Interview by Beatrice Panero / pane.nero

Photography: William Eljarbo / eljarbo

With a small but growing catalog of sensitive and intricate releases comprising his first original singles as well as his widely-followed YouTube channel, Lebanese artist and songwriter Maro has garnered international recognition in the nick of time. Since the success of his latest single Take It Back – an indie pop hymn that indulges us into nostalgia – Maro is forging ahead and taking his career even further, both in depth and maturity. 

Coming from a diverse cultural and ethnic background, Maro intends to “represent where I'm from, my people in Lebanon, the Middle East and Ukraine. I wanna be the inspiration to every kid out there struggling, they can turn their lives around.”

The young and soulful Maro talks about his beginnings, his future goals and some behind-the-scenes details in an interview with French Fries.

First of all, congrats on your new single “Take It Back”! How do you feel about it?

Thank you! I feel happy it's out, the response has been really good, hopefully more people will hear it.

Can you explain more about the meaning of the song and how it ties into your music and songwriting goals?

The song is pretty much about nostalgia, to be specific; it's about how I wanna go back in time to be with someone who for me is not there anymore… sorta appreciating the nostalgic feeling, but in my case it's not a good thing, cuz I obviously miss that specific someone. And yes it's a girl.

What I personally like about the songwriting is the 'bedroom pop' vibe it has, I’m a huge fan of 'less is more' and simple guitar based songs. That's pretty much my vibe at the moment. 

With your latest single, you also released your first music video. Do you have some behind-the-scenes fun facts to share with us about the filming of the video?

Wow that’s a great question, yes I do! First of all I shot it in Oslo, Norway during December…. it is extremely cold in Norway, and me being a Lebanese Arab made it very complicated, so in the shots we did outside of the school… We shot for 3 hours or so, and I was soooo cold, it's the coldest I’ve ever been. And another funny scene to shoot was the one at the bar. 

So just to give a quick background story, we got to film at this bar my director picked out, and it was during the Oslo lockdown, so the owner of the pub 'botanisk' told us that we could drink as much beer as we wanted for free, since they would throw it out regardless if we drank it or not. So eventually after 2-3 hours my manager and I got completely wasted, and I had to shoot a scene where I drank a vodka shot… over and over and over again. Later that night we ate kebab and we probably were really loud and annoying. But it was super fun, and I’m glad my drunkness didn’t show in the shots.

Talking about your debut single “carsick”, it was produced by big names like Carl Falk and Albin Nedler. What was it like working with them?

Ouf, I love working with Carl and Albin, for those who don’t know who they are, they’re pretty much among the biggest producer/songwriters in the world! It is a humbling and crazy experience for me to work with someone like them, cuz I'm a huge fan of their work, Avicii, 5SOS, One Direction, Nicki Minaj, Ariana to mention a few.

So yeah, I'm very glad I’ve worked with them, they are also really great people, super easy and fun to work with and their skills are just undeniably great. And them choosing to work with someone like me really tells you how nice human beings they are, like I'm a nobody compared to their usual clients, mad love to Albin and Carl, hopefully we’ll release more songs together this year, inshallah.

When did you know music was your calling? When did you figure out you needed to pursue music as your career?

Well, like most young people I wanted to be a superstar singer just like my idol Justin Bieber and Kurt Cobain, so pursuing music was always my dream, but it wasn’t before my manager, Eirik Schistad, invited me to live in his mom’s basement in Oslo to record professionally with real producers, and then shortly I realised that I actually can do this. But music has always been my calling, I sang for almost 5 years without any recognition whatsoever, and I used to busk on the street to make extra money. Also now all the biggest major labels have reached out and offered big money for my upcoming projects, so that’s really comforting knowing I don’t need to worry about money and can solely focus on my original music.

You grew up in Lebanon and you took a big step to Oslo to pursue your career. What inspiration do you draw from your origins and how does it affect or inspire your songwriting

Yeah it is a funny story actually, I didn’t know Eirik (my manager) at all when I first came to Oslo, we spoke for like 10 days and I had nothing else going on in my life at the moment, so I just kinda went for it, and it couldn’t have turned out any better, so now my core team is pretty much based in Oslo. 

But yeah I’m half Lebanese and half Ukrainian, so I take the best from both worlds mixed with my personal taste like X and Lil Peep, The Weeknd etc, but I’m sure my sound would be more 'basic' without my origins, the normal Arabic key is completely different than western music, same goes with Ukrainian. I believe it makes my style more unique, I’m really proud of being Arabic, especially since I’ve come this far, which unfortunately isn’t  something you see very often with people with my background, inshallah it’ll change soon.

What is your creative process like?

9/10 I write some chords on the piano or the guitar, then make a melody, then lyrics, then I look at the arrangement and try to find the 'worst' parts of the song, so I can re-write it to something better. Sometimes it takes an hour, or it can take 6 months, it really depends on my mood.

How would you describe the music that you typically create?

I have made so much music you haven’t heard yet, but mostly alt-pop, R&B with a boogie rap stuff, or just full on sad music. I wanna do multiple genres and be versatile, rather than sticking with one thing forever, it's more difficult to brand and market it when I change my style, but I’m all about the music I like, cuz if I like it somebody else must like it too, right :)

You recently started to share vlog content. Do you think it is essential nowadays to show the personality behind the persona? Do you already know what your upcoming vlogs will be about?

Honestly, I do that just for fun, I'm gonna do more when I have the time, I only make for my core fans, it doesn’t generate the same views as music related videos, but I really care about my fans, and I know they enjoy it! 

If it's essential to show the personality behind the artist… good question, what the team and I think is: It is nice just be you, you don’t need to be something you're not, and I think it's better to show your good AND bad sides, cuz I'm not perfect at all and I don’t want anyone thinking I'm perfect. I like real organic, not the fake stuff. And I strongly believe it builds a better relationship with the fans, like I send weird stuff to my fans, and treat them like my equals you know, I have a friendship vibe with my fans, instead thinking I'm the big guy with my x amount of followers.

Now that you are followed internationally, who is your most loyal audience?

I went to Turkey now, so Turkish people show me mad love here, even the most famous people are really nice to me. However, Brazil, Arabs, Indonesians and Turks show the most love in terms of following, but also the U.S. 

We've read that you sing in 7 languages. Have you translated your own songs into any of these languages to sing them, aside from English? In which language do you think singing is most emotionally effective?

I have not actually, as of now I sing in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic, Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian, Norwegian, Indonesian… and I'm gonna learn to sing in Filipino, Thai and Korean. I think Arabic music is very emotional, because we have this vibrato in Arabic singing, which is really hard to do, and it sounds beautiful.

How has your life changed in the last year?

Well, I make more music, I can afford to travel and cover everything on my own expenses, I can meet lots of new people and being an artist makes it way easier, everybody accepts you sorta, could be fake, could be not, but I don't really care, I know all types of people hahaha, when I was in high school I wasn't the cool kid so I just had a couple of close friends. I'm more stressed, but overall I enjoy my life more compared to last year.

What are you planning to do next?

Release a lot of new songs, sign new artists with the company my manager and I run together, buy/rent a house which is gonna be like a TikTok house, but for Arabic musicians/creatives, where we’ll start more vlogs and BTS content, but as a collective. 

I wanna represent where I'm from, my people in Lebanon, the middle east and Ukraine. I wanna be the inspiration to every kid out there struggling, they can turn their lives around.