Encore! Exclusive Interview of iDaly Maceano
ENCORE
Designed through art, driven by the struggle of creativity. Her heart holds strong onto the passion of the performance. Not for the ovation, fame and recognition. But the chill winds that coast through the empty stadium, before it fills full with onlookers. The simplicity of the track before it all comes together. The captivation of the crowd right before the twist hits the plot. See iDaly was told she was different her whole life. She was too loud, talked to much. And now, people are saying. You stand out, your voice should be louder and you definitely should make more music. I guess its all about how you guide yourself to where you belong. And we all can see Idaly belongs on stage. ENCORE! This is Exclusive Interview of Idaly Maceano only at #v2
#1 -Tell us who is Idaly Maceano?
iDaly Maceano is an artist who believes in work ethic and talent. She is a strong believer in getting things done and knowing that nothing will be handed to you. iDaly has loved music as a child and has always done things that revolved around her music career. I plan on making a difference, not only in other people but in myself. I want to show people that it can be done no matter where you start as long as you don’t give up and you put in 110%. I want to be an inspiration to anyone, no matter their age or gender.
#2 - What was the inspiration behind the name?
I met a women with the name iDaly who inspired me at a time where I wasn’t feeling very unique or strong, I was torn and did not know where to go or what to do. She told me a lot of things that helped me to keep pushing forward. I wanted to use her name because she was very inspirational to me and I knew that I wanted to do more than her and achieve great heights. I did not just want to remain in the same place and with everything that she told me, I knew that I could keep pressing forward and make the decision to go the route that I chose without letting the thoughts and opinions of others hinder me.
#3- So you where bullied in your childhood? What was that like, how to let go and what would you tell kids going through the same thing.
I believe that you have to understand that everyone will not like you but it’s up to you how you deal with it. You can either let it eat you alive or you can grow from it knowing that the opinions of others should not matter to you. Some people are ignorant and do not know any better and even go through their own experiences and I to believe that people who bully others deal with their own insecurities and do not know how to deal with them outside of trying to hurt others.
As a child it hurt, up into my adulthood because it was like I took those things as a child and I believed them. I had to learn to let those things go and I accept that I was not what those people said I was, I was only what I answered to. When I decided to let those things go, that was when I came into myself and I started working harder to become a better me. It was like for a while I was very standoffish, and I always thought that anyone I met was just there to tear me down because that was what I was used to. I was used to people talking about me being small or skinny because that was their first go too, but as I got older, I learned to embrace it. Not all women were going to look like me, everyone would not like how I looked and I had to be okay with that. I had to learn to be okay with myself and define my own beauty because if I felt beautiful, the opinions of others did not matter. It’s how we feel about ourselves that define who we are. When I look in the mirror everyday, I feel beautiful, I know who I am and I like what I see…and that’s the most important thing that I think all people should learn to accept about their selves.
#4- Tell us about that first moment where music hit you and you said "This is what I want to do"
When I was around the age of 10, I wrote my first verse and I knew it was something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Not only was it something I recognized but it was something that my parents recognized as well and they supported me. They knew that it was a talent and even helped me to better my craft and what I was doing. It was definitely something that made me happy and still makes me happy til this day.
#5- Top 5 greatest MC's of all time?
MC Lyte, Nas, Notorious B.I.G, Jay-Z, Tupac
#6- How would you describe your music, for people who haven't heard you before?
My music comes from the soul. It’s not just something I put out to make a hit. A lot of music may come from how I may be feeling, what I’m going through and a message that I want to send out but it’s also something that you can move to. The problem that I had before now with my music was that, I was trying so hard to please others instead of worrying more about putting things out that were pleasing to me so I think with the work that is happening with my EP and my first mixtape people will see the difference between those and previous songs that I put out. My music will have a lot of my personality displayed throughout every track and I want people to also get to know me a little by listening to my music. I want to showcase my complexity and the many different things that I can do.
Theatre is an art where I can also release everything. I’m taught to channel in everything and to release anything that I’m feeling healthily, Which has helped my music a lot in many different ways. I’ve done vocal training, taken dialect courses, acting and also I’ve been behind the scenes so I get to see how it all works. I knew before I even got involved in theatre I wanted to be hands on with a lot of the things that I did, I didn’t want to just give someone a blueprint or just be happy with what they throw at me. I want to be an artist who always has hands in everything I do. Whether it be setting up a stage, light design, costumes, or setting up audio. I always wanted to do what I wanted and put my ideas out there and have everything feel as organic as possible.
#8- Do you feel female artist have to be a certain "way" to make it or do they hinder they're own freedom?
