Lights, camera, action! This is Maisy Kay’s moment. The UK-born, LA-based singer recently released her new single “The Beast Within,” alongside an epic music video that brings together Maisy’s love for empowering ballads and mythical worlds… especially Pandora!
Simply put, Maisy Kay has always been a fan of Avatar. About two years ago, Maisy sang in Na’vi (the language from the movie) on a song titled “The Storm.” The song went viral, and caught the attention of director James Cameron. He encouraged her to keep going, and a full-length project (featuring “The Beast Within”) is on the horizon!
“The Beast Within” is all about freeing yourself from all that has been holding you back. I had a chat with Maisy about how it came together, and got all the tea on the project as well as her journey so far!
Maisy, thank you so much for being down to chat today! I think to start things off, we need to introduce you to the class and how you basically ended up here in this position you’re in. I know you grew up in the UK and moved to America as a teenager. At the time, did you feel like moving over here would open up many doors for your music?
Absolutely! We moved because I got offered a record deal, which we ultimately didn’t end up taking. That’s what spurred the big move if you will. Where I grew up was very in the middle of nowhere… countryside… which was amazing, but obviously it’s not full of business opportunities. It reached the point where I realized if I wanted to pursue my career in entertainment further, I wouldn’t be able to do it in my current living situation. It worked out for the best!
When you were younger, were you doing gigs or theater at school? Any music programs, or anything else of that sort?
Yeah! I wrote a musical when I was 10 and my primary school put it on for the summer. It was very cute, and I got in the local papers because of it. A recording studio saw it and asked if I’d like to come in and do some sessions there and record some stuff. It was the first time I would’ve ever done that, so that’s sort of the age when I started going into the studio in Birmingham and writing my own music that wasn’t so much musical theatre. I did that for a good… I wanna say half a year before we ended up coming to LA. I’ve always been writing music, and I’d write lots of musical. I’ve definitely always been doing something!
That’s honestly so impressive. I feel like a lot of people think that the realm of musicals is something completely completely different, but I love when I see both worlds collide in a way.
Absolutely! I think the two are more connected than most people give them credit for. I still look to musicals for a lot of my inspiration, so I’m really happy you agree!
And I can definitely tell that! Wow. When I was watching the music video for “The Beast Within,” I felt like it was so cinematic.
Thank you! Yeah, we really went all out for that video. We wanted to sorta step into a new fantasy world and really immerse the viewer.
The song makes me feel like I’m about to go on a journey, or I’m preparing for battle. Like, I think it’s a great song for when I’ve gotta step outside in the cold without a jacket because I can’t find my jacket, and I need to just put my game face on! It’s one of those songs you can really hype yourself unto, you know? And it just sounds like a film score, I love it.
Thank you! We really were going for film sore vibes, it’s awesome.
I wanted to know more about how it came together and the story behind it!
So we worked with Simon Franglen, who is head of the music department now for the new Avatar sequels, and he put us in touch with a lot of the musicians who played on the original Avatar score. We got to go to Abbey Road, and I think there was a 92-piece orchestra. They recorded everything there live, and I got to watch the whole thing. It was amazing. I originally just wrote most of the songs myself in my room, and watching them go from that to literally being played by a 92-piece orchestra was just insane. I couldn’t believe it.
That’s one of those moments where you just have to pinch yourself, you know?
Exactly, exactly! I still can’t believe that happened, it was crazy.
I overheard you got a seal of approval from James Cameron himself for this project. How did that feel? Someone who’s literally a legend in the film world now was praising your work!
It was amazing! I met him in person, and I go to see some of the technology they’re using for the new sequels. It was truly… it was incredible. I was obsessed with Avatar as a kid. Obsessed. I would’ve painted myself blue if I had the makeup to do it. I was really obsessed. I wrote the first song just for fun. I sang a little bit of Na’vi, and he ended up getting back to me. He basically said he wanted more music, and he really loved what I was doing. Again, it’s hard to believe that’s real and that happened. I think 10 year old me would be screaming to know that we met him and he likes my music.
It feels like a full circle moment, if you will.
Absolutely. I got very heavily bullied in high school for how much I loved Avatar, so now it’s like… haha!
