Artist Spotlight - Maggie Mintz
Please note that this video and the article below deals with drug addiction.
One year brought about several life changes and two song releases for our November Artist Spotlight, Maggie Mintz.
In her very honest interview with Joe, Maggie claimed that she didn’t really feel like she started doing music until this year, even though she has been writing music since she was 12. This was the first year that she decided to push past her fear and get two of her songs recorded, mixed, mastered and released: “Jack and Jill” and “Toxic Love”.
When asked about the meaning of her moody original, “Toxic Love”, Maggie said that the song was about her and how she used to be a “toxic, drug-addicted individual”. In fact, it was about a year ago that she started writing the song, but ended up finishing it at a time in her life when she did not feel as toxic and when she was no longer taking drugs. Maggie recounted that heavy drugs used to be her main creative motivator and now that she is still in the recovery phase, it has become more difficult for her to sit down and write a song from start to finish. However, she does have 5 or 6 incomplete songs that she hopes will become full songs in the near future.
A pivotal moment in Maggie’s life happened on January 1st of this year. After coming home from New Years celebrations, Maggie ended up finding herself in a situation where a large dog had latched its jaw to her face. After surgery, she was afraid that she would not be able to sing anymore. However, not even a year after the event, Maggie says “it was the best thing that ever happened to me.” She believes that this event saved her from the bad spot that she was in and pushed her to look at her life in a new way. Whereas before she had seen herself as reckless, irrational, and addicted, she now feels like she is getting things in order.
Her singing voice did come back and Joe commented that it’s honestly hard to tell that there is a change in her voice unless you know what happened. Maggie is undergoing surgeries now to open up her mouth more and more, but it may always be smaller than what it was. She commented that she is also hearing her voice differently now, which has also been a barrier to her wanting to sing and write music.
Regarding her drug recovery, Maggie commented that she “thought it would be different.” That you could stop and then go back to being productive and consistent, but she understands now that with the specific drug she was using it can take upwards of 18 months to 2 years before she does not feel the effects.
Maggie told us that she doesn’t do music because she thinks she’s good. She does music because it’s the way she likes to express herself. We highly recommend listening to both of Maggies songs, linked below.
