Olya Gram

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Olya Gram

Interview conducted on December 21, 2020

By Dan Locke

Olya Gram – Ukrainian pop/dance/soul singer and songwriter. Her music is a combination of bright dance beats and heartfelt vocal. Olya Gram is known by her collaborations with such European DJs as Flying Deciberbels and Midnight Daddies

What is your upbringing ?

I was born in Ukraine, in Zaporizhia city, this city is a motherland for Cossacks (Ukrainian ancient warriors ). I was raised in the family of mechanic ( my father ) and small entrepreneur ( my mother ). We’ve never been a rich family, but we always had food, clothes and I think I was a happy child, cause my parents, especially my mom tried to do everything for me to have a happy childhood.

How did you discover music ?

As my mom says, even from the first months of my life she felt like I’m a future musician. She said that every time when I heard music, I tried to dance and even sing along with singers on TV ( and she said I was 6 months old ). I don’t know should I believe her or not. But I felt that I’m not indifferent to music from a very young age as 6-7 years old. I always tried to sing something into a brush in front of my mirror and repeat after my favorite singers. Being a little girl singing to a mirror I always imagined I’m on a big stage.

How did you start to write songs?

The first song I wrote at the age of 12, just on my way to school. I didn’t show it to anyone, cause I thought no-one is gonna to like it. Then in one year, I showed it to my friend, she was very impressed with the song and I was surprised that she liked it. That encouraged me to write something else, and from that time I always wrote down my ideas on paper and put them on music. When entered the university, I showed my demos to different people and mostly I heard good comments and from that time I decided to continue writing songs until I write a big superhit for the world. This is my goal for this moment.

Describe your music

My music is my self-expression. This is the way I see the world, the way I feel the world, and the way I want modern words to look like.
My songs are about relationships, feelings, love, truth, and being yourself. I like to mix different music styles in my tracks. It’s mostly POP with R&B, EDM, Soul touches. I love experiments in music, in sound and I always try to find something unique for every song I write I have such a wide range of music genres I cover and then I sprinkle them with my Ukrainian EDM sound and get a really unique style from it

What was your first performance at like ?

My first performance was not the best. I was 10 years old. It was at the school stage. I remember that I was so nervous and I completely forgot the words of the 1st verse of the song that I was singing. Thank God, I remembered the rest, but that time I thought it was a complete fail.

What makes a good songwriter.

What makes a good songwriter is a practice. Practicing songwriting is the best. You just have to continue doing that on daily basis. That the best way to develop your songwriting skill is writing song after song till the moment you feel that you have the song you wanna share with the whole world. A songwriter that truly has a gift when they write a song it gives you a window into their soul and you feel their emotion and connect with them from your experiences in life.
Do you belong to any songwriter organizations? No, but I am considering joining some soon because I travel all over the world and I collaborate with songwriters from around the world and love to work with people

What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?

The title of my first original song was “The Rain” and I wrote it at the age of 12, unfortunately, I didn’t record it, but maybe I should think about it.

How many genres do you write in?

I always try to work in different music genres, cause I love experiments. But mostly I work with Pop, R&B, EDM genres

What did you do on International Music Day?

Probably I was working 🙂 but I do thank this year it meant something special we all have to work together to keep the music alive

You have worked with Disney. How was that?

That was absolutely amazing! I think there is no company who cares, about their employees better than Disney! Working on Disney Cruises was an amazing experience. You feel this Disney magic everywhere you go on the ship. And Micky Mouse is really the best boss in the world. Disney is full of some of the most wonderfully talented musicians in the world as well and I have been to over 32 countries and seen the most beautiful places and those experiences are all part of my creative process and all that came from Disney.

What is Gram Music Fantasy ?

Gram Music Fantasy is the music production company I created in Ukraine. As you know I write songs not only in English but only in Russian and Ukrainian. I have a team that consists of 5 people. We write songs for different Ukrainian and Russian artists, help them to find their original repertoire and unique style.

How was it to complete your first original video “Don’t Worry” ?

