And now here they are, Nick and Sue on Chatterbox. When the stars talk, they talk to Nick and Sue. And welcome back to the Chatterbox Redux Podcast with Sue and Nick and in this edition our special guest is Maya Kamara. This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving you all you need to know about music Chatterbox UK, we're just lucky enough to welcome Maya Kamara. Maya, welcome to Chatterbox, how are you? Hello Maya. I'm not too bad, thank you for having me. I'm good, yeah. How are you
guys? We're good, thank you. Yeah, we're good, aren't we? Good to meet you. Great to meet you at last. Been around for a little while. It was Chris Spearer from Space Angel Music. He sent me his new releases. So we're going back like last year. He sent us Crush, which we put in Hit and Miss. It did very, very well. Very well. Great sounding song. Since then, play your games,
we've been. doing a bit weird, haven't we? So, yes, we're looking forward to putting you, you know, another one of your songs and hit and miss. We play you on some of our other shows as well. The Chatterbox show, which you're going on, also not only has interviews, but it has music on as well that's not part of the interview. So if we're promoting an artist, like when we put another one of your songs on, you probably get played four, five, six weeks non -stop, things
like that. And of course it goes to all those stations as well. That's how we got to know you, and we just thought, we've got to interview that girl. We've got to. And I saw clips of you on your Facebook, and I guess we follow you on there.
she's lovely we just got to interview you you know we could just imagine how great it's going to be to meet you and what you're going to be so and here you are now so that's all good thank you so much for all that support that really means a lot to me thank you well you deserve it all you've done it yourself really we're just the ones that play the stuff you know so that's what i always do and it's like chatterbox the and hit and miss the stars are to guests and
the people who we're playing you know that's how it is you know um Anyway, tell us how it all started. Your music. When you were a kid, did you want to be a singer, a songwriter? When did it start? I've been singing. I actually don't even know how long. My mum would say since before I could talk. I don't know if that's an exaggeration or not. But I've been sort of singing and performing since I was an infant. Songwriting since about seven or eight years old. I first recorded at
12 years old. So yeah, and I'm 38 now, so it's been a while. It's been a long time doing what I do. Unfortunately, I'm not able to do it full time as most musicians aren't, but I still do it weekly, daily, but not as my income, unfortunately. That's the only downside, but yeah. Yeah, you're definitely not alone on that. But at least in the present day, you know, we got this sort of situation where you can have interviews with people like us via Zoom and things like that.
And it's just so it is like you're there in front of us because you are. I mean, it's incredible.
I mean, I do go back to the days where, you know, There was a spare room underneath the local theater if I was doing something on Radio Sussex couldn't get the Brighton and it was so this is how it was in the late 80s and you'd have this old landline and you'd have Have to have the the receiver off of it Speak into a mind it was a really weird thing and all the time that that land like the receiver was off of this old landline I was connected to Brighton for any reason got put down or that
was the end of it and that is the technology of 1986 and 87 It's come a long way since then. That's how you could do Hastings to Brighton Live. Now we're talking, are you in London? I think you are, aren't you? I am, yeah, I'm in London now. Talking to you in London, crystal clear, without leading an old receiver on a desk next to me. It sounds so antiquated, doesn't it? It's incredible. Well, there's a will, there's a way. That's what I say. It's totally different
then. Incredible. What about gigging and stuff? Do you get to do concerts and stuff around London? I haven't for a minute. I think my last gig was probably just over a year ago, unfortunately, because I don't have a band at the moment. It's just so hard to find people that will commit to rehearsing once or twice a week. And then you've got the grind of looking for venues and the promotion of it all. When stuff comes up, I, of course, will take the opportunity to get
on the stage. But currently I'm just recording, recording, recording, recording and just more in studio than anything else at the minute. But who knows? That might change this year. We'll see. Yeah. So obviously live stuff is something that you you would do. You do do when you can. Yeah. We'll do the future sort of thing. Yeah. OK, right. I got this album. It came out last year, towards the end of last year, I think it
was. Wanting You Now? Yes. Tell us about that and some of the tracks on it and the influence of the album. So Wanting You Now is actually quite a small album for me. So I think eight tracks, I think. And I recorded it. It was produced by my friend Kevin, who goes by the production name Celerect LA Dreams. And he's based in LA. I've written more with him than anybody else.
We're both like obsessed retro heads. So anything sort of 80s inspired or a little bit of 90s inspired, that's kind of the soundscape we like to sort of play around in. But yeah, the songs are a combination of things. I guess if there's a theme to this album, it's probably nighttime themed.
