Born and raised in New York, Maluca has a rich heritage and a keen love for all genres of music. Discovered at a karaoke bar, she signed to Mad Decent and released her debut EP, El Tigeraso, in 2009. Describing her musical style as "experimental tropical punk, ghetto tech, and hip-house", she is working hard to make a name for herself in the music industry. I got the chance to chat with Maluca about her recent performances at SXSW, writing music, and what her future holds.
Maluca got the opportunity to perform at SXSW this year and enjoyed the experience. "It was good," she tells me. "Austin's a little crazy. Actually SXSW is crazy, not Austin, but SXSW. I've never been to a 'spring break' but that is the closest thing I could picture for it." She played about four shows while she was down in Texas and was pleased with the turnout. But Maluca was working hard so she didn't get to see any of the bands she wanted to see perform. "I didn't get to see anybody, to be honest," she admits. "I was kind of bummed about that. I heard some stuff from far away."
Growing up, Maluca listened to a variety of music. "I was influenced by a lot of different styles of music- hip hop, salsa, meringue, reggae, house," she explains. "My parents exposed me to a lot of different stuff. I am born and raised in New York and I don't know if it's so much the music that's influenced my music, but I think more so New York influences my music."
Maluca remembers well the moment she realized that being a musician was what she wanted to do for a career. "I've been performing since a very young age," she says. "But I was working in fashion a few years ago and I quit my job. I realized then that music is what I need to be doing and what I have to be doing, because I was just miserable doing nine to five. I started bartending again so I could work on my music and the rest is history. I never went back to working a nine to five ever again!"
Since music became a part of her life at a young age, Maluca began writing melodies early on. "I remember always writing songs in the shower," she laughs. "I can remember being like seven or eight and singing in the bathroom. There's something about bathrooms. We would go out to restaurants and I would be in the bathroom singing at the top of my lungs and everybody could hear me and my mom would be like, 'What are you doing in there? Get out of there!'" Unfortunately Maluca doesn't remember any of her early shower compositions. "I really started to write when I was about thirteen and my step-dad had a piano," she relays. "I taught myself to play and that's when I really started to write music."
Nowadays, Maluca forms songs in a plethora of different ways. "I don't go anywhere without my laptop," she informs me. "It sleeps with me in my bed, just in case I have a crazy dream and wake up. I actually just wrote an amazing song in Sweden. I just woke up and I sang the song right into my laptop. It varies. Sometimes songs come suddenly from something that's happening in my life or sometimes it can come from my imagination. Or sometimes if I'm in the studio with a producer and I get really inspired by the music, I'll just write right then and there."
Maluca has a busy 2010 planned. "I'm working on a mixtape at the moment," she shares. "I'll be doing some shows and I'll be having a tour soon, I'll be touring Europe in May. So there's going to be music and new shows and lights and fashion and dancers and all that good s***."
As Maluca continues to grow in popularity, she's thankful for all the fans she has. But there is one person in particular she would like to dig her music. "Prince," she says matter-of-factly. "If Prince was on Twitter and he was like 'Oh my gosh, "El Tigeraso" is my favorite song', yeah, that would be incredible."
Maluca appreciates the positive impact that the world wide web has had on her career, but she also likes to keep in touch with her fans on a more personal level. "The internet made a big difference in my career, for sure," she reveals. "Am I into the whole Facebook stuff? Not really. But the powers that be told me I had to do it, my managers. It's cool, I like connecting with my fans and it's another avenue. I also write my fans personal letters. They send me their addresses and I just write them little notes like 'Hey what's up? I'm on the train,' I don't know, just random stuff."
The desire to connect with people goes beyond Maluca's fan letter interaction, she also helps out charities whenever she gets the chance. "I just did a show to raise money for the Lower Eastside Girls Club," she reveals. "They are a nonprofit run out of New York City and it's an all girls club. They take in a lot of young women, predominantly from Latin and African American descent and work with them. They teach them about self esteem, they have a little shop where girls can sell baked goods, it's just a really well-rounded program. You can donate your old prom dresses to them too. The show was in conjunction with Haiti, so it was raising money for Haiti and also for the girls to go to college."
Keep your eyes and ears peeled for this talented up-and-coming artist!
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