Innovative Faroese American songstress Marianna Winter released the video for her single, ‘Consequences’, on the 4th of May via Tutl Records. Directed by Trygvi Danielsen, the gender role-reversal video premiered on CelebMix. In the press, her music has gained the support of UK online tastemaker magazines The Line Of Best Fit and Gigwise as well as All Music Magazine and Bands of Tomorrow.

Marianna Winter performed her debut festival show in her homeland at G! Festival. Then she took to the stage at UHØRT Festival in Denmark. Now, she is scheduled to perform in the UK later this year at The Great Escape. Her music has been featured on various Spotify playlists, namely Now Hear This in the UK and De Nye in Denmark.

Thanks so much for talking to ReVamp, talk to us a bit about your music journey and what made you decide to get into music. 

Thanks for asking! It never really felt like a decision and I can’t even remember the exact moment I chose it, I think it’s just something I’ve always worked towards and kept doing. Throughout the years I’ve felt very divides between different routes, because there’s so much WANT to do and feel like I’m good at, but all of the other things have also had something to do with music. I think I’d like to work as a manager sometime in my life as well, but for right now I can’t give up the opportunity to make and share music. It’s really what I live for at the moment and I can’t imagine not doing this.

Growing up, was music always the 1st option for you, and who inspired you to keep carrying on with music?

As I mentioned there are a lot of things I like to do and sometimes even consider going for, but nothing ever had as strong a pull as making music and performing. That being said I’m really lucky because I get to do SO much different stuff right now while writing and releasing music. I work at my own record label as an A&R and I perform with various artists and bands while doing my own stuff, which really gives me a sense of diversity in my daily work life. I definitely fall more and more in love with my choice of career every time I write new music that I’m really proud of. It’s such a rush when I create something that I’m excited to share with others. The other creative processes such as making visuals, artwork, etc. really get me excited too, because I get to find different ways of expressing what I’m trying to say in a song.

You performed her debut festival show in her homeland at G! Festival. Then she took to the stage at UHØRT Festival in Denmark. Now, she is scheduled to perform in the UK later this year at The Great Escape. How does this make you feel, knowing your music is being noticed, and how do you plan before? 

I just got back from Brighton after performing at the Great Escape festival which was AMAZING. There’s something so exciting about performing in front of people who have never heard you before. The audience was amazing and I had a great experience. Feeling like people really GET IT feels amazing because as an artist there are a lot of times when you feel like people don’t really get it and you start wondering if your music’s even good at all… So these kinds of opportunities are a real boost in confidence and hope that there ARE people out there who want to listen and vibe with you and the art you create. I’m not sure how much planning goes on. We rehearse a couple of times before every gig until we feel sort of “safe” even though I never feel 100% sure or safe before a gig. But I kinda like that feeling of 1% uncertainty that anything can happen. I like to wear something that I feel comfortable in so I don’t have to think about how I look.

You have a new single ‘Consequences’ out, how did this song come about?

I wrote it in a session in Stockholm last year with Antonio Charry who I had never met before. I had brought an idea with me to the session with some lyrics that we used for the verses and came up with the killer catchy chorus together in his studio.

I was in Stockholm for a week and I  remember having a tough week, so after our session, I felt so much lighter because I knew that this song really meant something and was gonna feel right. Antonio and I hit it off and now he’s one of my close friends and we’ve written more together since.

I love the message behind the song and music video, as it has defiantly come across like that: “The song has a pretty dark, cold, and evil layer which I wanted the music video to show. We started playing with the idea of reenacting different famous movie scenes, but switching gender roles to simultaneously portray how messed up women are portrayed on screen.’, what made you decide, you wanted to portray it like this?

The song itself is really more about being a person who has a lot of trust issues, but masks it as “being a badass bitch” because it’s a lot easier to seem cold, than scared.

I guess deep down I tend to experience feelings of distrust and being mistreated and the song is a drastically dramatized way of portraying that. The director of the music video is a very close friend of mine as well as all of the actors and people who worked with me on it. But the two of us sat down early on in the process of making the video, and both felt like this feeling could easily be transferred to other scenarios than just in a relationship. 

I live in the Faroe Islands, which for the most part is an amazing place to live, but it can also be a little conservative because of how isolated it is (in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean). Politics are also heavily affected by religion (Christianity)... This music video was kind of also meant to poke a little and start a conversation.

When you are in the recording studio, recording, and writing, what is the process, and how do you know once the song is completed to your standard? 

Every session is different, but I love starting off with a vibe check. Just some small talk and feeling each other as to what kind of day we’re having (me and whoever I’m writing or working with). Like are we feeling a sunny, uptempo song or is it more of a heavy and dark day? Then we go on to create some kind of vibe with instruments, either live with a guitar/piano or something in production. 

After that, anything can happen!

As far as knowing when the song is completed, I don’t think I’ve ever felt that. Usually, I can always find something I would change and I’m not sure I will ever feel 100% certain that a song is FINISHED. But maybe that’s just me.

3 words to describe ‘Consequences’?

• Vengeance 
• Lonely
• Sexy

What is next for you and what can we expect for future releases?

I’m currently working on the next single that I’m gonna be releasing pretty soon! I’m really excited about it and it’s definitely about another side of me, the side that likes to please other people instead of trying to please myself. As well as performing some local shows in the Faroe Islands and hopefully in other countries too.  You can definitely expect a lot of new music throughout the year!

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