All the songs are based around the night, whether it's clubbing, whether it's um just you know when you're at home reflecting on things and the emotion of things or you know having a little bit of time with your other half that kind of thing um yeah so it's actually it's funny you mentioned that because the album's currently in the process of being remastered um and the reason for that is because a few people were like love these tracks love these tracks and
then i thought hmm We can maybe look at getting them done and vinyl and things like that. But that is a big undertaking with getting it mixed just so and mastered just so. So it is currently in that process, but hopefully in a few months time that will be done and ready to go. Yeah, I can smell the vinyl now as I'm opening it. It's been the first time. It's not what it sounds like, I just smell it now. I know what would mean though, vinyl does have that, it does have
that scent when you open it and it's, yeah. Nice. And of course, that vinyl will be my Kamara. So, you know, even better. That's what I can say. On wanting you now, we've also got the title track, wanting you now. What else can we find on that album? So there's a song on there called Dream Away. which is it was actually written initially for my last album, but we decided to hold off on it and put it onto this one. It's
quite a big sort of ballad. And it's basically it's I tend to write a lot of songs in random characters, so I don't always write from my own experience. So if I see a film or something that's
inspired me, I'll write in that character. So Dream Away is kind of written in the character of Molly from Ghost about how she only sees her other half Sam when she's sleeping and she you know she doesn't want to wake up because she wants to still be with him but life goes on and the pain of it all so that's that's a big song for me I really enjoyed writing and recording that one. One thing you know of course the title track which is become really, really quite popular.
It's one of my most popular songs actually. That one's a little bit more risque, a little bit more 50 shades, which is so not me. It's again me writing in character. It's kind of, if you imagine what a woman would say to her husband when she's like, hurry up and get home. That's
the most PG version I can give you. um yeah there's several tracks on there um street moves is one that people seem to like about just sort of hitting london town and clubbing and having a good time and yeah there's a few trying to think off the top of my head so what about singles that have come from the album or might might still come from the album what about singles from it yeah so wanting you now was the first single um love takeover was um was the second single on that
album and that was basically about meeting someone and you really are intrigued by this person, you really want to maybe strike up a relationship with them, you're willing to hand in your single card, we'll say, and be with that person, so that's what that song's about, yeah. I haven't released any other singles off of it, because it's a short album. I thought I'd only just drop a couple and then leave the main album as it
is. This would be the fifth album that I've released anyway, of course, there's a lot of songs that haven't come out to anyone yet, but yeah. Now, we got to know you through being sent Crush, as I said. My absolute favourite. That is a great song to have met you through. Thank you. And I know that Sue loves the song as well. Two questions to ask about that. All yours, Sue. Your song Crush, what's it about? So Crush is about, you've gone out to like a function, a party or something
like that. a gentleman walks in the room and it's the kind of man that most women would be drawn to, like all the women's eyes dart over to this guy, like who is he? Like everyone's intrigued. And you're kind of thinking, how do I get his attention when there's all these other women in the room? That's basically what Crush is about. I love the lyric, you turn me on like a light switch, there's a glitch in my matrix. How did you come up with that? It's brilliant.
Do you know what? I think the whole, you turn me on can mean many things, right? It can mean you intrigue me, you get me a little hot under the collar. So that one was just an easy one, but there's a glitch in my matrix. Literally, I was like, how do I rhyme with switch? Or kind of rhyme with switch? It was brilliant. And then
I thought, hmm. I'm gonna use it as a metaphor, as if to say, like, you know, as if to say, like, your body, your system is malfunctioning, because all of a sudden, you can't really control your feelings, your thoughts. You're just a bit flustered by this person. So that's where that lyric came from. There is quite an abstract one now you mention it. I hadn't thought about it till you
asked. But... Well, you may be pleased to know, actually, now that you've mentioned Crush, I'm actually putting out a project later this year with some of the singles that I've done. with Matt who produced Crush I'm re -releasing them with new songs as an album and Crush is going to be on that and that I am going to do some merchandise for CDs and stuff because yeah people people really like Crush for some reason so I thought yeah. It gets played a lot a hell of
a lot. I've actually got a pink book and it's got two else banging tunes and you're actually in that it gets played every time. My favorite song of yours. Without just humoring you because we're talking to you right now, those couple of lines in Crush are basically among some of the finest lines ever been written, and I mean that. Yeah. Wow, that's a huge compliment. Wow, thank you. I don't know what to say now. You've got me all flustered. We've even had the odd
beetle on as well. So there you go. So yeah. Thank you so much. That's so great. So yeah, yeah. Amazing line. So there we go. All your stuff's good, but that is just, yeah, that's it. Yeah. Okay. So we're still quite early into
2020. Whatever. When that comes out, uh crush on the other songs and the new material do get into make sure that we know sure of course tell us but make sure we know we'll have another chat then if we put oh definitely we'd love to chat something about those other songs because it would get us us to use to some of the other stuff you've released as well before we got to know you so it gives us a chance to play some of those as well as the new things going on the album
have you got a favorite song of yours that you've done oh That's a really hard question. I have a handful. I can't say I have the one track. I can maybe name four or five. So one would be a song called Good Time, which is basically what I call a caution song. So it's about a girl goes out with her friends and she They basically ditch her and she ends up caught up in a mess with some gentlemen, shall we say, having to do the walk of shame home. And the whole time she's
thinking, I should have listened to my dad. I shouldn't have been so careless. And all she wanted to do was have a good time. And she ended up completely regretting the whole night. So that's one of my favorite songs that I've written. A song called Photograph is another one. And that one's kind of a soul ballad about a woman stumbles across a box in the closet, falls out, and all these pictures fall out, and all these old mementos of her lost love, the one that got
away. And she's kind of saying, I kind of miss him, but it's my fault that it ended, sort of thing. So that's one. I would say Radio Call, which I think is the song, Matt who produced Crush, I think Radio Call was the single that he and I did prior to that. And that one's about, well, you'll know this from being radio DJs from
back in the day as well. where somebody used to call up the radio station and request a song for somebody that they kind of had a crush on and they maybe make a dedication and hope they heard it. Radio calls about that. So it's me as if to say, I'm going to call up the radio and dedicate a song to this person because I don't really have the words to tell them how I feel. So if I ask for whatever the track is, maybe that will kind of get the message out.
