CIAO MALZ (Malia DelaCruz) grew up in Connecticut, listening to her dad’s mixtapes of Oasis, the Eagles, and Dave Matthews Band. She started making music when she was given a white MacBook — spending all her free time on GarageBand and filling the hard drive with hours of guitar tracks and unintelligible vocal melodies. She’s always loved experimenting with audio, even secretly recording history class lectures and turning them into songs to share with her friends.
Q: In your opinion, what are the essential qualities that make a “good songwriter”?
I think that good songwriting captures both the light and dark sides of who you are. For me, the most powerful lyrics are the ones that cut through the rest of the song and make you stop and think, “That’s it.” Those lines that strike a nerve or reveal something raw are what really stand out
Q: What is the basis for writing attention-grabbing music in this day and age?
Grabbing attention in music is hard to do, and I think the key is to keep it subtle. It shouldn’t rely on shock value or be overly obvious. The most effective approach, in my opinion, is through creative arrangements and thoughtful mixing. I love incorporating subtle, automated effects that add depth and provoke emotion in unexpected ways.
Q: Can you pinpoint some specific songs and songwriters that changed the way you write music?
The band Frog changed the way I write music. There is a lot of humor in Frog’s music that encourages me to take it easy and just write what I’m thinking. There are too many serious songs and I don’t think of myself as a serious person all that often.
Q: Q: Do you find it hard to be inspired by your peers? Can you name any new artists you find inspiring?
Thankfully, I have a lot of people around me who are musically talented. Magana’s latest album was brought to me by my friend Jamie and I’ve been feeling inspired by that.
Q: For your new album, what inspired the lyrical content, album title, and overall vibe?
For this record, I focused on enjoying the process more, inviting friends to come in and play, which created a really laid-back vibe. Over the past year, I’ve gone through a lot of personal growth, and those experiences naturally found their way into music. It’s about mundane stuff plus inspirations from what I was watching on Tv at the time.
Q: Do you find that you ruminate over writing songs and hold on to them for a long time before including them on a record? Or do you prefer to write them, release them, and be done with them? Do you ever re-visit old material to do a re-write or once it’s done it’s done?
I tend to overthink everything before I'm ready to share it. Lately, though, I’m trying this new approach where I just finish every song, even if it feels terrible at first. I go back to old stuff pretty often, too—I actually find some great melodies that I want to repurpose down the line. Plus, it's cool to look back and see how much I’ve improved since then.
Q: Were there any lessons you learned in the writing and recording process for your current release that you will take with you into your next project?
I've learned a ton from this project. The biggest lesson? Definitely to record live drums earlier on—it really helps bring out the feel of the whole track. I’d also tell myself to finish writing the song before hitting record so I can emphasize certain lyrics with the instrumentation. There were a lot of things I wish I’d done differently this time, but I’m excited to take all these lessons into the next record.