Conversations with May Blue

Today we’d like to introduce you to May Blue.

Hi May, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Before I began my artist career, I was a songwriter with 3 Billboard charting hits under my belt. I was working as a ghost songwriter, without credits (or splits!). I was young (& let’s be real, desperate) & I didn’t realise how bad a deal I was getting. In 2024, I fell really ill. I genuinely didn’t know if I would be around for much longer. Other than the thought of leaving my family behind, my biggest regret was that I never perused my dream artist career. I promised myself that if I recovered I would do just that. After 2 surgeries & an all clear, I released my first single!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It hasn’t been a smooth road at all! Accessibility has been a key part of my journey. I have spent so long studying frequencies & tone colour to make my music very accessible to people with anxiety, the neurodivergent community & people who are prone to overstimulation (people with small children – I see you!)

I am also the first artist globally to partner with Amplio, a groundbreaking platform making music accessible to the d/Deaf/ hard of hearing community.

The big wigs in the music industry laughed me out of multiple rooms because of this desire to create inclusive music. They said there is ‘no profit’ in it & it is a ‘waste of time’.

Cool, John!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I just released my debut album, Vanilla. I am so proud of this album. In this Alternative Jazz album, I wanted to explore what Jazz can be & how Jazz can be more listenable to people who usually prefer Pop music.

I fused Jazz with Pop, Alternative, Folk & even loose metal influences to create a unique sound that I am exceptionally proud of.

The feedback has been amazing & I am so grateful for the absolutely beautiful community I have built!

How do you think about luck?
At the time of writing this, I am having the worst week this week. It feels like everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

I have some headline shows next month & I wanted to practise in front of an audience.

So last week I played at a small jazz bar. I was the fourth act of the night. The pub upstairs sent down 200 people with no interest in Jazz music. The venue only had one speaker. I needed to scream into the microphone to be heard. The room was on their feet & they loved my performance.

So I posted the video to social media & woke up to the video going extremely viral. When I checked the comments, everyone was so mean about my performance, which shocked me, because the room LOVED it.

Last night I went back. I asked the audience to be quiet so I could perform well. Honestly I massively regret it. I let people online get to me & killed the vibe of the show.

Lessons learned: performing to the crowd > performing to people online. Every. Time.
& resilience is so required in this industry.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrs_may_blue
• Other: https://Ffm.to/maybluedebut