While most teens might still be pondering which career path is right for them (in the middle of exams and all the other stresses that come with heading towards adulthood), 18-year-old twins Carly and Martina have in the past few years and despite first wanting to be part of two entirely different professions, established themselves as talented artists with a strong and growing fanbase. As young women who pride themselves on helping empower others and encouraging them to be unapologetically themselves, they know first-hand how powerful music is and their belief in this power filters through every track they create and share, including recent single “Your Song” and the just-dropped “Honeymoon”. PopWrapped caught up with the two of them to chat favourite artists, what their artistic slogan would be and how they’ve been keeping busy over the last few months.
For those who are unfamiliar with you and your music, exactly who are Carly & Martina in a few words or a sentence?
Carly & Martina: We make lush basement pop!
If you had to give yourself a tag line, or create a slogan/selling point for you and your music, what would it say?
C&M: 2 girls + basement beats + a laptop = Carly and Martina!
Has music always been the key ambition/path for the two of you or did you grow up having other aspirations before you set your heart on this?
C&M: Music was something we accidentally fell into. Before music we wanted to be doctors and lawyers. We ended up about as far away from that as possible!
Which two bands or artists might you say most inspires or influences you in terms of the music you make? How do their influences filter through in your own songs?
C&M: Vocally, Lana Del Rey is a huge inspiration for us because we love how she has both ethereal and soulful vocals depending on the mood of the song. Sonically and from a writing perspective, The Beatles are our biggest influence because there are no rules or set song structure, yet every song is amazing and their albums flow perfectly together.
Is there any particular story behind your recent single “Your Song”? Where or from who did you find the inspiration for it?
C&M: Alright, so it was 2am and we were eating guacamole and chips, talking about people we miss and how certain songs take us back to them – the concept kind of arose from there. At the kitchen table on our laptop we started drumming out some of the chords and just banging a beat on the table while throwing out lyrics. It was super low key and fun; the song was written in about 20 minutes.
Given that you’re twin sisters, how easy or hard do you both find it to be both family and in a business/industry together? How do you overcome any difficult or stressful times, especially when on tour/away from home, and what advice might you give to any other sibling duos or groups considering following in your footsteps?
C&M: Weirdly enough we find it really easy to work and live together. We can be 100% honest and real with each other without having to worry about sparing each other’s feelings, which is really important for us. We overcome difficult and stressful times away from home by communicating our feelings to each other and calling our friends, who are really supportive. Advice we’d give to other duos and groups is to prioritize the familial relationship over the business one, and work really hard to remember that it’s a team effort and that all members are needed to succeed.
Being as young as you are, how do you both feel about social media personally and professionally? To what extent have the likes of Twitter helped or hindered your career and do you think there are any downsides to society being so socially connected as we are now?
C&M: Professionally, social media has been great. Apps like Twitter have allowed us to connect with fans, share our music, and meet friends/collaborators. Personally, social media can be really toxic. Mean comments still hurt no matter how many times you read them, but the fact that we get to connect with our fans is a bigger positive than all the negatives. Society being virtually connected can bring people together, but it can also tear them apart. It’s so important to remember to be kind.
How have you found the last few months, as the Corona Virus has taken hold and put normal life as we know it on the backburner? How have you been keeping busy/creative?
C&M: We wrote, produced, and mixed our debut album completely in quarantine. For us, this has been a really creative time and we have been trying to focus on the positive parts of quarantine. Because we haven’t been going out with friends, we’ve had extra time to focus on our career which has been a blessing. On a personal level, it has been really hard being away from friends and people we care about, but we know it is necessary to do our part to help slow the spread of Covid-19.
Finally then, with this year pretty much a write-off, have you started looking to 2021? What can fans expect to see and hear from you once the world finds its feet again, so to speak?
C&M: There will definitely be another album, and we can’t wait for live touring and concerts to come back! We would eventually like to write for plays and movies, so maybe we’ll start that process in 2021, too.
Check out “Your Song” below and for more information on Carly & Martina, give their page a like on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. Their album Are You Listening is out next month.
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