Olivia Morreale
Interview conducted on March 04, 2021
By Dan Locke
Olivia Morreale Is a pop/R&B vocalist and currently work with with Engelbert Humperdinck. I want to help make your music sound great! I have worked on EDM track features, pop lead and background vocals, and jazz vocals in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Contact me for anything from soulful vocals to horn arrangements to toplining
What was your upbringing like?
I grew up in DC and am the oldest of 4 in an Italian-American family. We didn’t have video games or TV other than PBS, so when I was younger I did a lot of nerd stuff like reading and auditioning for school theater productions. That was mainly what I was up to for a while. We moved to New York when I was in high school, and I started going to jazz jam sessions, which I thought were really awesome. Turns out jazz was just more nerd stuff but going out in the city definitely had a large effect on me at the time, and played a huge part in the musician I am now.
How did you first discover music?
Music was always a part of my life. I grew up singing and listening to old jazz and big band records, which is a lot of what my parents enjoyed listening to.
How did you start to write music?
I didn’t start writing music until I got to college – when I got to LA I realized that the music industry was centered largely around writers, and I wanted to be a part of that. I had also been writing poetry for a while and was a double major in Narrative Studies (basically English but with more extensive forms of media), so when I was first starting to write I would just take poems and adapt them to songs, and was really influenced by Joni Mitchell and other great lyricists. As my writing has evolved my process has also shifted, but that’s where it started.
Describe your music for us.
I’m influenced by lots of different genres, and I think it shows in my writing and production style. Vocally, I just tend to bring everything to a looser and more improvised space as opposed to a straight pop delivery, which is one of my favorite ways to express myself musically. I was also in an all-girl band throughout college – we played all the house parties, and Gwen Stefani, Joan Jett, and other girl rockers were our go-to as writing influences and when we didn’t know what songs to cover. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sung “Sweet Escape.” But anyways, I would maybe describe my sound as off-center pop with a jazzy vibe but lots of glittery synths and also maybe disco elements but make it indie. I call it 90s cringe so make of that what you will.
How did you get your first guitar, and do you still have it?
I didn’t play guitar growing up, so in school, my friend Jess, who is an amazing guitar player and songwriter, took me to Guitar Center and helped me buy a $100 steel-string acoustic. It still hurts my fingers so much but the sound is quite nice, and I like to use it to fill out the ideas in my production.
What is your guitar of choice now? Year, make and model?
The guitar I use to produce and write with is a pink strat. Don’t know the year but I love my lil lady. I’m no guitar girl and never perform with my guitar but I definitely aspire to someday.
Where was your first performance? What was it like?
I was in a production of Sword and the Stone when I was like 8 years old. I remember I had the only funny line in the show, and I hammed it up so much at the final performance. Not much has changed.
You were a double major. What did you get your degree in?
Music and Narrative Studies.
What do you think makes a good songwriter?
Different songs are good for different reasons, and so are different writers. “Get Down On It” has like five lyrics and it’s a major bop. Experimental jazz can have no time signature or lyric content but contain every color and texture imaginable. Joni Mitchell never writes a song that isn’t also a five-page essay. I think it’s all about making the most honest choice, and not compromising until you find out what feels exactly right to you within a particular space.
What is the process of writing your music?
Lately, I’ve been working a lot on producing in Logic and trying to recreate elements of songs that I like, so I’ll copy drum grooves or bass lines and then try to write and tweak those elements until the song becomes something else. I’ve moved away from starting with the lyrics, which I used to do frequently, but am definitely in the process of figuring out how to intertwine those two approaches when I write on my own. Sometimes it gets a little too introspective sad girl when you’re trying to write lyrics alone, so drawing from outside influences and jotting down phrases or concepts as I think of them throughout my day has always been helpful for lyric writing as well. Collaboration has also been one of the most important aspects of my journey as a musician, and I really value the process of working with the right person or people to create something great. That’s kind of how I feel in my personal life too. Community and making the most honest connections are both key for me in so many ways.
Tell me about your debut EP ‘SPACE DREAMS.’
