Melkior invites us into his exploration of self-acceptance through his EP, A Letter to My Next. He shares, “I did this on my own, and I felt it really allowed me to be raw.”
Melkior’s journey through his music has been a rollercoaster. Being self-funded is a difficult thing to navigate in such a competitive industry. Melkior likes to revel in both big and small accomplishments, like getting Spotify material for In the Morning Mike Champion. But he’s also out here getting played on various radio stations, landing deals with brands and doing really well in music competitions.
He opens up to Happy about the pressures of success, his creative achievements, and how people don’t celebrate themselves enough: “I’ve been victim to this mentality too. I think just being able to get an idea and turn it into a song that thousands of people can connect with, listen to and enjoy, is the biggest success.”
Melkior is super excited to watch this EP reach people, and have them connect with it. The EP poured out of him as the themes of his life naturally circulated and gave him an urgent push to tell his story. After clocking 10-hour studio sessions, and about 20 studio days all up, working alongside a range of collaborators, Melkior really expanded his songwriting skills and ability to produce music through this EP.
HAPPY: Thanks for chatting with us! What are you looking forward to this week?
MELKIOR: This week, I’m looking forward to just getting in the studio again – writing again, creating again, and also seeing where this project, A Letter To My Next, takes me. I want to see where it reaches, how many people it reaches, their reactions and how they connect with it.
HAPPY: Tell us about your suburb, what do you love/not love about where you live?
MELKIOR: Kellyville is a really nice suburb. It’s a suburb for families, it’s really quiet and safe, there are lots of beautiful homes and the majority of the people here are friendly. Now, what is good about this area is also its downfall, especially for creatives. I feel that this area doesn’t have much to offer. Live music venues or studio spaces for creatives are basically nonexistent and it doesn’t have the same artist presence as the inner-city suburbs like Enmore, Newtown and Marrickville, where creatives tend to flock to. Networking opportunities here are very limited as well as rehearsal opportunities and creative opportunities for you have to travel to be able to do these things, unless you have a space of your own.
HAPPY: Describe what your writing sessions were like when you wrote this raw and vulnerable EP?
MELKIOR: The writing sessions for this EP took a bit of time and came in stages. First, I would have a session with Chunkyluv at his studio, we would throw around ideas and create the soundscapes for each track idea. I always had an idea of what I wanted to create, what type of sound I wanted and what felt best to me, Jaime (ChunkyLuv) really took each idea and created the perfect production on each song. The first stage was – Glistenin’, Friends with Feeling and Tonight. I remember in one session we created the first draft of the production which took a few hours each and then I took them home to write the lyrics and melodies. I did this on my own, and I felt it really allowed me to be raw. I took these back into the studio and recorded the vocals for a first demo, to see how it felt altogether and what needed to be changed.
The second stage was to go back and rewrite, comb through lyrics and melodies, improve on them, change them or solidify what was already written. The main aim was to get the message across, have the right feel for what I wanted to achieve, and atmosphere struck true. Final stages of the songs were to record final vocals, postproduction, mix and master.
In the second stage came Need You, Time to Time and In The Morning, these tracks came about differently. I really wanted to focus on my songwriting and my ability to create music, so I sought help from my songwriter friend Rachad who has really helped me hone my skills in that department. I was stuck in a song writer block for a while, and he suggested different techniques of task to help get out of that. One of them was to find beats on YouTube, play 5-10
seconds of the beginning of it just to see if you connect with it, and then voice record a freestyle to the entire song and see what emerges. All three songs started out as freestyles and then tweaked to create the songs you hear today, once the lyrics and melodies were solidified the acapella Vox was sent to Chunkyluv and on our next studio session we created the production around the lyrics and melodies. Majority of the song stayed authentic to the freestyle, especially the melodies, and then Rachad would help me cowrite/ edit the writing on the tracks to make them whole and complete, as well as making sure my vocal delivery was on point for each song.
Again, final vocals, postproduction, mix and master we done. My studio session was normally 10 hours long, and I think we spent 20 sessions overall to get this project done right. These songs at first weren’t supposed to be a project but it just so happened that the themes in my life at the time naturally made me create songs that sat well together and really told a story from start to finish. Especially with the inclusion of the song NXT.. Nxt. Was recorded a year before any of the other songs were and after another year the rest of the songs were finished. Timing often didn’t match up, so it unfortunately took longer than expected to have these songs ready and released.
HAPPY: Tell us about your experience working with ‘Chunky Luv’, Rissa, Mike Champion and BVLE.
MELKIOR: Well, what can I say working with ChunkyLuv is amazing. He’s such a talented producer such a genius on guitar, production and connecting with you as an artist, knowing what you want and delivering that. Its such a comfortable workspace with him and we vibe really well. Bvle is an awesome underground artist, his lyrics and ideas are ridiculously good and he’s always willing and ready to do work. It was absolutely a pleasure to work with him, his so easy to work with a bounce ideas too without ego being involved, just pure creativity.
