Q&A: Exploring Love’s Tender Ache: Marion Raw Releases Haunting New Single "You Gotta"
CHRONICLING THE MESSY JOURNEY OF LOVE’S PURSUIT – Mexico City/LA-based singer-songwriter Marion Raw returns with a captivating new single, "You Gotta," a track that immerses listeners in a dark and melancholic atmosphere. The song’s brooding undertones are juxtaposed by her soft, ethereal vocals, creating a hauntingly beautiful soundscape that lingers long after the song ends. Raw’s ability to balance contrasting emotions within her music is a testament to her mastery as a storyteller and musician.
In discussing the single, Raw reflects on the complexities of love, saying, “Within the infectious unfolding of this song, I move through the messy journey of love's pursuit. A path that winds through shadows of deceit and betrayal, yet still beckons us deeper. And in the chorus, a defiant urge: to claim this search as our own, to fight for love's persistence, to care for its insistent pulse. For in the end, it's not the truth we seek, but the tender ache of our own humanity, seen for what it is, in love.”
"You Gotta" resonates deeply with the themes of love’s turmoil, desire and vulnerability, which are central to Raw’s evolving discography. The track effortlessly weaves together elements of lo-fi rockabilly, garage rock and raw emotional honesty, with influences ranging from Marion’s personal experiences to the cultural richness of her Mexico City and LA roots.
Known for her multidisciplinary approach as a singer-songwriter and visual artist, Raw has consistently explored themes of identity, family, and the relentless search for love – even in its most elusive forms. Her music blends genres and languages, transitioning seamlessly between Spanish and English, creating a distinct tapestry of sound and emotion. Whether through home cassette recordings or polished studio tracks, her songs exude an intimate, unfiltered energy that draws listeners into her universe.
With "You Gotta," Raw continues to build her reputation as an artist who thrives on emotional depth and musical experimentation, inviting her audience to explore the shadows of love and human experience alongside her.
LUNA: Thank you for talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar with you yet, what inspires your artistic style and sound?
MARION: I think primarily a lot of it has to do with having grown up away from Mexico and being Mexican. My references had a lot to do with my mother being a beauty queen, and when I was little, I would look at her photos from that era, from the 70s and 60s, and obsessively look at them and the music of that time and that throwback vibe was just something that was embedded in me from a very young age. I think that had a big hand in shaping my aesthetic value. Musically, it intertwines in that nostalgia. It was growing up with a lot of nostalgia constantly, and that translates somehow.
LUNA: What kind of atmosphere or emotional space do you aim to create for your listeners?
MARION: Catharsis. I do write from very personal life experience, so it's the idea of being part of somebody's soundtrack in life, in the way my idols were soundtrack in my life, this feeling of being part of somebody's road trip and somebody's search for a transitional period in life. When you're leaving a relationship to reinventing yourself to going somewhere. It's just music that's on a voyage.
LUNA: You just released your newest single “You Gotta” and huge congratulations! It seems to mark the beginning of an exciting new era for you. What can listeners expect from this phase in your music journey? Are there any new sounds or themes you’re eager to explore?
MARION: This was like a last chapter in DIY music, which has been a wonderful exploration. I think ever since I was little, I've always wanted to play around this idea of doing things yourself and recording in your bedroom and doing things with your friends and having fun with music, which is why I started making music. But I now find myself working in the next frontier for me, which is in a more high definition setting. Even though we're still recording onto tape and still doing analog recordings, it's now in a studio with a producer, and it's completely different. It's still the band recording at the same time, and there's all this old school way of making music, but I feel like I'm moving into a more collaborative era, where I'm open to exploring other people's ideas that stem from my songwriting, but I have a more group dynamic. My guitarist is just a really important part of the process. We're working in Valentine Studios in Los Angeles. We're really excited about this new phase of the record that's going to start coming out at the end of this year and next. It's going to all be in Spanish. It's also exploring that side of songwriting, which is also interesting to me.
LUNA: What is the inspiration behind “You Gotta?”
