Marjolijn Winten is the mastermind behind Nolala.com – a blog, dedicated to the stories behind the music. We met Marjolijn at this years c/o pop convention in Cologne and had an interesting chat about her blog.
Read on and find out about the story behind Nolala.com
What does “Nolala” stand for?
Nolala derives from ‘Noblabla’, no bullsh*t. It also stands for no more ‘la la la’, as in the sound people make when they try to sing along to a song. We encourage people to listen to lyrics, as we believe that beautiful stories lie hidden in music.
How did you come up with the idea of Nolala.com? What’s the vision, the big idea behind the blog?
I’m not a lyrics listener by nature. Even when I was working in the lion’s den (at marketing departments of record labels) I didn’t get to know the stories in music. Meanwhile, I was reading on changes in society, especially in terms of how personal development and meaningful relationships are becoming more important. It made me wonder: how would this affect the way we listen to music?
I asked my friends about what music meant to them and found out that those who listened to lyrics related to music on a much higher level. That made me curious and I started to consciously listen to lyrics for the first time myself.
I had the best music experience ever when I heard a song that matched the situation I was in perfectly, not only by sound but also by meaning. I thought: more people should experience this, so I started Nolala to make it easier for people to discover the stories in music.
What can we expect to find on Nolala.com?
At Nolala you can find in-depth interviews with artists about the meaning behind their lyrics. Secondly, interviews with music lovers that have a song that matches their life so well that it seems that it was written for them. Additionally, you can find analyses of songs in the charts and top-lists that cover the repertoire of an artist of band, for example: ‘What is the music of Mumford And Sons actually about?’
Do you specialize in a certain genre or type of music?
We focus on mainstream music, and it can vary from pop to hiphop, to metal, to K-pop.
How can aspiring artists get in touch with you? Do you accept submissions or do you find the artists/the tracks you’re interested in all by yourself?
We are generally informed by labels and venues about upcoming releases and concerts, but aspiring artists can always contact us if they’d like to be featured. They can drop an email at info@nolala.com.
A requirement to be featured is that the music should be available on Spotify. We would love to cover any interesting story in any song, but unfortunately the number of interviews we can squeeze into a week is limited, so artists that have airplay or are featured in popular playlists have a better chance.
You’re doing a lot of “Behind the track” interviews with artists. What was the most surprising story you learned through those interviews?
That’s a tough one! I was definitely surprised by the meaning behind the new Bear’s Den album. Frontman, Andrew Davie, explained every song and I appeared to have interpreted them all very differently. Also, I was surprised by Lewis Capaldi who just admitted hyping a situation for the sake of a song. I just loved that he was so honest about that and thought; why not?
What’s next for Nolala.com? Any future projects you’d like to share?
We’re talking with several potential media and commercial partners at the moment, hopefully we’ll be able to collaborate with them. Content wise we would love to focus more on videos.
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