RISSA was so professional and down to earth. I sent her the idea for Friends with Feelings and she was straight onto it, she loved the idea of the track and what it meant so within a few weeks I had final a demo vocal sent to me, and then a few weeks later, the final Vox, it was great to work with her and I felt she bring something to the track that really completed it.
Working with Mike Champion was awesome. as someone I’ve looked up to in the R&B scene especially locally yet having that world sound that no one really has here, I don’t think. He is a pioneer to independent artists and he’s always championed me throughout my journey, supporting me the whole way so it was an honor and a pleasure to have him feature on a song of mine. I have been blessed to work with these great artists and people.
HAPPY: If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you end up?
MELKIOR: I really want to go back home to Italy to see a family and then just be in the presence of Europe where weekend away can mean a different country and an hour flight on our train can mean so many different experiences. Also, I definitely want to go to London, the music scene there is crazy.
HAPPY: In terms of co-writing, how did you share your vision and vulnerability with Rachad Allaf?
MELKIOR: The first time at a session Rachad we sat down and had a conversation about what my vision was, where I was taking this music journey, who I wanted to be as an artist, and what I wanted to portray to the audience. After a few sessions I started to feel really comfortable and seamlessly as friends we would talk about different situations that we have been through, funnily enough our stories were very similar of how we got to this stage of our life, and what we
have been through, in personal life and also in music. It was really easy to share the vision and vulnerability because he understood everything that I had brought to him on a deeper level then just business, 1) because we are friends and 2) because we are so a like.
HAPPY: What would your ultimate day be?
MELKIOR: The day I no longer have to have a full-time job and can survive off my music alone. I think that will be a day to remember, all the hard work finally paying off on a larger personal scale and will really change my life. No more early mornings, late nights working to get by, pay the bills, fund my music, but rather working on my purpose and living, not just surviving.
HAPPY: Which book or TV show are you currently watching?
MELKIOR: At the moment I’m reading Jay Shetty’s – Think Like A Monk and I’ve been so hooked on British/European crime shows, and Mafia shows like Suburra and Gammorah these are in Italian so to me they are comforting and awesome see my mother country and be involved, there’s so many shows that Ive binged, obvious UK one being Top Boy, but also Line of Duty, Marcella, Wallander, not a good obsession but at the same time so good. I don’t know if it’s the accents, languages or the scenery of the different countries, or the fact I get an insight into a different culture.
HAPPY: What did you listen to growing up that has fuelled your inspiration for this EP?
MELKIOR: Growing up I listened to everything, Michael Jackson was huge I remember rage and MTV showing all different music videos and just singing along with them, ashamed to say even the backstreet boys, Nsync and boy band era, but my true love for R&B came when I heard Craig Davids 7 Days and Ushers You Remind Me, You Got It Bad and then they sent me on a spiral of ’90’s R&B, Boys 2 Men, 112, Donnel Jones Montell Jordan, Jadakiss, Jodeci, Jagged Edge, Nate Dogg but also Rap like Tupac, Snoop, NWA. The story telling a grown conversational lyric in this ear has really influenced my writing and expression was huge in music, I don’t think there will ever been another era like the ’90’s.
HAPPY: What did you read last that opened your eyes and mind to a new perspective?
MELKIOR: Last book I read that really sort of help me in this great creative journey is The Artists Way by Julia Cameron. It’s a reboot when your down and out of your creativity. I recommend it to anyone.
HAPPY: What are your top five favourite music venues to play at?
MELKIOR: So far my Top 5 venues are, Enmore, Marys Underground, Oxford arts, Maxx Watts, The Vanguard.
HAPPY: What is your most exciting achievement in your music journey so far?
MELKIOR: So far, my music journey it’s been a rollercoaster. Being independent I think every achievement is a big achievement, being self-funded and getting anywhere in this crazy industry is really really hard so I feel any achievement should be celebrated. Getting Spotify material for my latest track In The Morning featuring Mike Champion, to being played on BBC1Xtra & Reprezent radio in the UK, landing In Store Sync deals with Adidas, The North Face, Office Shoes and Liberty London, getting accepted onto SongHubs by APRA and being an ISC semi-final for my songwriting from 20,000 applicants and with established artists.
I think these are all massive achievements that need to be recognized internally because we often overlook every little achievement, we often are so hellbent on success we overwork our small successes sometimes and it’s not healthy. I’ve been victim to this mentality too. I think just being able to get an idea and turn it into a song that thousands of people can connect with, listen to and enjoy, is the biggest success.
Stream Melkior’s transparent and introspective EP, A Letter to My Next via Spotify below.
Interviewed by Olivia Adams.