Rita Mae: Candy’s House

Rita Mae is a talented indie-pop artist and all round lovely human making her moves in the Tāmaki Makaurau music scene. She released her debut single The Secret’s Out last year. It’s a melancholic, warm, ballady number riddled with emotion while sitting within the indie singer-songwriter genre. After a year of focusing on writing and recording, her new single Candy’s House dropped on Friday 24th June.

The new track deviates from The Secret’s Out with a poppier tone, almost leaning into a pop-punk sound that feels both fresh and nostalgic. Deviation is not a negative word however, showing the range that Rita is capable of. More extensive production from the talented rede. (Ladiesmile) creates incredible moments that build and explode with power, really inviting you to sing along and have a good boogie.

Rosa briefly caught up with Rita to discuss the new release and what might be on the cards in the future. 

Photo by Rosa Nevison.

You can hear a clear shift in direction in Candys House in comparison to The Secrets Out - was this intentional? And how did it come about? 

I don't think I'm ever being very intentional when I make music. Obviously I'm aware of what I'm doing while I'm making something, I have an idea of the path I'm going down with a song. But it's more a matter of me trying to figure out what a song wants to be, if that makes sense? And it just happens that The Secret's Out and Candy's House turned out to live in two very different worlds. I'm sure I'll make lots more music that is similar to both songs, and lots of music that is nothing like either of them. 

Is candys house representative of the upcoming songs and the Rita Mae sound we might get in the future? 

Yes and no! Candy's House represents one avenue of music that I'm interested in, but in all honesty my taste is so eclectic that I don't think I'll ever be able to commit to one particular genre. There will be more like Candy's House, but there will also be a lot of music that sounds completely different. Maybe it shows range, maybe it shows indecisiveness... Thank god for vague genre names like "alternative pop". 

How has working with a producer (rede.) changed and influenced the sound of your music? 

I have found working with producers an interesting (and often challenging) experience. I think because I have spent the majority of my life writing songs on acoustic guitar and piano it has been a pretty big adjustment for me to record my music- the world of sound that a song belongs in isn't always obvious to me. It kind of feels like playing dress up a lot of the time- trying out an existing song in a few different styles and seeing what fits. I found that learning to produce myself helped me a lot with working with other producers. Since I've learned the basics of production and gotten pretty good at making demos, I've been a lot more confident working with producers because my vision for the song is clearer, and I'm more capable of articulating my opinions in a studio setting. Candy's House was really fun to make, because I had such a polished demo and Tom (rede.) really understood the vision. It was like he could read my mind for what I wanted the song to be, and we actually recorded most of it in a day. It all came together really seamlessly. 

You’ve said that candy’s house was written in a self-destructive place, and that “instead of putting effort into real life, real relationships, real happiness”, you wanted to hide in a place of escapism. How do you balance these heavy themes and lyrics with upbeat music?

I think hiding sad lyrics under upbeat/happy music is one of my favourite things to do in music. I love a good sad slow song, but there's something so satisfying to me about being able to dance to music that tells a sad story, that has lyrics that you can yell at the top of your lungs. Instead of dwelling in the sadness it feels like more of a release.

Is there anything upcoming that we can look forward to?

... yes :)

Thanks heaps to Rita for chatting to us about her fantastic new single! Check out the lyric video for Candy’s House by Jordan Whiu below, and give it a listen on Spotify!

Instagram: @heyritamae