LA Music Review | Art, stories and advice
Heart-wrenching yet full of grace!
Hi Mary, welcome to LA Music Review! Tell us a little bit about you and your music.
I’m Mary Ozaraga, from Cebu City, Philippines. You could say I’m a late bloomer when it comes to being a songwriter and artist. I’ve been writing for seven years, more seriously in the past two years. I never considered myself a singer, but one thing to another, and now I’m the artist releasing my songs. I’m honored to have rendered my voice to songs for collaborative projects in Germany and Canada.
I don’t limit the genre I write in. I’ve dabbled in the alternative, rap, pop, and folk. My main instrument isn’t vocals and guitar, though I started as a drummer. My melodies, rhymes, and lyric phrasing are very much rhythm influenced.
As a songwriter, I’ve recently realized I am more of a storyteller, writing in a “stream of consciousness.” (I’m getting this feedback though I don’t fully know what that means).
As an architect, I was trained to be very visual. So with my songwriting, I paint images with words and melodies. But more than painting images, my songs carry more messages than art.
I consider myself a mere carrier of a message. I want to give voice to things we are afraid to express; grief, confessions, prayers, cries for hope, peace and love. I believe in the power of confessions and how honest confessions can create hopeful change to be better. God hears and honors genuine prayers and confessions.
Start streaming “Fly” here:
Congrats on the release! What was your inspiration when you were writing this project?
Released on October 18, 2022. This was written for the unborn baby my bestfriend lost due to miscarriage last year. When I let her hear it for the first time, she said it gave words to things her heart had not been able to express and gave comfort, like a God’s soothing balm.
What is your vision for this project? What lessons would you like to impart with your audience?
Since it’s release, many have reached out to me with gratitude. I was surprised how many mothers and families have gone through miscarriage. My heart breaks for them. Not many speak about this. Honestly, I was pathetically apathetic towards this issue before. But God has allowed my heart to grow with this song. So I’ve tried to knock on every door, turn every stone to share this with a prayer that it gives comfort and grows the heart of who ever gets to listen.
What is your favorite part of this body of work?
The message and how it was highlighted in the production of the song which is almost as stripped as it can be. Someone once told me that they shared this with their wife and warned her that the vocals carry so much emotion. I’m not a trained vocalist, and I guess the flaws in my vocals rendered it more real and raw. I hope it did carry the message effectively.
Anything else we should know about? Future releases?
Though I don’t have the whole lineup of songs I’ll be releasing this year, I have a few that are pretty sure and hopefully will be in production soon. Other than those, I hope to do some acoustic versions of my songs and release them too.
I will perform for an online contemporary worship concert on Feb. 3 at Red’s Room Entertainment. It’s pegged as a Filipino Takeover. So for the first time, we’re an all-Filipino lineup in this concert.
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