Mali “Mango Showers” is a dark and enchanting masterpiece that conjures emotions of lose of control and a freeing oneself from material and social pressures. “Mango Showers” was written as a premonition to a music industry contract deemed sketchy that has led to rumors of foul play in the death of an artist, you can find more on the story below in Mali’s pitch. While that may be the case for why “Mango Showers” was written I find that the slightly ambiguous lyrical choices allowed myself to put my own experiences in the lyrics to be accompanied by lush harmonic and textural arrangement choices. The universal message behind the lyrics is how one measures what success is and to not compare yourself and your artistry to capitalisms version of success. To em artistic journeys are meant to be a self fulfilling adventure through emotion and sound. While media outlets may try and push certain levels of success that non-artists might try to push on you, these may even be your family and friends, one must remain true to what it means to be an artist. That said “Mango Showers” really does tread the line between commercial sounding and artistry in a way that displays thoughtfulness and poise. I found myself thinking of artists such as Massive Attack and their song “Teardrop” or other trip-hop 90s artists, “Mango Showers” also has a bit of a pop rock edge that I find endearing.
Mali “Mango Showers” has inspired me to redefine what success means to me and I hope you’re able to draw introspection from its beauty.
ARTISTS PITCH
Mango Showers are warning signs.
They caution us of the impending heavy, seemingly unending monsoon to come. Mali’s new single by the same title likens the familiar pre-monsoon phenomenon to her experience of being approached by someone in the music industry to sign a dodgy contract with his label a few years before. He tempted her with tall promises and the hope of ‘making it’ in the music industry, coercing her to sign the agreement – an offer she eventually refused. The song was written as a premonition that someone would eventually fall prey to his demands and would be trapped in a deal they should have never signed.
A year later, a young, extremely talented musician who began working with the same label, met an untimely end under extremely murky circumstances. His death was declared a suicide, but till date, nobody knows what transpired in the minutes leading up to his demise. The news rattled the entire arts community and became a far closer-to-home example of the stark power distance between influential people in the music business and young upcoming artists willing to take risky decisions to build their careers. Navigating any major decision can be an extremely lonely and nerve-wracking process, but signing a one-sided contract can be debilitating. With Mango Showers, Mali wants her listeners to question what success means to them and how far they are willing to go to get what they want.
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