MARION: I grew up, I left home really young. I think I was probably too young when I left home. The lyrics talk about finding love and holding on to it and caring for it, and like the messy journey to that. I grew up like a wild weed, just on my own. My relationship with my siblings was always a bit tense and full of judgment, and everyone thinks they're doing things better than you. It was inspired by my sibling relationships, but at the end of the day, it was like a conversation with this idea of finding self-love, even if it looks like you're doing it in the worst way through sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. But at the end of the day, it is the journey back to the self.
LUNA: What are some ways you show self-love and care to yourself throughout your creative processes?
MARION: That's a tough one. That's exactly the moment when you most need that, like self-compassion and patience and being your own cheerleader. I think that for me, that self-love translates in being able to catch myself when I'm being really self-critical and hard on myself, and comparing my journey with others. All that's become a practice to be able to pause and talk to myself in a different way. I think the awareness is a big thing, because, again, it's easy to say to be kinder to yourself, to be patient and self-love, but when you're in the thick of it and you feel frustrated, I think that's the hardest moment to really take a breath and step back and just remember we do it out of love. Self worth is not defined by what you do, but by who you are, so that's when it matters the most.
LUNA: “You Gotta” has an accompanying music video. What is the inspiration behind the video and how was your experience filming it?
MARION: The inspiration, frankly, was just I have a great friend called Isabel Abbott, and she lives, she spends half a time in Mexico, half the time, and she's from LA, and we've been working together since COVID, which is when I started releasing music. We have a lot of fun. We don't plan very much. It's getting together and shooting stuff. Friends of mine had just opened this bar in Mexico City, and I was there a few times and thought it was really cool. It feels like it had a very vintage vibe to it, and we decided to do a very documentary approach to it. I was inviting friends for a night out to have drinks, and I was about to take off six months to LA, so it was also an excuse of going away, let's all get together and then see what happens. There was a lot of that guerilla style filmmaking. I always enjoy finding the storyline when I'm sitting down to edit and throwing it together. I drew a lot of inspiration from Andy Warhol and Chelsea girls because of the split screen thing, and just this idea of sometimes within the chaos, there is a certain story to be told. It’s just a portrait of this night out with my friends that are in the video and people that collaborated on the song. Somehow my friends are always part of my projects. No one's self made. Everybody really gets through life with our community and collaborators, so it's always really important for me to have them present somehow in a symbolic way.
LUNA: “You Gotta” is your first release since your Ghost In The Machine record in 2022. Have you experimented more or taken any risks – either lyrically, sonically or emotionally – with your newest releases since then?
MARION: Definitely. Recording that song was really challenging, but also fun, because we did it all on a 4-track in the living room. We recorded all of this at the same time, and up until then, I had only recorded vocals with a guitar track, like everything else had been either in a studio and with a controlled set, like a very comfortable setting. This was in my guitarist's living room, and we just all got together one afternoon and did one take. It turned out to be a great, magical, witful thing, and the risk was just leaving room for that magic to happen. I write the songs, we get together, but then at the end of the day, everyone has to be on board trusting the process. Everyone has their own stuff to wrestle with. I think the risk is always in the people that you invite to take in your project. That's where you take risks.
LUNA: If someone were to have just found Marion Raw and they wanted to listen to one song that encapsulates your voice and vision, what song would it be?
MARION: That's a tough one. There's a song that’s my personal favorite, but it's probably one of the most obscure ones. I would say it's “Hideaway,” that's one of my favorite songs. “Lloro” really takes on more of my spectrum musically and shows my range more.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like for you that you would love to share with Luna?
MARION: I'm feeling really excited, because I'm coming out of an incubation phase of songwriting and recording, so then the following year is going to look like a lot of performing, a lot of touring, a lot of promotion as this album starts rolling out, and a lot of time spent between the U.S. and Mexico. It's going to be a busy one. Last year was all about songwriting, so it was quite calm. I'm looking forward to getting on the road and getting the songs out, and connecting with my fans, because I miss them, and they've been just so supportive and patient with me as I've finished this new project. I'm really, really excited to reconnect with my fans.
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