Right now, I do feel that female artists have to be “Sexy” that’s a lot of what I see in the industry right now and I do feel that “Sexy” is mostly defined by not only men but also women. I think that women are the most critical of other women and of course female artists want female fans as well so they have to do what is appealing for the women and what women define as “sexy” as well. A lot of female artists don’t start out as sexed up as they end up. So I do feel that women feel that they have to show more and explore more as women to keep the attention of everyone, because sex sells. I don’t really think that women hinder they’re own freedom because some women have come out in the past and made being fully dressed and educated sexy. I think some female artists have defined sexy in a different way that works for them as well and I think that’s what makes us artists, by not trying to be like the next person but redefining ourselves and doing things that work for us that are also appealing to others.
#9 - How is the Label Life at iVision Digital and how did they find you?
iVision Digital is a fun label. No one is stopped from anything that they want to do and everyone is open to new and fresh ideas. I think one of the most important things about iVision Digital is that we function as a family, we talk to each other and deal with each other on personal levels outside of the music which sometimes makes it easier for us to collab on things. I think becoming a part of iVision Digital has made me a better person, I feel that I’m more responsible and I think about things more before I say them because I have not always been that way. I used to just say whatever and deal with things a lot differently than I do now. Now I’m more open to a lot of things and a lot of other peoples feelings. Everyone has to go through their own growing process and I feel that you meet everyone for a reason.
iVision Digital and how they found me? Actually, the CEO of iVision Digital “Fa-Harra” is my cousin. I did not meet him until I was 19-years-old. He knew my father and my father told him about me and we met each other and we talked and talked and talked A LOT (and we still do now lol). By talking to him so often, he learned that I had a love for music and one day asked me to come over and I brought my music and myself and even on that day recorded my first track with them. iVision Digital started off as “etinrida” first and in 2010 we all decided to change the name to something that meant a lot to all of us that were apart of iVision Digital. It’s as if I get to see this company grow daily.
#10 - How do you feel about the unity of female artist in the music industry now?
I think that some women do reach out to other women but there are those women that are very critical of each other and not the critical that helps women grow, but the critical that tears women down. I do believe that a lot of women see other women that work hard and get recognition for their success as threats. I think that we as women need to appreciate each other more, help each other and speak positivity to one another without getting defensive.
I have noticed that a few artists that were out before take offense to a lot of things that the new artists are doing but I do think that they need to be more receptive to change. Everything wont always remain the same and we all have artists that we look up to. I just believe that female artists need to be a lot more supportive of each other.
#11 - Take us through your process of creating music for you.
I first have to find sounds that I like, that’s the first thing I do before I do anything else. The actual beat has to speak to me. If I do decide to write something before I put it on a track it sometimes hinders my flow and how I want it to go because I always create my flow not only to sound great but to also make it challenging for myself. Sometimes if I write a verse before I actually hear the beat, I have to figure out how I actually want the lyrics to sound so I may write the verse 2 or 3 different ways and in the end might even combine them to fit the way that I want them to. I choose whichever I feel is the most successful.
A lot of my music comes from personal experience, especially any song that isn’t a traditional “club song”. I like to put my life in my music because I want people to remember that I am a person with feelings and I also want them to relate to my music. Some of the original songs I am creating now are songs that I heard the producer make from scratch so a lot of the time I’ll get ideas from small sounds I hear or if I feel something from one of the instruments that are being used. If I don’t get to hear the beat from scratch, I usually start off with singing or rapping what I feel in the moment. I’ll write bits and pieces of feelings that U feel and then later formulate them into a complete song.
#12 - What so far has been your favorite "moment" while being an artist. And whats something you hope to accomplish before your career is over.
One of my favorite moments so far was actually completing my first original song and releasing it and it being played on an Internet radio station and people requesting it. I think that pushed me to want to complete an entire project and show people what all I can do. It was as if I wanted to make sure people liked what I was doing first. I wanted to make sure that it was successful.
Something I want to accomplish before my music career is over is helping other people to recognize their own strengths. I want people to be able to take the things that they can do and make them their priorities and not focus on what they feel that they can’t do . I want everyone who hears me or sees me to understand that anything can be done with hard work and perseverance. I don’t want them to let negative things pull them down. I want people to understand that it can and will be done. Failures will happen but there isn’t any success without any of our failures.
As of right now, I’m working on an EP, all tracks produced by STR8F3R and I’m also working on a self titled mixtape that I plan to release on my birthday Feb 1st.
#14 - Any shoutouts, sites, events, anything you wan to tell the people of #V2?
I want to shout out anyone who has supported me, believed in me or pushed me to keep going. I also want to shout out iVision Digital, all of the artists and anyone affiliated with iVision Digital.
Visit www.ivisiondigital.com and stay up to date with iVision Digital, our music, events and news.
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