Cyborgs and being authentic to yourself – a Maria Domark Banana Interview

From Dark Pop to Hyperpop. Your Project could be described in so many ways but what would you say that is your music genre? Did you get inspired by any music artist?

The most difficult thing we had to figure out about this project is the genre.. I’ve written this EP about what was going on in my head at the time and because I was in a dark place, most of the sound is dark and I was always a fan of dark electronic music, but not all of my (unreleased) music is dark. I’m a big fan of hyper pop and electro-pop as well, and actually, as long as it’s interesting and electronic I like it so I don’t really want to define my sound by “dark pop” or “hyper pop”, I think the best way to describe what I love doing is “future pop”

Mieway talks about fighting for yourself. On the cover of your EP, we see you dressed like an angel but surrounded by thorns. Are these thorns part of you right now? What is the new way that you describe in the song?

Well, I was a commercial model for all of my adult life. I had an agency, an agent, a personal manager, a label, big contracts with big companies, and a glam team. All I knew was following orders by people who looked at me as a business that’s supposed to make them earn money and even after I’ve stopped modeling I was kind of looking for that treatment because that’s what I knew and thought was the right way to be successful. In my decision of making it entirely on my own and taking my own life into my hands, I’ve learned how liberating it is, how happy I feel living this way and how messed up my head used to be. Mieway is talking about finally doing what I want knowing that all these people who thought they know how to run my life would never approve of that. People comment on my posts thinking I went insane because I won’t post fake Instagram or modeling photos anymore and that’s exactly the point of the song- everyone will have an opinion about you and your decisions without knowing you, and I’ve decided to only do things my way, the only way to be truly happy. So on the cover, we see a cute manufactured cyborg who broke free from the factory, and this is just the beginning of her real journey.

Your aesthetic combines your human nature with a robotic appearance. What’s the best part of being a human? And the best part of being a robot?

You were a model and right now you’re producing your own songs. What lead you to take this decision? Did you find this challenging?

The decision came after I could finally admit that I’m not happy. I got to live my dreams, achieve my career goals and everything was “perfect” but I just felt like I’m living a lie because once I’ve achieved a goal, I felt nothing, no new goal ever came after one was complete. I didn’t want to be successful that way, I didn’t want to be loved for my looks, I never thought that there would be a glass wall around me once I’m successful- and I found that everything was figured out for me the moment I’ve become a “talent”. I’ve only started to focus on growing my Instagram account because I wasn’t accepted into the music major in high school and I really wanted to express myself big anyway, but the bigger my career was the less I could do that. The change was a rebirth in a way, it felt right with every scary step I took. The only challenge was my mindset and I needed some time to grow as a person and gain my own confidence

We’re surrounded by algorithms now, Do you think we already live in a dystopian world?

I wouldn’t want to live any other way actually, I love technology, I love the robotic-sounding music, I love knowing anything I want to know by just looking it up in an app. I feel like people have a lot more power than they ever had before and we’re harder to control because the information is everywhere. Sure that there are huge companies and powerful people who try brainwashing us by showing us the information they want us to see, but we definitely have a choice to think for ourselves and decide what we believe in

🎧 What is your current favourite / guilty pleasure / go-to playlist? ( no pressure, it doesn’t have to be in Indiemono haha)

I’m actually very into Spotify’s “misfits 2.0” playlist lately, sometimes I spot great finds there and I love the energy. I also check random hyper-pop playlists to find new interesting artists and sounds

If you were a planet…you’d be…

Saturn. I’m very fascinated by this planet and I always travel there in my mind

❤️‍🔥 What’s your favorite moment as an artist

Making a new track that feels right, giving birth to this new idea and concept, and seeing it come to life. Expressing my vision with sound.

An artist you hate profoundly!

Not a hate and not a certain artist, but I don’t like artists who are not artists, you know? The people who sing songs other people wrote just to try and make a hit and make money, sadly there are so many of these. I’ve been in that position, I know it from the inside and I know that most of these artists are completely aware of the game they’re playing and they don’t care, it’s just a job for them and they love being famous, there’s no heart in what they do.

The smartest thing you’ve ever done

Listening to my intuition

📢 Give us 5 emerging artists that you want to highlight for everyone to discover right now

Anything you want to add before we finish?

That banana was delicious (that’s what she said) omg I’m so lame.