The Mean Side Of Tkay Maidza: Australia’s Rap-Goddess-In-Waiting

Since bursting onto the music scene in 2013 with her almost uncomfortably catchy single ‘Brontosaurus’, Maidza has managed to tour copiously, play almost every major festival in Australia, and work with lauded producers What So Not, Baauer, Motez and Martin Solveig, in between releasing her own strong singles. And all before her 21st birthday and the recording of her debut album.

Thanks to her relatively rapid rise, Maidza’s career goals have started to move within reach. Whether it’s down to a newfound self-confidence, or simply being well practised at interviews, Maidza is able to roll out her ambitions without hesitation.

“The more I do things, it gives a better perspective of how far I am to getting where I want to get,” she says. “Sometimes I might change my idea of what I want to do, but ultimately I still have the same goals, which is always good to remember. My two favourite, biggest goals would be to play Coachella and Glastonbury; they’ve always been my ultimate since I first started.

“To sign a record deal overseas as well,” she adds, although she’s already achieved that one. “Downtown has joined [in] partnership with Interscope and Interscope is like my favourite record label, so it’s just cool that somehow I’m on Interscope,” she says in audible amazement. “Another goal is to get better and to learn a lot more, and I feel like if I’m on the right track and I’m improving, then I guess it could – it would – get better.”

The international market has been a big focus for Maidza, who’s spent the better part of the last year in America, honing her chops with producers and artists like Salva, Holychild, What So Not and Solveig, and working on her debut album, Tkay. Remarkably, she’s quickly managed to make a name for herself in that notoriously difficult market, earning a BET nomination for Best New International Act and an MTV Europe Music Award shortlisting for Best Australian Act. Not to mention, Maidza has made even more waves for the appearance of Run The Jewels’ Killer Mike on ‘Carry On’, the lead single from her record.

Maidza reckons the reason she’s managed to stand out from the crowd can be found in her songwriting. “When I’m thinking while I write this stuff, it’s more almost like an indie pop thing, rather than, ‘Oh, this is a rap song,’ and I think it might have more pop sensibilities when I write music, so it just sticks out more.”

Finally arriving this Friday, Maidza’s album is an infectious, rounded mix of her signature bubbly rap/indie pop fusion with a side of serious dance, and it will end a lot of the persistent comparisons Maidza has experienced since breaking out. Notably – and perhaps more subliminally – the lack of swearing in her music also likely contributes to her point of difference.

“It’s a conscious decision,” Maidza says. “I feel like when I first started, before ‘Brontosaurus’, it was just a habit for me to swear and say anything, and then as my parents would listen, they’re like, ‘Why are you saying that?’ and I was like, ‘OK! I’m not going to say anything at all, and just make it really clean.’ Sometimes there’s a time and a place to say certain words. I didn’t really feel the need to swear a lot. I feel like if I did, it’d just be trying to fill in spots or something.”

That’s not to say Tkay is without attitude. Electronic banger ‘Monochrome’ sees Maidza getting sassy, with more attitude than she’s displayed in her lyrics before.

“I think it was really funny because when I was writing it, it was like, ‘Let me think of the next, almost meanest thing I can say to someone,’” she laughs. “Every time I kept thinking of something really conceited, it was like, ‘Yep, that’s staying on there!’ It was so much fun. Sometimes I have situations when someone might do something and I will think of a melody, and I’m like, ‘Woah, that’s a really mean lyric,’ but it will find its place somewhere. They won’t know it’s them.”

Maidza will spend the rest of the year jetting back and forth between Australia and America to launch her album, and hopes of a positive reception are very much on her mind.

“Sometimes when people play new songs, you immediately get into it. You never know how people are going to react when you play, and you live for them because you want for them to have that reaction, but sometimes it doesn’t work that way,” she says. “I’ve been rehearsing a lot, trying to simplify or find a way to do it. I’m finding ways around it, it’s been a challenge, but I think it’s cool ’cause I guess I’m stepping out of my comfort zone.”

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