Hailing from Brampton Ontario, Canada is an up-and-coming star that goes by the name of Christian Mariconda. Christian just released his micro album titled, “The Dinner Table Has a Wounded Pull,” consisting of three tracks including one of his best tracks to date “Nowadayze.” “Nowadayze” is a slower R&B rap song that puts Christian’s artistic ability in the spotlight. Featuring a unique older boom bap type beat and Christian’s fast-flowing vocals, the track is well worth a listen and will have you vibing along through its entirety. “Nowadayze” is just the start of Christian Mariconda’s music career and for him, the future looks to be very bright. Learn more about Christian and his journey through our interview with him below.
Hi Christian Mariconda! How are you?
“I’m feeling focused and joyous, lately I’ve been more in tune with my inner self these days. Experiences of life can bring you so much discovery as to who you truly are, so I’m just in a gratitude state as of now.”
Tell us about your background getting to where you are today?
“So I first started singing back when I was 12 years old in the 8th grade, at the time I was playing the highest level of hockey for my age group and then when the hockey season ended which usually ends in April, I would then start the soccer season which I also was playing the highest level for my age too, so in discovering my passion for music it really came down to what I was seeing on the TV screen, back then I used to watch a show on BET called “106 & Park”. They had mainstream artists come on the show and do live performances plus they had a top 10 music video countdown for hottest music videos of the day type of thing, and interviewed all these mainstream artists from Usher to Ne-Yo to Drake to Kanye West, the show came on every week day at 6PM so I’d always tune into to see who they were gonna be interviewing and of course watching the music video countdown along with premieres for new music videos too. I think I originally heard about the show from a kid at school so I just decided one day to tune in and from there I was so captivated at how these artists were performing, it was their energy, their voice, their choreography behind the camera and the live performances. I just connected and was moved so much by the music, even watching so many Michael Jackson YouTube videos on him dancing, his live performances and of course music videos. Music kind of just electrified my soul in a way I hadn’t known before up until that point in my life. So in grades 9 and 10 I released three, four Youtube covers of songs by Usher and Justin Timberlake and let me tell you those were so bad when I look back on them (laughs) pretty sure I deleted them a few years ago cause I really didn’t want anyone to see them to be honest, I was still a bit insecure about it at the time (laughs). Fast forward into grade 11 I finally gained enough confidence to be apart of the choir all thanks to one teacher who knew about my videos and knew I was in music classes my first two years and knew that I always wished there was a singing class but all the music classes were just for instrumentation studying, so finally I joined and let me tell you it was the most terrifying and yet most liberating experience of my life, cause I knew all my peers were watching me when we had church mass but at the same time nothing stopped me from getting on that stage and singing. In 2014, which was my high school graduation year, Finally I got into a real recording studio which my boy at the time had set up at his house. From then on the rest really is history.”
Where are you from?
“I was born in Toronto, Ontario Canada but my parents moved to Brampton when I was 5 years old, which is a suburb city about 20 minutes outside of Toronto. I have been in Brampton ever since.”
What is the most challenging thing you have overcome in your life?
“The most challenging thing I had to overcome ever in my life was ultimately discovering who I was on the deepest level of the self. All of us as human beings know that there is good and bad in everyone’s experience of life, but there is so much pain, so much suffering we hold onto internally and suppress inside of us, we rarely ever channel it and transform it into something beautiful, something positive and productive because often times we have no idea how to express it, it’s not easy to find an outlet for the stuff we deal with on the inside. We can’t let go of the past because we derive so much of our identity in our history as a person. Really in discovering myself as a musician, a rapper, a singer, a songwriter, a storyteller I discovered the meaning of who I am today as a human being. Through my curiosity of finding my voice in my music that I created and create now, the art was no longer art for me, it became life itself and I think through this therapeutic journey I have been on with my craft it has brought me so much self awareness and inner power to understand my mind and how it unfolds and works, while understanding what pain means to me, what joy means to me, what peace means to me and how these human emotions and energy states have impacted who I am. Now I am inspired by spiritual teachings and human nature, I swear I have around 15 books about this stuff (laughs) and the list is only growing to buy more.”
Are you currently signed or independent?
