May 14, 2008

Marié Digby: Saccharine Sweetness

By Menreet Kaur

She's the prettiest thing, always in hues of pinks, reds and browns and if she can have it her way, she would love to be constantly surrounded by nature's tamest beauties. She's Marié Digby and she sets our souls at ease every time we listen to her acoustic chords and sing along to her very delicate lyrics.

Who can resist her porcelain doll face strumming away on her guitar - alone in her room - oh so vulnerable? Well, no one can. And thanks to that, Marié Digby is now full-fledged riding the music industry with her album, Unfold and just like how she started off using the internet to get big, it too has reaped her many other accomplishments; such as standing at the #2 album on iTunes.

Marié Digby gets up close and personal with MTV Asia as she shares with us the trials and tribulations she went though as a teenager, her nature-loving escapades and her perfect date settings! It doesn't get any more candid than this.

Read the review of Marié Digby's Unfold here!

MTV: You know it's been said that Asians generally are not good with holding their alcohol and Europeans are. You being half Irish and half Japanese, where do you fit in with this?

Marié : Well I don't drink really. I come from a pretty long line of hard core drinkers and I've seen the toll it has taken on their lives and I learnt my lessons from them and decided that I am probably better off if I stick to chocolate milkshakes.

MTV: So you're not into the whole clubbing scene, night life..?

Marié : No, I'm such a homebody. I'd rather put on my pajamas and watch a movie, eat popcorn and some brownies.

MTV: What's your favorite movie of all time?

Marié : I love Labyrinth, by David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. It's so good, it's a classic!

MTV: Speaking of classic, your album artwork suggests that you are a pretty classic girly-girl.

Marié : Yeah, in general the things that I like are pretty girly. I tend to go for floral patterns and pink, red, it's what I like though I'm not particularly feminine. I think I'm quite tom-boyish. But yeah, that's kind of the recurring theme isn't it? I think that is the kind of thing that goes well with my image, the kind of music that I do and more than being frilly, I kind of wanted to tie it in to nature. I've always loved elements of nature and however I can put it in, like with my video I wanted somehow a tree to be involved. I guess I've always leaned towards plants and flowers. Even on the back of the album, it isn't as flowery - more of weeds and moths, I've just always liked that stuff.

MTV: Have you ever hugged a tree then?

Marié :Yeah, I'm embarrassed to say I have. When I was little, there was a house I grew up in that had an amazing oak tree and the bottom of the yard. I would spend any free moment that I had down there…I named it fairyland, I built swings and talked to the tree! I sound like a whacko right now but it's what I did as a kid. I had a very active imagination.

MTV: What's your favorite type of flower?

Marié:Mmmm I like tulips! All different colors..

MTV: You seem like such a vibrant, fun person but most of your songs reflect heartbreak and sorrow. Is that who you truly are or do you take on a different persona when producing the songs?

Marié :My songs are much more who I really am than the me that is sitting in front of you. This is like my most positive, chirpy, alert self and the album is much more who I really am. You know when the lights are off and no one is listening, that is what comes out of me…when I'm not thinking of other people's perceptions of me.

MTV: For your song, "Little Miss Invisible", a lot of people have labeled it your autobiography. How much of that is true?

Marié : That is an exact, ripped from my journal song. As a thirteen year old I absolutely hated school and I hated lunch times and breaks because I didn't have anyone to sit with and I tried really hard to make friends but I kept getting rejected and some girls even pretended that I didn't exist so during breaks, I try to find ways to keep myself occupied…I didn't want to eat alone in front of everybody and let them laugh at me so I went to the library, started eating lunch there but I got bored coz I couldn't see anything so I went downstairs onto the football field where they had bleachers and I'd kind of be hidden down there so I could watch everybody else but they won't be able to see me.

MTV: Aww, now that you are famous, do you have anything to say to the people who used to be mean to you back in high school?

Marié :Well, you know back then I was like "Hah, I am gonna do something big and they're going to be sorry that they weren't nice to me!" [Laughs] but funny enough some of the meanest girls have already written me emails and said things like "Hey remember when we were friends back in junior high school?" and I'd be like "Nooo, funny I don't remember". So that's the best revenge for me - them acknowledging that I exist.

MTV: You got famous because of the YouTube videos you posted on the internet so I was wondering, could you live without the internet?

Marié :No. I can't. [Laughs] I am pretty much surgically attached to my laptop.

MTV: Has Rihanna managed to contact you with your rendition of "Umbrella"?

Marié :No she hasn't. But everyone around her has! The guys who wrote the song contacted me and said, "You know there's been a lot of covers of our song, bad ones too, but you speak the truth, we like you." So that was the ultimate sort of affirmation that I done a good job. That the writers said we love your version. Then her record label contacted me and they wanted to sign me and supposedly her manager is happy. Basically it's everyone but Rihanna. I don't know what she thinks, I hope she's cool with it.

MTV: Celebrities like Sean Kingston, Colbie Caillat have made it big in their own rights thanks to social networking websites. Do you feel these people are your biggest competitors or do you guys have some sort of understanding with each other coming from the same start up ground?

Marié :I definitely don't feel that there is a competition between any of us because we all seem to be using different outlets on the Internet. I just think like cool, look what we're doing.

MTV: Other than the guitar and piano do you play any other musical instruments?

Marié : Hmmm no. Maybe the little triangle. [Laughs] Nah, piano and guitar are my main instruments. But I'd love to learn the harp.

MTV: Are you seeing anyone at the moment?

Marié: Nope.

MTV: Describe your ideal date you'd like to have with your potential future lover boy?

Marié : This is going to sound totally nerdy. He would pick me up because I don't like to drive and we would go bowling. And it would be like disco-night bowling…you know like you turn off the lights and everything is glow in the dark and then we would go to a diner and have brownie ala mode and maybe some chili fries too...see a movie and then go watch airplanes take off at the airport.