Interview with Mariam Petrosian
The co-winner of Serj Tankian’s 7 Notes music challenge Mariam Petrosian talks about her winning composition, main influences, and future plans.
February 20, 2018 | by Creative Armenia
You mentioned that you wrote the lyrics for this song in 30 minutes. What emotions did these seven notes trigger?
The melody of the first seven notes predetermined the mood of the song, which in its turn created an idea for the lyrics. While I was writing the song I thought that the lyrics should contain something mystical, beautiful and chilling at the same time. In the songwriting process, I like to create characters as a basis for my lyrics. In this song, that particular “character” had to be very abstract and ambiguous. I wanted to completely get out of the usual, standard formats and just trust my instincts.
Tell us about your musical background and career.
I studied at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan. In 2016 graduated from the University of West London. (London College of Music). I collaborated as a songwriter and a singer with musicians such as Andre Simonian (The Beautified Project), Miqayel Voskanyan & Friends, Nick Egibyan, Ian Post (Water Knot), Lazzaro and many others. Being a solo artist is in my core essence; however, collaborating with various musicians and songwriters, gives me a lot of excitement and experience.
What are some of your strongest musical or singing influences?
I would say that my main influences are classical/orchestral and new-age music, as well as musical/theatrical/cinematic genres.
What do you think of some of the other songs that resulted from this challenge? Did any in particular appeal to you?
They are all very different. So, it would be really difficult for me to name just one, but I think Sweet and Spicy by Andres Montero is a really nice one.
Your ambitions for the future?
Currently I am working on my first EP. I would love to start having gigs very soon, as it is very important to me to connect with my audience. I am also preparing to release my first official music video in the next month. My ambition for the future or a dream is to have an opportunity to sing at least one of my songs with an orchestra. The bigger dream is to release a full CD with orchestrated songs.