MalinMakesAMess is a gift to the music world. A surprise, a fresh breeze of genuine talent combined with talent and hard work—all wrapped in honesty and artistic integrity. As her new song came out, we took the time to have a good talk about music, songwriting, and how to balance it out.
And while you are reading this below, listen to I can (sort of) do it alone. It’s a good one!
Music Authentic: Welcome to Music Authentic! How is the weather now in Tromsø?
MalinMakesAMess: Hello! Thanks for the warm welcome. 😊 Here in Tromsø, the weather is doing its usual northern dance—it’s cold, a bit cloudy, and there’s a hint of snow in the air. Perfect weather, it’s not too cold but it’s perfect for being cosy inside with music. This time of year for me always really sets the mood for writing songs!
Music Authentic: I guess you are looking forward to the winter break. After all, balancing art, music, recording, producing and putting it out while you also need to excel in school must be tiresome. And your song “I Can (Sort of) Do It Alone” suggests you are a jack of all trades… and I haven’t even mentioned your merch… How do you maintain balance? Does having such a creative outlet help you navigate everything else?
MalinMakesAMess: It’s definitely a balancing act, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Music and creativity are my escapes—they help me process everything, especially when life feels overwhelming, it’s the perfect therapy. I’m a very shy person and I’m pretty introverted, so for me it’s the ideal thing to do: I can share how I feel without having to say it (I sing it), I let the music speak for itself. School is important, and I want to do well, I love mathematics and Latin most, they’re challenging subject that push me, which I love. But writing or producing after a long day really recharges me. And I can really get lost in it all.
I think keeping balance is something everyone probably struggles with from time to time. Ironically when I feel overwhelmed, I write… haha.
A jack of all trades? I don’t know about that, lol I’m also a mess, but it’s fine 😀 … I try to be as independent as possible, I haven’t always had the easiest life and it unlocked the “care for yourself and others” trait in me. I love pushing myself and it doesn’t really matter in what.
And yeah, merch! My friend came up with the idea of making sweaters and shirts (and a water bottle) … so I got to creating and now it’s available. I am so lucky to have these amazing friends who support me and help think on how I can improve things. I’m an independent artist so I fund everything myself, it’s not always super easy and it takes a lot of time saving up for thigs, so merch is kind of done with 2 goals: to get some extra money to be able to improve the music I make as well as to get seen.
“I Can (Sort of) Do It Alone” is a good reflection of my life right now—it’s about figuring things out and doing my best, even when it’s tough.
Having a creative outlet definitely helps me stay grounded and focused on the bigger picture. It’s chaotic, but it’s my kind of chaos. 😊
Music Authentic: Your songs remind me of early Grace VanderWaal. They feel genuine and raw in the best sense possible – it’s good not to have just another overproduced background noise but rather an authentic experience. Did you ever feel pressure to sound different, or has this always been your natural expression? How challenging has the learning curve been so far?
MalinMakesAMess: Sounding different? It comes natural, I’ve always been different just as a person too, to most of my peers and I’ve always just listened to my own sound, my own feelings, my own self, I feel it’s important as an artist to stay true to yourself and your sound, it’s the only way to sound genuine.
Music is super personal, it should feel like that too, I have no ambition to sound like anyone else or to copy someone’s sound, so I’m happy it’s also coming across as an authentic experience, that is honestly the biggest compliment you can give me.
Music Authentic: “MalinMakesAMess” has instrumentals and songs in two languages. Does it mean the era of “English-pop” is finally over?
MalinMakesAMess: I think English-pop is very accessible and it’ll always have an important place, it speaks to the masses and everyone understands the lyrics (or most do at least). I don’t know if I’ll be the reason the era is over haha, but I try to make songs that get the emotion/feeling/message across without even always understanding the words. I think a lot of artists have done that before me too, you can sometimes just hear a song and within the first few notes you get this overwhelming feeling of what the artist is trying to tell you.
For pop specifically it might be a bit harder because people often tend to gravitate towards songs they can sing along with, earworms that grab on to you and stay with you. If I can do the same with a feeling I can convey without the words necessarily being understood by everyone, I’d love that.
Music Authentic: It’s clear you have a strong creative vision. Do you dream things up, or is everything the result of hard work and grinding? Do you write your songs in one burst of inspiration, or do you tweak and refine over time?
MalinMakesAMess: Nothing worth having ever comes easy. So it’s definitely hard work and that’s how it should be, in my opinion at least. My typical process is: I get up between 5 and 6 am and I go about morning routine, and then during breakfast the writing process starts for me, I usually write myself little motivational notes every morning, because I truly believe you have to be your biggest cheerleader always. Those notes are usually little poems and sometimes those poems spark a colour and a sound in my head, that might sound weird, but it just comes to me and then I’ll dabble on the piano to hear the bigger picture.
Making music isn’t just a 1 go deal, for me, it’s a whole process, usually it starts with a poem or a feeling and it grows from there. Once I have the start of the lyrics and the general idea of the sound I’ll usually work on the lyrics some more, it’s like digging in the sand finding from what part of the poem which part of the song can grow. And it just goes from there.
Some poems turn into songs I’ll really love at the time and then when I hear them again a while later I’ll thing “what was I thinking with this one”, but that’s fine too, to me it means it wasn’t meant to be anything else than a way to get those feelings and thoughts out of my heart and my head.
