Mina Tobias and Madchen Amick – Another One

By starrymag | November 12, 2018

By: Taylor Gates

 

 

Mina Tobias – Writer/Singer/Producer/Mixer

 

Q) What’s your songwriting process like? Do you usually start with an image, a lyric, a sound? I know it’s different for everybody.

 

A) Interestingly enough, it’s different for each song. If I have the inspiration and sit down to try to write, I usually start on the keyboard and get a melody going and see what kind of emotion it brings for the lyrics. But I’ve had songs like “Freedom” I fully heard in a dream–music, lyrics, everything–and I woke up and wrote it down. It kind of depends on the song, but I usually start with music and write to what it’s saying to me.

 

Q) You wore almost all the hats for this song. You produced, mixed, wrote and sang it. Do you have a favorite role that you gravitate towards?

 

A) Yeah, I would say the singing/songwriting part. I don’t love engineering it. I’m not very good at it, but it kind of came out of necessity when I first started. I didn’t really have anybody, so I learned it. But definitely the more creative side. I love creating the melody on the keyboard and doing lyrics. It’s fun to express myself that way.

 

Q) Do you think you’ll ever direct a video yourself?

 

A) I think so. I hope so. I’m obviously too inexperienced now, but whenever I do music videos I send over my ideas to someone more qualified. Hopefully, with more acting experience and as I do more and more videos, I’ll be able to consider it down the line.

 

Q) Who are some of your inspirations music-wise?

 

A) Prince is my number one. Aaliyah is really big for me. Janet Jackson. Right now, I love Robyn, a Swedish singer. She’s amazing. Halsey–whenever I do sets and perform I do a Halsey song every time. Sara Bareilles is great. Those are my top ones right now, but I always look back and go, “Ugh, I forgot this person.”

 

Q) Do you have a dream person to collaborate with?

 

A) The Weeknd. I love The Weeknd, I love Miguel and think he’s awesome. Both of their styles and way they write their lyrics is very similar to how I write my lyrics. I always pretend I’m dueting in the car with them.

 

Q) I feel like your voice would mesh really well with them.

 

A) I hope so! In the car, it sounds like it does. [Laughs]

 

Q) Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians?

 

A) My experience first coming to LA and graduating from college wanting to get into music and acting was reaching out to people to find a manager, agent and label. What I’ve learned time and time again for the past three years now is you can do so much of it yourself whether that’s through YouTube or Soundcloud or just writing and sending it to friends. It’s all about doing it yourself right now. You can create your entire brand on YouTube. If you have the voice and have the drive, put yourself out there.

 

Q) I know you have a ton of stuff happening in the future. You’re about to release an EP and go on tour. What can fans expect from all of that?

 

A) It’s going to be happening for a very long time. I have a million things coming up that I’m trying to promote in the right way. I’m trying to release the EP before the tour. I have a lot of content on Soundcloud and Spotify–I’ve been writing since I was young and have a million songs out there. I’m trying to downsize it to my favorite ones right now. I also have two songs coming out through Sony and Armada that I’m releasing with The EC Twins that literally went through Saturday. There’s a lot coming up. Stay tuned!

 

 

Madchen Amick – Director

 

Q) Directors get inspiration from all kinds of places–from pop culture to fashion to different periods in history. Where do you usually get your inspiration?

 

A) I let the project kind of tell me where it wants to go. If it’s a music video, it depends on the song and what it’s telling me. This one, because it’s the story of two girls and a guy and some cheating happening, for some reason the Destiny’s Child video “Say My Name” came to mind. So, I threw back to “Say My Name” and incorporated a rotating stage.

 

Q) I love a good rotating stage. Hamilton utilized that so well, too, so that seems to be a really awesome trend right now. I think it’s so cool that you guys had open calls for dancers on social media. How has social media impacted the way you navigate the industry now?

 

A) It’s something that took me a while to embrace and understand. I was very resistant at first because it felt like so much, but I started to realize it was a really nice tool to get immediate feedback from fans, to engage them and, in this instance, there were a few slots we still needed to fill so why not give opportunities to dancers out there who haven’t gone into whatever channels where they’re as well-known? We wanted to open it up to some aspiring dancers who were amazing.

 

Q) Do you have any advice for aspiring directors, particularly female ones?

 

A) Just fucking do it. Go do it. I wanted to be a director my entire career. I gave myself one excuse after another. But you just have to do it. You have to get your feet wet and you have to be crafty in how you put it together and build your team. Write as much as you can, produce as much as you can and direct. We need our voices out there, so there’s no excuse. Go do it!

 

Q) I can’t have you here and not ask about “Riverdale” because I’m obsessed. What do you think Alice Cooper’s theme song is?

 

A) “She’s a Bad Mama Jama.”

 

Q) Nice. That’s perfect. What about “Falice’s” theme song, especially this season?

 

A) Oh… “Wild Thing!” You can’t top that. Because the two of them together, they’re like kindred spirits. They’ve grown up together. They’re soulmates. Their worlds have torn them apart, but they’re slowly finding their way back to each other.

 

Q) I love Alice’s character development. We get to see so many different sides of her. Season one was the buttoned-up Alice.

 

A) Yes. She was uptight Alice.

 

Q) Season Two we had serpent Alice come out. This season we have a hippie cult Alice. Do you have a favorite sort of version to play?

 

A) She’s just fun in general. I never know what to expect with her. I never know what they’re going to write. I think it’s interesting that she constantly takes on new personas to avoid really dealing with her feelings and real situations. That’s fun to play because she’s constantly, sort of, in turmoil and hiding something in the closet, sweeping it under the rug and you know it’s eventually going to come out.

 

Q) Finally, I love all the Mama Cooper scenes, too. Are there any coming up that stick out to you that we can be really excited about as fans?

 

A) There’s definitely one in particular where they’re paying homage to The Cooper women are threatened inside the house and whatever Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Alice’s differences are, they always come together to protect each other. We go a big, scary course.