Marina Lin

"This was the first time I was able to share my artistry and love for music beyond being a cover artist. This song was super special to me because I wrote it about a really difficult and unexpected breakup. I wrote it in 20 mins on a Friday night; all the lyrics and melodies just kinda came together. I didn't think anything of it when I uploaded it onto YouTube. But, to my surprise, millions of people were touched and were going through similar things. I gained more confidence to share more originals after I shared this song. And the rest is history."

"Again, this song resonated with so many people. I was going through a rough depression after a breakup and had to double my antidepressants dosage. I shared how I lived through that experience and began creating a community where people were able to share their hardships in the comments. It was really eye-opening reading other people's stories – I know the song made them feel less alone, but I also felt less alone reading their comments."

"I had never had a lyric video for any of my songs before. I commissioned an affordable artist on Fiverr because I had a really low budget, and it actually turned out really cool. It was so nice to see the words come to life through animations. I noticed a lot of my fans were interested in Anime and I saw my song being posted on nightcore, etc., so I decided to make the video anime-style, which really resonated with my audience."

"This short film contains everything from my feelings about love, to my identity. It was the first time I explored other creative mediums apart from music to share my experience about relationships and the things I looked for in a future partner. This video is super special because it was almost like a 'coming out' video. I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone to be on camera with another woman, and officially let my subscribers know, 'hey, I'm gay!'. It was a proud and very sentimental moment."

"My album is super intimate and special to me…the collection of 10 songs and the theme 'this is what ___ feels like' contains really honest and vulnerable experiences I went through surrounding relationships, mental health, and self-esteem. I decided to share these songs because of the overwhelming response I got when I uploaded live/original versions of me singing them in my bedroom."

"I didn't realize how many people were going through the same hardships I was. People started commenting that my songs helped them feel better, and that's when the idea of the album clicked. My inspirations came from my own personal experiences, and from other artists who talked about similar struggles. I really look up to JP Saxe, Sody, Sara Kays, Clinton Kane, etc., who write songs similarly to me."

"During the pandemic, my girlfriend and I isolated up north in Quebec. It gave me lots of time to be creative and film this little music video. I covered a song called '3 Minutes' by JP Saxe and dedicated it to my girlfriend. JP actually tweeted out the video and loved the cover. I look up to him as a songwriter and his music really influences my lyrics and melodies."

"Last year this time, I first faced a creative rut / a lack of motivation during the beginning of the pandemic. But after watching and listening to my favourite artists, I spent more time than ever writing music and even learning how to produce them. I really thought about what my next steps would be as an artist in terms of my sound. I started to write music inspired from artists like Jeremy Zucker and Chelsea Cutler. I decided to go back to my roots a bit and just do an intimate cover of one of my favourite songs called "you were good to me", and it helped me take that next step in terms of figuring out what kind of music I really wanted to put out there."

" 'this is what overthinking feels like' was a song I wrote that really resonated with me throughout the pandemic, even a year later. It was a step forward artistically after releasing my debut album, because some percussion and production elements made its intro to my usually acoustic/stripped music. PS: I hand-drew and animated all the animations in the lyric video myself! I teamed up with the team at FRTYFVE for this song and the Deluxe album. They saw a lot of potential in my music and signed the entire 'a work in progress' record. From there, a bunch of my songs were on their curated playlists and started gaining traction on Spotify's playlists."

"My new music is still very much raw and real. I'm exploring new production elements that are really helping me shape my music and the story and message I want to get across. My connection with my audience is stronger than ever because they've witnessed me go through a very dark time in my life and make it out the other side. I still receive tons of DM's from people who are looking for advice and ways to cope with heartbreak, depression, and just life in general. These next few songs touch on all those things, and I hope it'll help even more people out there."