Q&A with Mango in Euphoria
Mango in Euphoria can only be described as an ethereal being - with her dreamy tone over melodic beats and glitter bomb music videos she takes her audience on a journey.
We recently talked to her about her music and what inspires her to create.
MR: What was the first song you fell in love with?
MIE: The first song I fell in love with, that's really hard to tell. There are so many songs out there that helped me not feel lonely.
When I was a teenager I fell in love with Lana Del Rey's first album, Born To Die. The music video for Video Games came out when I was 15/16 years old I think, and I remember watching it in the cafeteria of my high school and I thought it was so cool and so deep.
MR: What songs do you have on repeat?
MIE: At this very moment I have Realiti by Grimes, I'll Never Be Maria Magdalena by Sandra, A Forest by The Cure, Harold's Theme by David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, I'm Outta Love by Anastacia, Rebel Yell by Billy Idol, and the songs from Lana Del Rey's Ultraviolence album.
MR: What musicians do you admire most and why?
MIE: I love Grimes, she's so smart and quirky, I feel like I can relate to her a lot. Lana Del Rey, of course - she's one of my favourites.
I also grew up listening to a lot of Marilyn Manson, but lately with what happened I don't want to support him anymore but I can't lie about the fact that his art has inspired me.
Miley Cyrus was a big part of my teenage life, I remember all the merch I got from her concerts - I might still have it all at my parents house, haha. Her last album is what I’m loving right now, I'm in love with the bass and synth sound.
Joan Jett and the Runaways were also a big inspiration to me - I’m very into women empowerment!
MR: Your sound is very reminiscent of the sound of the 90’s from female led bands like Garbage - were you inspired by the music of the 90’s?
MIE: It's actually my current producer, Philippe Francq, whom I met at 18 years old to make a naïve album that was never released - he kept telling me about this 90's band called Garbage and I didn't have a clue who they were, probably because I was still watching Disney Channel. He told me I sounded a bit like Shirley Manson, the lead singer of Garbage - he was a huge fan, so I guess it's part of my identity now.
I compose and write my stuff but he's adding this little 90's nostalgia that actually creates a unique sound so that's why I decided to work with him again during the lockdown. I started watching all of Garbage's videos and the song 'I think I'm paranoid' was on repeat for a very long time.
MR: How would you describe your music?
MIE: My music is a very unique mix, combining Electronic Rock and Dream Pop, but I don't think I can really name it if that makes sense? In the first reviews and interviews that people wrote about me, Goth pop kept coming up, so I guess it’s close to that too. I don't make too much pop, and I don't make too much rock either, it's a mix of the two genres.
MR: How does your newer music compare to your previous work?
MIE: I am just at the beginning so I can't really compare it to what I've done before, but I know that it's getting better and better. My two experimental songs that are already out were not studio quality - I’ve finally saved enough money to do the next tracks at an actual studio so they're definitely going to sound better!
MR: How did you create your alter ego, Mango in Euphoria?
MIE: I can't really say Mango In Euphoria is an alter ego, because it's me. I am absolutely not trying to be a character. It's authentically me, with outfits, makeup with real life stories in the background and constant overwhelming inspiration.
The public image that I wanted to share started to come little by little in my mind very naturally, I didn't have to try too hard. But sure, it represents someone crazy living in a quirky world, but I am a crazy person, so, there’s really no gap between me and my artistic side.
MR: What's the story behind your song Never be the same?
MIE: Never Be the Same is telling people who used to judge me or are still judging me that I will never be like them - fuck that! It was awfully hard to be that one girl that people would laugh at during all my teenage years, and still, in my early twenties sometimes too. But I never changed and always stayed authentic to who I am regardless of what people would say, and meeting the right people made me value myself a little bit more – it made me think, yeah I'm different, but that's not a bad thing. I might be different for a reason.
People used to make fun of my striking features and the gap between my teeth because I wasn't fitting their hot girl standards, but today I am who I am, I don't need to pretend - I can tell the world that I am unique and proud of who I am. I want this song to encourage all the misfits to be proud of their differences -to embrace their truth, this is the key to happiness.
If you are happy within yourself and do not care about people validating you and know your truth and that the only approval you need is your own - once you learn that, you can achieve anything you want in your life.
MR: Your music videos are so trippy and cool, what was the creative process when creating them?
MIE: Honestly when creating my music video I had visuals come to mind when the music was being created already, I don't have to look too far. I feel very grateful for the constant creativity that I possess, although sometimes it can be overwhelming. Crystals is really naïve, it’s about being high on love, so I indeed needed something trippy but I had no money at the time so it was a 4 hours video shoot in a dark room with trippy lights. Nothing too fancy, and I also have an amazing friend, Eolia Van Der Hoeven, who did super cool makeup for me.
For Never Be the Same, I was imagining London by night and Harley Quinn, alongside the disco glitter that is Mango in Euphoria - it's once again a mix of everything. Harley Quinn has been playing a big part in my life during lockdown because I’ve been playing a lot of Injustice 2 on the PS4 with my partner. I love the dark-red Harley Quinn they created in the comics with the proper costume, you know.
This video shoot was really long. We went from the morning till the evening and most of it was shot outside - but this is the price you have to pay for a cool video, you’ve got to be ready to be in your bra on a rooftop when it's 2°C outside.
MR: What should people expect when attending one of your gigs?
MIE: People should expect a very freaking cool show because I have found my backing band for my upcoming live shows and it's going to be amazing!
The audience needs to forget their daily struggles and enter a very different world with outstanding music so they can remember you.
I love to connect with new people as well and I am absolutely not thinking of myself. I want to get to know people who bring me support and be approachable. This is the recipe of a true, genuine and organic connection with your followers. I just love making art, and if my art makes other people happy, they deserve the best performance.
I promise something really cool so get your tickets on my website to experience the beginning of my journey.
MR: You’ve covered a couple of Marylin Manson songs, are there any other artists you’d love to cover?
MIE: Um, I thought about covering Lana Del Rey, but as my voice has a breathy style already, I automatically thought it wouldn't bring anything original and special to the cover because that's already her style you know - so I don't see the point, unless I completely change the instrumental structure into a heavier one.
I don't really know for now to be honest, I've already done my own version of 911 by Lady Gaga live when I was just starting out because I can really relate to the lyrics of that song and she's also an artist that I admire, but other than that, I am not into doing covers. I write a lot of songs during the week and doing covers to me just feels less exciting or interesting.
MR: What are you working on at the moment?
MIE: I am currently working on Golden Shrine, a very fresh spring-summer style, dancy song that will bring everyone together for during my gigs. I wrote this one really quickly on my iPad and I had a good feeling about it, so I sent the sample to my producer and he created something amazing out of my demo. I was going to release a song similar to Crystals which was very dream pop and slow, but as the lyrics are so raw, quite sad and depressing, I chose not to release it for now because I didn’t think people needed to listen to anything depressing - especially with everything happening in the world right now. It's already super hard to stay sane. So I decided to bring the light instead. Other than that, I am writing so many new songs and hopefully it'll lead to an album!
MR: If you could collaborate with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?
MIE: I would love to collaborate with Grimes, Lana Del Rey, David Bowie, David Lynch, and so many others that I can't think of right now.
You can follow Mango in Euphoria here
