Last month we had the pleasure of chatting with Maddy O’Neal at Gem and Jam. After playing the festival for over 6 years and showcasing 3 different music projects here, O’Neal consistently finds herself in a reflective state, drawing inspiration for the future of her career every year when the festival rolls around.
Focused on music for the first month of the year, Gem and Jam was Maddy’s first festival of the year. This year was the first time she played a night time set at the mainstage. Things were feeling very full circle as she had been working towards the goal of having this set time slot. It was, “The prime time spot.” O’Neal says.
Doing over 100 shows last year, she wanted to take the beginning of the year to reset and finish projects that she had been sitting on.
“I think I made more music last month than I did last year. I feel like I am training for the producer olympics with how much I pushed out in the month of January” O’Neal says. Polishing all these projects, she plans to release a full length EP in the fall while trickling out singles and collaborations leading up to the record release. Her newest collaboration with COFRESI - "Matcha" just dropped on March 15th.
“Matcha is one of those songs that truly defies genre placement. It’s got a bit of a grimey hip hop vibe, while also being melodic with playful synth elements and a little bit of pop.”
O’Neal has been making music for the past 13 years, being an OG in the bass scene, she is very happy to have paved the way for other female bass artists. O’Neal’s advice on starting out in the scene is to:
“Stick with it, be genuine, and don’t follow the trends. Being your authentic self is the greatest gift on this journey.”
Some of the best advice we can all take, authenticity is the greatest gift we can give ourselves. Such a pleasure chatting with an OG bass queen. We are looking forward to all that she has planned this year.
Indeed, authenticity remains a timeless virtue, and it was truly a pleasure to converse with an icon like Maddy O'Neal, the funky bass queen. We eagerly anticipate the exciting ventures she has in store for this year.