Singer-Songwriter, JULIA MARIE Discusses Her Upcoming Album and Brand New Single Called “Just A Moment”!

Julia Marie recently released a single called “Just A Moment.”

The song intros with dreamy, yet simple chords of a toy piano leading up to Julia’s soothing and ethereal voice, which builds up to a dreamy landscape of sounds. The song is a aural getaway to our world of dreams blending luscious textures and highlights curious lyrics to create a rich sound that resonates.

Julia Mare is currently recording her debut album featuring material produced by Peter Rafelson (Madonna, Elton John, Britney Spears) that is due for release in 2016 on RM Records.

Check out her music here:

https://soundcloud.com/officialjuliamarie/just-a-moment

Learn more about Julia in the following All Access interview:

How’s 2016 treating the band so far? How’s your summer been going? What were some of the highlights of 2015 for you?

2016 has definitely been quite a ride so far and I’m particularly excited about my next series of live shows promoting my upcoming EP at different venues around Los Angeles and a guest performance on The Voice of China! Some highlights from last year were performing at the Chinese American Film Festival with Grammy winner Omar Akram and my producer Peter Rafelson, doing an epic beach shoot for my first music video for my song “Here and Now” and a lot of amazing time spent adventuring in nature.

Growing up, did you always want to be a musician? Can you recall your earliest musical memory?

For as long as I can remember music has been my life. When I was in kindergarten my music teacher met with my mom and me after class and asked me to sing the solo for our class performance of Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World. It wasn’t long until I started studying classical guitar, singing in my school choir and playing any instrument I could get my hands on!

Can you talk about the inspiration for your newest single, “Just A Moment”?

It can be really easy to get caught up in distractions, things from the past, or expectations for the future and Just A Moment is about being present and enjoying the moment with someone even if it might be fleeting. I am an overly analytical person and I can spend a lot of time in my head but some of the most rewarding and meaningful moments in my life have come from being present and letting go of my expectations.

What was it like working with the producer, Peter Rafelson? How did you get to work with him?

I first contacted Peter because he owns and runs an awesome recording studio in LA and I wanted to learn more about recording, sound engineering and the business side of music. When we met up we found that we had similar music inspirations and he really responded to my voice so we instantly vibed and started writing Just a Moment! We started by sharing ideas and musical inspirations then spending many hours in the studio together sitting at the keyboard and figuring out chord progressions, melodies we liked, and crafting lyric ideas. It’s been a really interesting and new process since this is my first time co-writing and co-creating something from scratch with someone. Peter is an industry veteran who is not only a skilled musician and smart businessman but also a compassionate person with integrity who I can connect with and understands female artists. It’s been an amazing experience so far.

I read that you perform all over Los Angeles. What are some of your favorite venues? What do you think makes a perfect show for you?

Recently I’ve been playing all different kinds of shows including small clubs and dive bars, the vaudevillian variety show Scot Nery’s Boobie Trap, backyard cabarets and as a guest performer at really cool events focused on empowering women like GirlTalk HQ and Activate Her Voice. A recent highlight was performing alongside Grammy winner Omar Akram and my producer Peter Rafelson at the Chinese American Film Festival at the Ricardo Montalban Theater in front of the entire Chinese entertainment industry and broadcast all over China! I’m actually about to do a guest performance on The Voice China as well. A perfect show is one where the sound guy gives us good mix and the audience gets into the tunes.

There are a lot of venues in LA that I absolutely love like The Wiltern and The Regent and I especially love outdoor venues like The Hollywood Bowl and The Greek which hopefully I will play at one day!

Who are some of your favorite artists? What artists continue to inspire you? Who would you love to work with in the future?

I grew up blasting the radio in the car and singing along to Beatles songs and Motown hits. Many of my favorite musicians are 60’s/70’s rockers especially Jimi Hendrix. I started getting more into contemporary artists like Radiohead, Father John Misty and Lana Del Rey in high school. I would love to collaborate with Father John Misty or cross genres with a super creative, interesting artist like A$AP Rocky.

At the end of the day, what do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope listeners take away from your songs?

I believe that music has an amazing power to unite people and cultures, cross borders and transcend language. Although life can get complicated and challenging, I also find it to be overwhelmingly beautiful so I want my music to convey that boundless beauty along with some insight about those challenges that everyone experiences.