That's... probably one of my more popular songs actually. I can't think of a whole bunch off the top of my head but those are three that come into mind. So 2026 is obviously still quite young. So you mentioned the album, we're crushing the other songs on and Jiru mentioned that. The remastering of wanting you now. So, we're still early into the year. What has Maya Kamara got planned for
the rest of the year? If you come back in the end of the summer or something, if the album's not come out by then, what would you like to be telling us that you've achieved? Oh, that's an interesting question. Well, what would I like to say I've achieved? I would like to say that I've released more material, whether it's more collaborations or more solo material that I've written more. And hopefully that I've got some stuff scheduled in the pipeline, maybe a gig
or two, that'd be nice. This year's kind of getting away from us. I can't believe it's nearly mid -February already. I know, I know. March in two weeks' time, yeah. Yeah, so I'm a bit like, oh, that's actually not that long. You got me thinking about that now. I was like, hmm. Yeah, by the end of March, so March is two weeks away. The end of March, of course, we're a quarter of the way through the year already. No, that's the scary part. My goodness. I don't know. I mean,
do you know what? I'd maybe like to take one of these songs and shoot a video. I haven't shot a video for anything since before COVID. OK. So it's been a while. But I think because since then, when everybody was just captive and making
so much content. um it just didn't seem feasible at the time and now with the way that we're expected to release music sort of every four to six seven weeks it can make it hard to pick which song to do a video for because you've got the expense of it and everything else so it's kind of like How I feel now it's almost like put a song out see how it does and maybe shoot one for the more successful tracks potentially All the ones that all the ones that would warrant a good visual.
So that's probably why I haven't got around to doing that yet But I think yeah, I'd like to maybe shoot something this year now that you ask. Yeah This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving you all you need to know about musical entertainment Shatterbox! Shatterbox! Shatterbox! You've got great artwork as well when Crush got sent out and things like that. Yeah, some great
artwork. So do you design that yourself? No, that one I actually I paid a graphic artist that I've worked with over the years called M card a he's in Germany I got him to do that I'm a little bit obsessed with the sort of 80s 90s
Memphis shapes and prints. I love all of that So I try and incorporate a lot of the sort of retro imagery into my artwork when I can Although I have made a few of my artworks myself it can get again that can get expensive at times and so then you're like I could use that money in the studio or I could use that money on a bit of kit or to take a photo shoot to promote the next thing or whatever it is so yeah sometimes it's sometimes it's difficult to pick artwork
actually um and obviously we crush I'm not even in the artwork it's just um it's more kind of based around the theme of the of the track you know there's a martini glass so it kind of highlights the night out and you know lipstick and all of that kind of thing um yeah but yeah it it reminded me of a great cover for a single by status quo of all people must in about 1983 84 time maybe called margarita time and barry mother was right from the have a look when we finish baby and
you'll see what i'm saying but Yours was like a retro version of that. I know it's not copied but I thought Margarita time when I saw it and you've even got the glass there and everything else. So you look at original 80s then look at that and you see what I mean and it's just fantastic
that it should be. You know what I'm gonna have to look at that because it was it was inspired by a cover in the 80s from the SOS band they did I think it's the cover to Do It Right where where there's a martini glass and a perfectly manicured hand holding it and alcohol splashing out of the glass such a great shot and it almost looks like one of those sort of airbrush designs from back then and i thought i'd love to do something like that but then i kind of you know we kind
of settled on what what crush ended up as but yeah i do take inspiration from the 80s artworks because some of them are amazing oh yeah definitely definitely uh without trying to sound like I'm prying or getting well there's nothing tabloid about the show but how do you relax how do you and your husband relax when you're not working you're not doing music what is me time for Maya Kamara I do you know what it's gonna sound so boring we like to just sit and watch Netflix
or watch YouTube that kind of thing I mean, my husband's a big gym buff. He's a former, he's a former bodybuilding champ, so he's always in the gym. But yeah, like, we like to travel a lot if we can. So yeah, anytime we can get near the sea, because he's from the West Country originally, he's a Bournemouth lad, so anytime we can get near the sea, or just out in nature. We try and do that, although the weather's not been on our side. It's been raining almost every day since
this year started. But yeah, I'd like to say that we do great, wonderful things, but not so much. We just kind of take it easy. Is there anybody you'd like to do a duo with? Yeah, there's a few. Do you know what? I've been quite blessed. I've got to work with quite a lot of people I'm really inspired by, so I'm lucky in that regard. But if I could, somebody from the 80s I'd love to work with is probably Peter Cox from Go West, the lead singer of Go West. He's still going.