“I am independent under me and my best friend Lazzarus’ own label imprint called Undefined Defined Presentations. Of course though I would be open and would love to sign to a major label, if the partnership makes sense for both sides. All I want is creative control and to have the resources to spread my stories and music around the globe and to optimize that as much as possible to be honest. I ain’t too caught up in owning my masters kind of thing you know (laughs) of course I know I deserve to be paid for my catalogue but my music is me in service to the people, do they really care about how much money I am making? I don’t think my net worth would be very relatable to the listener.”
Who inspires you the most musically?
“Inspirations are coming from everywhere in music for me, since I grew up on really everything from Rock, R&B, Pop, Hip-Hop, Dance Electronic but yeah my inspirations are Kendrick Lamar, Andre 3000 and Outkast, Frank Ocean, Lauryn Hill, Justin Timberlake, Prince, Michael Jackson, Kanye West, I recently got into Lorde as well, she is captivating to say the least so her too.”
What do you want people to take away after listening to your music?
“I want people to take away really whatever they wanna pull away from my music. I used to be on some “oh the listener has to take away all the layers and message and story from the song/project. Then I came to an understanding that music is subjective and that every listener is different. Now I tell stories inside my songs and I am only honest, vulnerable and I never leave out anything of who I am as a human, I give the listener everything inside of me, I am gonna challenge you as a listener that’s for sure. So with this always as my foundation in my music, then ultimately I know someone out in the world listening to the songs is gonna take away something from my message and stories and apply it to their own life.”
What is your greatest achievement as a musician?
“My greatest achievement as a musician was discovering that music was my purpose, my calling in this world of madness. Also, me and my best friend and rising artist himself named Lazzarus Creed released a song titled “Braggadocious” back in February this year which ended up at #16 on the iTunes Hip-Hop Canadian chart along with the iTunes all genre Canadian chart which got to #132 and was there for about three days after its release so that was pretty crazy to see, especially being an independent artist.”
Do you produce your own music? If not who do you work with?
“Nah I don’t produce my music currently but I’m definitely opened to possibly getting into producing one day. For the last two years I’ve been working with 1st Official who is an up and coming producer out of Boston and recently I’ve been working with a producer named Stoic who is coming out of New York and let me tell you he is crazy with the sonics. Both dudes are special talents.”
Who is one artist you wish you could work with?
“Any artist I mentioned who Inspires me that is still alive. I’d be deeply grateful to collaborate with just one of them, let alone more than that.”
Tell us about any new music you have coming out? When is coming out? What is it about?
“I’ve been sitting on this song titled “Never Fold” since 2019, almost two years now since I went into the studio and laid down a demo of it before finishing the recording process only a month ago. Let’s just say this song is one for your car, one for your party, one for your headphones, basically this is a song you won’t wanna be on the couch for and imma leave it at that. Me and my team are setting it to release this September, I can’t give out exactly which day yet but expect it then, along with a very special short film to go with it. I’ll let the visual speak for itself so I won’t go into any specifics on it right now. Essentially the song is about separating yourself from the ones who are validating themselves through other people’s opinions of them and how they should present themselves to the world, and yet here I am and it seems like I’m the only one betting on myself and following my intuitive truth in today’s world of social media. Even if I myself still am at times consumed by trends and media information.”
What does a day inside your shoes look like?
“A day inside my shoes is really one that’s far from complex (laughs). I wake up have my one cup of coffee while opening up one of the books I am currently reading, then I’ll go workout at the gym for an hour and a half then come home make a post-workout meal, and then from there depending on what the day is presenting itself I’m in my studio at my house, either in a space writing a new song, hearing new beats, working on the marketing aspect for current releases with my team and with this also means being up to date on Instagram of course especially as a musician, it’s really all music after a certain point of the day (laughs) oh and I do daily meditation too so that helps me reset my inner energy system and empties my mind.”
If you’d like to learn more about Christian Mariconda or if you want to listen to his music check him out on Instagram, Spotify, or Apple Music, links below.
Instagram: @christianmariconda
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2d0cOcGbNtqVvReJlTEIng?si=peDzBlDrR6SioyS7Mzm68A&dl_branch=1
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/christian-mariconda/1325699648
