“Congratulations” is a proverbial eye roll aimed at the never-ending popularity contest that is everyday existence. It was written in the aftermath of an abusive relationship and illustrates the moment in which our narrator finally stands up for herself.
~♥ Music ♥~
Hostage tells the story of a modern woman struggling with the tropes of what it means to be female-identifying in today's society while simultaneously feeling like she is being emotionally and psychologically held captive by the cycles of an abusive relationship. With lyrics like, "why does it feel like I'm always in trouble," "the way you manipulate me is so subtle," and "keeping me hostage to all of my mistakes," Malkin hopes to shine a light on the very real dangers and traumas of toxic relationships. The single artwork was inspired by advertisements from the 50s and is a recreation of a vintage Coca-Cola ad, in which she hopes to play on the concept of the housewife, what it looks like today, and how far away from fitting inside the confines of that box she feels.
Photo Credit: Emelia Hellman
Graphics: Daniel Schrempf
~✿~BIOGRAPHY~✿~
Meet Maya Malkin; a self-proclaimed "singsong girl in a dingdong world." She is a singer-songwriter from Montreal, now located in Toronto, who has made waves in the Canadian music scene with her band, Motel Raphael. With Motel, Maya has released two studio albums (+500,000 Spotify streams), toured Canada twice, played the likes of Osheaga, The MTL Jazz Festival, SXSW, opened a sold-out show for Tegan and Sara, performed on Parliament Hill for Canada's official 150th birthday celebration, and the list goes on! This year, Maya launched her solo project with her first official single, Hostage, written at SOCAN in one of their Monday songwriting camps. The song has reached over 100k on Spotify, over 200k on YouTube, and has been added into rotation on Virgin Radio Montreal as well as KiSS radio across Canada. Maya was just selected as one of Canada's Walk of Fame x RBC Music prize winners this year. Musical projects aside, she has also dabbled in the world of jingle writing; one of her jingles for Swiss Vitamins aired on FOX. Her honest lyrics, her knack for writing a catchy melody, and her vision for this project make her a force to be reckoned with and a Canadian artist to get excited about in 2021.
Canadian Women's FDN x Maya Malkin