And his voice, I've always loved his voice. I'd like to sing with you. I think that might sound kind of cool So who knows and putting it out there in the universe Who knows there's loads of people but a lot of them are no longer with us, unfortunately What about Yes, Michael Jackson George Michael. There's yeah, there's a few legends that aren't with us anymore that I would have loved to work with Good answer. Good answers
all around. And what do your family think about your music side of your life and your music career and your albums and stuff like that? How do they take it? This is interesting because half of my family are musicians. They're big into music themselves. My brother's a recording artist, but he does sort of grime with music. So we're
in very different worlds musically. And yeah, I guess we both show each other, you know, support where we can, you know, repost and tag each other's bits and pieces on the socials, try and help each other out a little bit. But I'll be honest, I think this is another thing a lot of musicians come up against. So many of us, we have family and friends who support what we do, but they don't necessarily listen to all of our material.
You know, so they might kind of cheer us along and shout us out here and there, but they don't necessarily know our material. And I don't know that. I think that might be something to do with the fact that they see us writing it or they see us sort of, you know, practicing stuff. So they already know the songs half the time. So I think it could be a bit of that. But yeah, I've always had a really supportive family and
friends when it comes to music. I've never had anybody say to me, oh, why are you doing that? It's a dream or whatever. And I have come across a lot of people that don't have very supportive family and friends with that. So I'm lucky enough to say I haven't had that issue. Sure. Yeah. Oh, have you got anything for Maya? No, it's just been an amazing interview. I loved it. It
would be great meeting you. Yeah Maya before we let you go Social media websites Facebook Instagram, whatever you got as long as it takes floors yours Well firstly, thank you guys for having me it's been lovely getting to know you If anyone's interested in following me, you can find me on every social pretty much just type Maya Kamara M -A -Y -A -H -C -A -M -A -R -A. You'll find me. I'm on there. I'm on the dot com. I'm on the Bandcamp on all the streaming
stores. So, yeah, and I'm pretty social. So if anybody wants to say hi, I will respond when I see the message. So, yeah. That's great. Also, of course, we do have your YouTube channel as well. So maybe people would like to go and click the subscribe button there and have a look for your stuff. And then when you put something else up there and when you do your video. They can see it there as well. Yeah, and well, you won't miss me. I'm the girl with blue and purple curly
hair, so you won't miss me. Some people, they
color their hair and it looks dreadful. it looks amazing on you it really does look just oh thank you thank you it just looks great yeah it does isn't it yeah it's very good yeah it just suits it suits the personality the image it just suits everything so yeah you so you sort of sat there for years as you were growing up perfecting how you should look as an adult and that has worked no not me i'm just very much like i like color and I feel like, I don't know, London's so grey
and dreary half the time that someone has to bring a bit of colour to the situation. So if it's me, then fine. Brilliant. Anyway, looking forward to chatting with you next time already. But in the meantime, Maya Kamara, thank you so much for coming on Chatterbox UK. Thank you so much. We'll see you soon. Take care. You take
care. Take care. Bye. Bye bye now. This week's edition of the Chatterbox Redux podcast was presented by Sue and Nick and we thank our special guest, Maya Kamara If you're interested in becoming a future guest on the Chatterbox Redux podcast or the radio show Chatterbox UK, you're welcome to submit songs, books or whatever it is you do and send us a CV, synopsis or press release. However, we receive several thousand such press releases every week and it's impossible to reply
to each one individually. Why not email us or leave a comment because we'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Our email address is nickelbum at myyahoo .com. Alternatively, you could write to us at P .O. Box 26, The Old Observer Building, Telford Road, St. Leonard -on -Sea,
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you Bye -bye. This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving you all you need to know about music entertainment. Chatterbox, the best interviews with Nick and Sue. Chatterbox, the best news.