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Hi Marta, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?
I’ve been pretty good! Keeping busy and making the best of staying mostly at home. I’m so happy I have the opportunity to talk to you guys!
Can you talk to us more about your latest single “Sketches”?
Yes, definitely. It was a very personal song to write. The abbreviated version is that it’s a song about being 22, and realizing that you’re not who your younger self thought you would be. The world has gotten more complicated, you’re not quite the all-knowing adult you want to be, and you’re starting to realize that you probably never will be. It’s a song that helped me embrace the instability I was feeling and accept that there will probably never be a time in my life when everything is completely, 100% stable. And since I turned 22 in February of 2020, I had plenty of instability, disillusionment, and change to grapple with. The name “Sketches” comes from the idea of being a sketch of yourself, and not knowing how or when you’ll be able to color the life back in.
Did any event in particular inspire you to write this song?
There were quite a few. “Sketches” was written over the course of a couple of months during quarantine, and because the subject matter deals with being 22 in the midst of a pandemic, I gave myself the time to really think about it and be vulnerable. Some lyrics hint towards the way we avoid problems (personally and globally) by covering them in a layer of prettiness and not dealing with the underlying cause. Some lyrics hint towards the racial injustice America saw in 2020, and how we have a lot of growing, changing, and learning to do. And the chorus overall focuses on how the pandemic affected my life—canceled shows, halted career, no college graduation…I had spent a long time sketching out a stellar year professionally and personally, and just as I was about to paint in the detail, the life, and the color, I had to stop.
Any plans to release any sort of video for the track?
Yes actually! We are wrapping up filming later this month, and it will be released in the summer. I won’t give the exact date away just yet, but June or July sound pretty good…
How was the recording and writing process?
The writing was difficult—not because I couldn’t find the words, but because I didn’t want to dig into the fears and the disappointments I had. I liked the idea of sketches from the beginning, because they could symbolize so much. So I had the chorus alone for a while, and then the first verse came to me late one night after sending a long voice-memo rant to my best friend. That’s actually when I wrote the words “hello friend, it’s been a while…” It’s a direct quote from our conversation. A month later the second verse came, and the guitar part had been in my head since the beginning. I brought it to my guitarist to flesh it out, then got to work in the studio with my producer, and the final piece was for me to write the string quartet at the end! The recording process came pretty easily once the vision for the song was clear.
What role does Nashville play in your music?
Nashville plays a huge role in my music. I moved here after high school to dive headfirst into the industry and get my music degree while I was at it. Everything I’ve learned about the business— performing, creating my own brand, finding my own voice, and refining my vocal and composition skills—has been here in Nashville. I absolutely love this city!
As your music keeps getting awards and momentum – does that put any pressure on you as you work on new material or rather the opposite?
It comes and goes. There are definitely moments where, after writing a particularly good song, I think, “Oh my god I’m never going to write anything this good again, this is it, I’m a one hit wonder.” But then I realize I’m being waaaay too overdramatic. I don’t force myself to write music. I just do it when I feel that I have something to say, whether it’s big or small. My last single, “Him,” did incredibly well, so part of me wants “Sketches” to measure up to that…but most days I try to stay grounded in the idea that every song has its season and its purpose, and if even one person feels more understood because of something I wrote, I have done my job successfully.
Does the new single mean we can expect a new material – how’s that coming along?
Yes!! I’m so, so excited about this whole project. “Sketches” is Part 1 of a larger work called The Quarantine Tapes. There will be three singles releasing back to back, each dealing with different aspects of how I experienced this pandemic. I want to address this time in our lives musically, and I want to start conversations. We went through (and are still going through) a time of unprecedented isolation, fear, and change, and we need to be able to talk about it openly! So I hope that by putting my deepest feelings about it out there for everyone to hear, I can help others feel more supported and less alone.
Any tentative release date or title in mind?
The next two singles will be coming your way in March and April!
What else is happening next in Marta Palombo’s world?
Right now, I’m not entirely sure! I love where I am and what I’m doing, so I’m focusing on The Quarantine Tapes at the moment. Once the whole project is released from start to finish, I’ll probably jump right into planning my next one! I want to be able to play live shows and start gigging again, but I can’t feasibly plan for that quite yet. I’m trying to keep my audience and myself as safe as possible. So what’s happening next… we’ll see! I’m excited to take everyone with me on the journey.
Listen to “Sketches” here.
