hello maqda returns with “UMAMI”, a track that transforms the feeling of being “too different” into a declaration of strength, identity and personal freedom. With a vogue sound rarely encountered in Romania and a music video built as an intense, choreographic full performance, the artist delivers one of the most unapologetic alternative releases of the moment.
The title of the track is no coincidence. Umami, known as “the taste of savouriness”, is one of the five basic tastes, alongside sweet, bitter, sour and salty. The term comes from the Japanese “うま味” and can be translated as “pleasant savoury taste”. Unlike the other tastes, umami is harder to define and categorise which is exactly the idea at the centre of the track.
“UMAMI” speaks about people that society does not know how to categorise. About those considered “too weird”, “too much” or “too different” for conventional norms. The message of the track is simple and direct: it is ok to be different. The concept grew from the artist’s personal experiences, after she was constantly compared to other artists and accused of “trying to be someone else”. Instead of diminishing her personality in order to become more “easy to digest”, hello maqda chose to transform her differences into an artistic statement.
“You don’t understand me because I am not built for your labels” thus becomes the essence of the track a reaction against people’s need to put everything into clear categories.
Through “UMAMI”, the artist sends an important message to all those who have been marginalised or considered “weird”: you do not have to make yourself smaller in order to be accepted. You do not have to become simpler, quieter or more comfortable for others. On the contrary you must embrace your weirdness, because that is precisely where your authenticity lies. The track is supported by a music video built as a complete performance, where dance becomes an essential part of the message. The energy of the choreography, the attitude and the visual aesthetic amplify the idea of total freedom of expression and transform “UMAMI” into an intense artistic experience, not merely a simple music release.
On a sonic level, the choice of a vogue sound almost non-existent in the Romanian mainstream perfectly supports the direction of the project: hello maqda does not come to reproduce something familiar, but to bring something new, unexpected and impossible to ignore.
Because a single flavour does not make food good. And a single type of person does not make the world interesting.
