijuana. I'm not mistaken. His name is many Florence. I love his voice. He has
one only one album up and it annoys me so much because it's so good and his voice is so amazing.
But he's definitely one of them. Okay. And then there's another Mexican artist called Dana Paula. She's
super popular as well. There's a lovely voice. And I'm at three at the moment, right? That's four
because you got Ariana. You got Beyonce. Then you got the dude from Tijuana. Then you got the other
gal from Mexico. So you got one more. One more. Uh.
This is hard. Isn't it? Yeah. Like.
It's not going to be Dolly Parton or Loretta Lynn or. Wait. Whitney Houston.
She's really good. Yeah. Whitney. Yeah. You got to go. Yeah. Yeah. That's certainly understandable.
All right. Well, we'll wrap it up. We're going to. Now you can send me the other track or anything
else that you want to share musically in here. And I'll tag it on the back end of the podcast. But
thank you so much for joining us. I really enjoyed our conversation. And to anybody out who's
out there listening, don't forget to listen to these tracks and send her some sats and say hello
to men like Quex Horus. Okay. We'll do. Thank you so much for having me. And I hope you have a lovely
day. You should definitely keep in touch. Yes. Absolutely. If you ever make it to Nashville, you got
a place to stay. So. Thank you. Yeah. Maybe this year will be the year. Fantastic. Yeah. Okay. Take care.
Have a have a great day. I know you got to go. I'll let you go. Have a great day. Thanks for joining us.
Thank you so much. Bye. You bet you. Bye. Bye. Boy, what an impressive young lady. Huh?
She's got a degree in music already from NYU Abu Dhabi. And she learned Spanish by herself.
Like watching Spanish soap operas. She's hung out in Shanghai. She taught herself how to record at home.
I mean, this is an entrepreneur. This is a Renaissance woman, right? And oh, by the way, what you're
hearing as I am just yacking away on top is a preview of her next single. So I'm going to shut up and
give you like five seconds of it. And that's all you get. She didn't want to release too much more
because I know she said that she's still got to do some mixing on it, but she was happy to
share it with us. So thank you, and then thank you for that one. All right. We're going to wrap up
the show here with the other single that she's got up on Wave Lake. It's called Porque. And I don't
speak Spanish that well. My Spanish is worse than my German and Swedish. But this is a great song. And
listen to the lyrical rhythmic inflections she throws down on this. And for those of you who are
fluent in Spanish, I think you will agree that she nailed it. So we're going to let her take us out.
Thank you guys so much for checking out Phantom Power artist hour and the lovely Enid Malal out of
Tanzania. And we'll catch you next time. See you guys. Here is Porque.
[MUSIC]