MARIO: Friday Jams Sessions
An interview by Sarah Kidd.
He’s an actor, a model, a record producer and a songwriter. And most notably he has a voice that sounds like it was forged in the heavens themselves. When Mario released ‘Just A Friend’ and then followed it up two years later with his award winning single ‘Let Me Love You’ (incidentally written by another Friday Jams artist – Ne-Yo) he solidified his place in the RnB world as one of its most talented youngsters. At just eighteen years old, Mario was in hot demand.
Now a little bit older and a little bit wiser, Mario has made several changes in his life which in turn have also changed his outlook on his music. With an impending new album on the horizon I sat down with Mario to discuss his latest record label and just how deep he goes on a personal level with his new material…
Your earlier work such as your singles ‘Let Me Love You’ and ‘Here I Go Again’ are ageless; they have become a part of people’s lives. Fans have got married to them, proposed to them … does it ever make you take a step back when you realize that you and your music are now a part of an individuals’ life forever?
“Like I think more so now than ever, I understand the power of the human experience; emotionally how it connects to different things, whether its music or you know the things that make us happy; eating, cooking, going out, having moments.
Music is just another space holder for those types of experiences, so I can appreciate them more. Honestly – makes me appreciate my gift more”
Now you have created your own record label New Citizen; do you feel that this has given you renewed vigour in your art as well as more control?
“Oh yeah 100%. It’s given me more purpose, not just in the music business but in life! Just because I can you know really express the things I want to express to the music. With this new album you are definitely going to hear that growth and that change as far as the actual expression itself, and how deep I go within myself to relate and to bring these different things forth”
Speaking of the new album; latest single ‘Pain is the New Pleasure’, can you please sum this song up for me?
“Pain is the new pleasure … it’s like the fine line between self-sabotage and self-reflecting. You know by way of the choices we make sometimes and I guess this song – it’s a song I wrote and produced with a partner of mine, Pham who is a producer from out of Poland – you know when I did this record it was at a time I was in a very reflective place.
I was going through a lot and I also was just looking at where we are as a civilisation you know? Living in America you see things in a different perspective and you’re in like this tornado of all these different energies and all these different things. I find that sometimes we entertain things that we feel give us a pleasure but really it is like our shadow – you know it’s our shadows that we become addicted to whether its drug addiction or sex, or money or you know too much of anything … the pain becomes the pleasure”
So is ‘Cosmos 17’ still going to be the title for the new album?
“Yes. Still as of now, I might just change it … just to ‘17’ but we’re gonna see, we’re gonna see. I might just take the ‘Cosmos’ off … but we’ll see how we feel after we actually pick the final songs for the album”
And what can fans expect – a complete change of direction for Mario?
“Yeah I mean you’re still going to get the soulful, classic Mario, but you’re definitely gonna feel like you’re on a much deeper journey. You’re gonna feel like you know me much better … like your questions will probably be on a whole other level next time you know what I mean. [laughs]
You know, you’re gonna get the lover, you’re gonna get the man who isn’t always strong, you’re gonna get the man who is strong, you’re gonna get the man who is curious about love, the man who knows nothing about love, the man who is, you know, observing love, has been in love. Like just you’re gonna get all those different emotions in the song and you’re also going to have a good time! I got dat songs on there as well; that’s just classic songs, but they all have underlining concepts and ideas that I think we all as humans can relate to, you know about life, believing in yourself, searching for things – so finding love in that process”
As a member of the Friday Jams line-up, what in your opinion has been the best part of being involved in this whole experience?
“I think the best part is like seeing how different we all are in our artistic abilities; but also seeing that we have similar fans and we bring all these different people together! That to me is what music is about, so I think this is a great tour to express that!”
Agreed – it’s such an amazing mix of artists but with that common thread of RnB roots that tie you all together…
“Absolutely! Yes, yes definitely.”
So then what is RnB music to you?
“It’s very reflective when it comes to how we relate to love, how we relate to each other and ourselves. So it’s like for me it’s always taken me to a space in time of a soulful experience, like when I first got my karaoke machine! My mother bought me a karaoke machine when I was younger. First song I ever sung on it was like a Whitney Houston song and like a Boys II Men song and it’s like that’s RnB to me. Like those moments are RnB. When I think about the holidays, growing up my grandmother playing Luther Vandross Christmas albums you know? Like it’s RnB, it’s just soulful!”
It’s tied to memories…
“Yeah.”
You have made several changes to your life; you became a vegan, take yoga and so forth. Do you feel that this change has also fed into your music?
“Oh 100% yeah. Especially the new music and what you’re gonna hear. You know my goal is to make people feel … my goal is for those three minutes of each song – or some songs are like 5-7 mins long on the album – like for those minutes, is to take you away from whatever reality or mundane type of situation you may be in and give you something to reflect on, but also to remember and to be inspired by!
So in the change of my life, it is like really me reflecting a deeper side of myself and then reflecting with that part of myself”
Out of interest, who has been your favourite artist on this tour?
Oh. That’s tough, but I would say Sean Paul. I love Ne-Yos’ set too you know – it’s tough, it’s really tough!
I think everybody has something special about their set that I’m like ‘You know that part is my favourite part of the show’. But Sean Pauls’ set is just like a full on party! So it’s like you know, the end of the show, the end of the night … Sean Paul is like the After Party! His set is the After Party – so it’s fun!”
Recently Auckland’s Spark Arena was host to the absolutely massive ‘Friday Jams’ Festival (you can check out our review of the day here). Sarah Kidd was there backstage to chat with a few of the artists, which we will be rolling out this short work week to get you hyped for Friday all over again! Be sure to tune in to ZM every Friday between 9am & 3pm for ZM’s Friday Jams to kick off that weekend party feeling…