Literally! That’s a glo-up.
Abolutely a glo-up!
Speaking of Na’vi, I noticed that you were singing in both English and Na’vi in “The Beast Within.” For people who don’t know, that’s the the language spoken in Pandora. How hard was that to learn?
You know… it was hard, but I think it was harder at the time than it would be to learn now. The movie had just come out, and there were very limited resources. Now I know there’s big groups of people, conventions, and lots of stuff. When I was learning it, there was really only one online forum. I remember they had “homework,” like worksheets and I’d print them out and do them after my regular homework (because I’m crazy apparently.) It was really difficult, honestly. There was no one really around at the time to let you know if you were doing it right. There were no videos of people speaking it, but now there’s a lot of info out there where you can make sure your pronunciation is right and everything. When I was 10, I was just kinda winging it.
I actually got to meet with Paul Frommer, the man who created the language, for this album, and he showed me personally what the pronunciation was. I’d have to say, 10 year old me did a pretty good job. I was pretty accurate. There was a few I wasn’t quite nailing, but for the most part, I nailed it! It was hard, and it was even harder getting back into it for the album because I stopped trying to actively learn it somewhere in the bullying at school. It was sorta like a refresher, I had to get back into it. It was challenging, it is challenging, but now there’s proper resources to see if you’re pronouncing it right.
This convo made me realize… Avatar came out when I was like in 5th or 6th grade. It was so so so long ago, and technology was very different back then.
Absolutely! I mean yeah, 2009. It was crazy.
Like Facebook was barely taking off I think.
Yeah, and we were all over! We were all over Facebook, and now I’m never even on there. It was a different world.
Looking back at how far you’ve come, what are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned along the way?
That’s a good question. I think I’ve learned that progress isn’t always linear. I think that’s something that’s been really tough for me throughout the years of being here. For example, you have a lot of down time, and you have a lot of up time. You have periods in time where you aren’t really working a lot, and that can feel really frustrating… but it doesn’t actually mean you’re not progressing. You don’t have to be constantly on the up to be making progress. That’s something I still have to remind myself of, but I think that’s a very good lesson for life in general, not just music. I think that’s a really big one. Something else… well… it’s a really complex industry, and there’s so much more going on behind the scenes than a lot of people realize. I think the number one thing I’ve always tried to do is be kind to everyone. I see a lot of famous people that are really quite nasty to people who work behind the scenes or don’t think are “the talent.” I’ve always had the mentality that everyone in this room is just as talented as me, and without them, I wouldn’t be here, able to do my job. I think my number one thing has been, treat everyone with the same level of kindness and respect, because they’re all incredibly talented. There’s so many people doing so many jobs… mine is the easiest, I just have to sing. I think being respectful to absolutely everyone is something I don’t see enough people doing in the industry, and it’s something I wanna make sure I always do.
Kindness always goes a long ways, you know?
Absolutely. I mean, these poor people are used to being treated quite badly. yOu’d be surprised how many artists really do talk down to the people behind the scenes. I think it’s really refreshing for them as well (or at least it seems like it) to just be treated decently… which is such a sad thing to say, but that’s a lot of the industry. I don’t ever want to contribute to that.
Like Harry Styles, he said it best… treat people with kindness!
ABSOLUTELY! Absolutely!
Yes, definitely! And it will make you stand out if you’re polite to people.
Being nice is never a bad thing. It can only help.
Well, Maisy… if you could do another project based around another movie, what would be on your mind? I love Avatar, don’t get me wrong. I’m very excited to watch The Way of Water, but I think we need a Maisy Kay Cinematic Universe.
That would be fun! I’d love to do something for Lord of the Rings, maybe in Elvish. I think that would be really fun.
My inner child is screaming right now.
I feel like that would be so fun!! Definitely Lord of the Rings.
I think we need you to meet up with Hans Zimmer now.
Yes! I’ll put that on my to-do list.
Maisy’s manifestation for our chat: I would really love to get the opportunity to go to Abbey Road studios again. It’s such a legendary place, and I’d love to actually record me singing there… which is something we didn’t do last time. Abbey Road, there’s nothing like it. It’s famous for a reason, and I just wanna go back!