I never stop writing though, it starts in the morning but continues all through the day and night, my school books are filled with little quotes and phrases or feelings and I keep a notebook under my pillow because often during the nights feelings overwhelm me and I write them down. It’s never a song at that point but a lot of my songs have grown from those random notes.
Music Authentic: Turning heartache into hope is a recurring theme in your music. Has expressing these emotions through your songs helped you see things differently?
MalinMakesAMess: For sure! It’s so important to try and see the positive in things. I think we all often are guilty of getting overwhelmed and seeing the feeling rather than the facts in some moments, but for me at least, what helps massively is to write those feelings down and then learn to put things in perspective some more. More often than not things aren’t as dramatic as they feel at the time, things are more fixable than they seem at first and pain and sadness can be super empowering. Just a simple: “I went through this and look at me now?!” It’s also not just about me, it’s about everyone, I see so many people dealing with very real very rough challenges and it inspires me to see them pick themselves up and grow, move forward. It’s how I want to live my life and I think how I, at least, can be happier as a person.
Music Authentic: Is it ever hard to share so much of yourself through your songs, or does it feel freeing?
MalinMakesAMess: I started making music just for me, just to get the feelings out and to learn how to live with everything that felt paralysing, so to me it feels very freeing. It’s super scary at the same time, because music is so personal and emotional and it gives people insight in the deepest most personal feelings.
But I wouldn’t say it’s hard, it comes very natural and I just hope, it helps someone feel less lonely or scared with some of the more negative emotions. Knowing they’re not alone feeling that way, that’s what my songs do for me at least, so I hope they can do that for someone else too.
Music Authentic: Being so young yet creating such mature, emotionally resonant music – have there been moments of doubt, or has your drive to create always pushed you forward?
MalinMakesAMess: There’s doubt every day, but I try to use the doubt to help move forward. I don’t want to live with “What if’s”, I’d rather live with “I tried and it wasn’t meant to be”. In the words of Jim Barrie’s Peter Pan: “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it”
Music Authentic: Your lyrics feel like they come straight from a diary. Are there moments where you worry about being too open, or do you see it as strength?
MalinMakesAMess: I don’t think you can be too open in music, at least not in my opinion. I also don’t see it as strength, I see it as music therapy, quite literally haha.
Music Authentic: When writing, do you think about who’s on the other side, or is it more about your own process?
MalinMakesAMess: It’s about me, music is such a personal process, and it feels like a necessity to me, it helps me become a happier, smarter, healthier person, If anything, I hope it does the same for those who hear my songs.
Music Authentic: What about your peers, schoolmates – how do they see you now, after not giving up and constantly evolving and improving?
MalinMakesAMess: I know everyone close to me is proud of me, they also are very supportive and they motivate me. They’re also always the first ones to listen to finished songs, help finetune or listen and give feedback.
Music Authentic: You’ve been releasing music during a time when the world is so digital. How do you stay grounded in creating something real, rather than chasing trends?
MalinMakesAMess: For me, staying grounded means focusing on the emotions and stories I want to share. I don’t think about what’s trending when I write, it’s not really relevant to what or how I want to create—I just let the music be honest. I was taught that life is fragile and real emotions matter more than fleeting popularity. So, I write to process what I’m feeling and to connect with others who might feel the same way.
The digital world is amazing for sharing music, but the heart of it comes from sitting at my piano or layering vocals, not worrying about how polished or trendy it sounds. It’s all about creating something authentic that resonates with people on a deeper level.
Music Authentic: Which artists shaped your sound the most? If you could collaborate with any of them, who would be first on your list?
MalinMakesAMess: The artists who shaped my sound the most are the ones who made me feel deeply connected to their music. Tori Amos is a big influence for me—her raw honesty and ability to tell such vivid, emotional stories through her piano and voice are something I really admire. Another one is Imogen Heap, especially the way she experiments with layers and textures while still keeping the emotions front and center.
If I could collaborate with anyone, though, Tracy Chapman would be high on my list. Her ability to convey so much power and vulnerability with just her voice and a guitar is incredible. Working with someone who puts storytelling and authenticity above everything else would be a dream for me. Or a rapper like Kanye West—I really admire his creativity and the way he blends so many different elements into his music. He’s always pushing boundaries, and his connection to God gives his art a sense of purpose and depth. Collaborating with someone who isn’t afraid to be bold and spiritual at the same time would challenge me in the best way possible, and I think we could create something truly unique together.
Music Authentic: What is next for you? A new music video, some gigs or even more songs?
MalinMakesAMess: What’s next for me is definitely more songs. Writing and creating music is what I love the most, so I’m always working on new ideas. I’m also considering making my first music video—it would be such a cool way to visually bring one of my songs to life. It’s a big step, though, so I’ll need to save up and plan carefully to make sure I do it right.
Maybe getting signed by a label, it’s something I’d love to happen at some point, but only if the fit between myself and the label is a really good fit and it feels right, but I’m focusing on building my music and staying true to my sound first. If the right opportunity comes along, one that understands who I am as an artist, that would be amazing. For now, I’m just taking it one song at a time and seeing where the journey leads!
Music Authentic: We’re wishing you the very best and clarity throughout everything – people need clean voices and music in these burdened times.
Listen and follow MalinMakesAMess on her
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/malinmakesamess_/