SPACE DREAMS is a collaboration between myself and my friend Eli Koskoff. We wrote and produced all of the songs together, and they are a reflection of our growth as musicians and our learning and experimentation process with production and songwriting. The songs all turned out kind of as reflections of different types of dreams, each in their own way, so with the video content and additional art surrounding the EP that’s the vibe that I tried to capture.
Tell me about the first single “No Answer.”
‘NO ANSWER’ was fun to write and produce because we weren’t expecting it really; we just stumbled across this synth sound and let it carry the whole song. It ended up just feeling like a happy dream, which I love. It was definitely out of my comfort zone songwriting-wise but I also love how ethereal and easy it feels.
Tell me about your next single “Parasomnia.”
‘PARASOMNIA’ is supposed to reflect what happens in our subconscious, and the thoughts we can’t control while we sleep. We decided to get really experimental with the vocals in this one, so that’s what you’ll hear in the bridge. It’s essentially a conversation between the voices in your head and the outside forces that are constantly influencing our minds.
What is your favorite track on the EP?
‘ANOTHER MOON.’ It’s so happy and so catchy, and the instrumental hook is just as important as the melody, which I think is the mark of a really awesome song. Eli also sings on it, and I think our voices blend well together. Really excited for that one.
Digital vs. vinyl?
I personally haven’t spent a ton of time deliberating over this, but vinyl is undeniably dope.
What song from the past has been on your mind lately? Moreover, what is the meaning that song means to you?
I don’t know that there has been any one song from the past that I’ve been dwelling on lately! For some reason, T Pain “Buy U A Drank” immediately started blasting full force in my mind when I read that question though. I’m now watching the music video. Simpler times, wow. I don’t even think I could drink when this came out. I feel like I’m in the middle school bathroom crying about my crush all over again. Got me tearing up in the club, way to go.
If “Video Killed the Radio Star” do you think that the Covid-19 virus has killed live music? Do you feel that Covid is going to affect the music business in the future?
Obviously, musicians essentially haven’t played a single live show in a year in the regular sense – but no, I think live music will still play a huge role in our culture, albeit potentially on a smaller scale and with different regulations and boundaries. But touring is already happening in countries besides the US, and it remains the goal for many musicians post-Covid. Sadly, tons of venues have had to close, and that’s absolutely been a huge loss to the owners of those venues as well as to the artists who have played there and fostered communities in those spaces, but live music definitely isn’t dead. To answer the second question, the music business separate from the touring business as a whole has suffered immensely but has also adapted and persevered throughout Covid in innovative and unexpected ways. I do think the industry will be affected in the future because the way that people have consumed media and art throughout the past year has changed a lot; the next generation has been in Zoom school all year, and living through technology is very much ingrained in so many peoples’ way of life, now more so than ever. So I think it’s definitely possible that as live music resumes, touring income will share the stage much more with streams of income generated from music that is presented online through social media. Other than that though, no event in my lifetime has taught me how to expect the unexpected more than Covid, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to see things from a different perspective as a result of the events of this past year.
What have you been doing with yourself during quarantine?
Lots of walking, working on my music production chops, playing with my roommate’s cat. I moved mid-way through quarantine from one part of LA to another, so that was fun.
Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?
I have a Zoom book club that I absolutely love. It’s all of my most well-read girlfriends and we just chat on zoom about the books and drink wine. It’s adorable.
In the past, if a musician stops doing music they find a new career. For example, David Lee Roth from Van Halen became a licensed EMT in NY for 6 years, San Spitz (guitarist for Anthrax) became a master watchmaker, Dee Snider (Twister Sister) voice over work for SpongeBob SquarePants… if you can’t do music what would you like to be doing?
For a while I thought I wanted to be a journalist and was writing music reviews and interviews – I think that’s probably what I would do if I couldn’t work as a musician. I would have to write about something other than music though, maybe food or fashion, just in case I ever wanted to go back to the music industry. It would be pretty awkward to write a bad review of someone and then end up playing a show with them. That happened to me once. Not a great look.
What/where is your happy place?
Snuggling with my baby brother. He’s 10 now and about to be too cool for me so I have to get the snugs in while I can.
