Marcella Fruehan Interview - unapologetically badass
By Run That Again
Marcella Fruehan is an interesting artist- your ears instantly prick up when listening to her tracks. No matter which of her songs it is, you can’t help but be taken in by the dark synth-pop feel, which offers something earthy and unique within the more recognisable Tove Lo and Sabrina Carpenter aspects to her sound. When we heard her recent track Know My Name, with it’s unapologetically badass vibe, we knew we had to sit down to chat to the LA-based artist.
We ask her what Know My Name is about and what it means to her. She replies:
“Know My Name means the world to me. I keep calling it my ‘comeback’ song because I really feel like it encompasses my truest self compared to other releases. The honest lyrics, the powerful percussion, the sampling - combining everything I love in one song. I hope that listeners will be inspired to never give up on their dreams and to know that if they want something bad enough and work for it, no matter what they look like, if their sound can’t be put into one genre, people will know their name.”
“I hope that listeners will be inspired... to know that if they want something bad enough and work for it, no matter what they look like, if their sound can’t be put into one genre, people will know their name.”
That’s pretty mad inspiring. And with such confidence it’s no surprise we want to know how her musical journey began, we ask Marcella when she first got into music and who her influences are now.
“I started singing when I was very young but at age 14 I decided to pursue music professionally. I’m realizing how long it takes to really develop as an artist and really get to know myself and my sound.”
We ask if Marcella has ever received any good advice, that’s kept her motivated in the industry, or received any negativity during her process?
“[In terms of negativity...] That it’s hard to make money. It seems that there is no real formula for independent artists out there to have monetary success. It’s like you just put your best work out there and hope that a stroke of luck pushes you to the forefront for people to see it.”
“[But] one of my Berklee professors once said ‘Don’t practice or write 24/7. Watch Netflix, go for a walk, remember to live. Where else are you going to get your inspiration from?’ That advice really resonated with me, so when I find myself getting stuck or feeling uninspired to create, I just unplug. Pretty much I just stop overthinking :)”
Marcella also mentions the positive influences in her life musically, as well as her professors.
“My top 3 artists that influence my music are Lewis Del Mar, for their insane percussion (shoutout to Max), Kaleo, for his power-house, soulful voice, and ZHU, for his electronic wizardry.”
Electronic wizardry, that’s a pretty cool way of putting it. We ask Marcella if there’s anyone in the world she’d want to collaborate with and why?
“SOPHIE. She is SO sick and a huge inspiration to me. I am so fascinated with her productions because I can’t even begin to imagine how she builds her sounds.”
We think SOPHIE and Marcella would be a wicked collaboration.
With these kind of interviews, we often find people focus too much on the music and not the person behind the sound. So we ask what’s one thing about Marcella that is less well-known?
“I am super super emotional…” she says, “like i’ll start tearing up from seeing a dog walking on the street or when Harry Potter comes on the TV… I sob. It’s my favorite movie series!”
To be fair, it’s hard not to cry when Dobby says ‘Dobby is a free elf’, in anyone’s book.
Stream Know My Name here.