That was a great experience, I just loved the process of making videos. The video was filmed at the location of Khortytsya island, a beautiful place in my native town. Also, we filmed a beautiful sunset on the top of a 10-floor building, I really loved footage from the roof. I think we managed to create a good video for this song.

You have done videos before, what was the differs?

Before I mostly made videos for covers. And those videos were mostly live or studio recording but without any interesting location or video effects. So the video for “Don’t Worry” is very different from everything that I’ve done before. In this video, I also chad creative control and did a lot of the production with the videographer on the video.

What are 3 best videos you have done?

For now, I guess it’s “Don’t Worry” for sure for the quality of the video production and showing my home country of Ukraine and its beauty to the world and also I love videos for “It’s All Fine” being the first single and most successful to date commercially and “Calling”, which is a song I love that I felt shows my soft side.

How long before your first US album will be done?

I think we need 3 more months with my team to finish it. We’re preparing a lot of music surprises for you. I can’t wait to show my songs to the world! We are slowly releasing them due to covid so that hopefully we have the best opportunity to perform these songs live

How do you stay healthy while perform?

I love sports. The gym helps me to stay in the good shape and good physical and mental condition. I get a lot of energy from gym exercises. I go there 3 times per week. That also helps me to have energy on the stage and perform my best.

What are your feeling about streaming music?

I have only the best feeling about it. There are a lot of streaming services right now, and more chances for new artists like me to be discovered by the audience cause of that. So I don’t mind streaming services. It is great to connect with our audience by streaming to their platform of choice and people like paying subscriptions to have no commercials and get to choose what they listen to

Digital vs. Vinyl?

Digital for me:) I love the quality of digital and how easy artist and fans can get it instantly to listen to and you can get it 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world

You stated that 2019 was the best summer of your life. How does it compare to this year?

Oh, this year ( 2020) is very tough for all the musicians, singers, and people from the music industry. A lot of people lost jobs, a lot of shows were cancelled because of coronavirus so of course, it’s not the best year, and for me too. Summer of 2019 I spent on the Cruise ships doing what I love to do performing and I managed to visit 15 new countries during that summer.

How do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in future?

Honesty, I really hope that the pandemic is going to end very soon and everything will get back to normal. Hopefully, very soon we’ll see stadiums full of people who come to see the concert of their favorite artist. For now, the situation is not very good, but all we can do is just hope that everything’s gonna be ok. We have to find more ways to create revenue streams online or by shows that can be safe social distancing options for fans. I am fortunate enough to be with a company because I have a wide range of music styles that I can perform and I have CIMG who work internationally. I hope they will help me get to the best places so far and perform shows that are in places allowing live performances and have social distancing to protect the people

What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?

I wrote songs, a lot of songs. Had some time to think about my life and my future plans, I did some exercises, cooked some food, and just believed in the best. This is what I did in quarantine.

Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?

On quarantine, I found out that I really like to cook 🙂 I really love the process of cooking food, that’s my personal way of relaxing.

95% of people said that they have changed the way they watch television. This includes people who don’t have television and using their computers to do streaming of programs and movies. Which is your favorite streaming channel ?

My favorite streaming channel is definitely YouTube. I watch all my favorite shows there, I listen to the music there, and watch my favorite bloggers content.

Many artists are doing nightly concerts…

I think that in terms of Coronavirus it’s not the best policy. Cause right now artists musicians trying to connect with their audience at least with the help of social media if they can’t perform live on stages. If Facebook forbids artists to have an audience and fans there, do online concerts, then artists will fin other platforms where they can create a fanbase and perform online maybe. I am fortunate enough to have CIMG ensure my online presence and concerts will go on and stay within the music laws and find platforms that maximize my viewers and allow me to showcase my talents and perform for my fans

In addition. From October 24 onwords…

If Facebook does so many restrictions for artists right now, I think we just need to look for another platform, where artists can perform and create fanbase without any problems. Facebook and all social platforms are trying to ensure they don’t violate any copywrites on music or use without permission, but you still have to allow streaming for artists to safely work and fans a safe environment to watch and support their artists and enjoy their favorite music.

How can bands keep their fans…

Thank God we have internet. Now we connect with our audience online. But I believe life will get back to normal very soon I think the interactive online chats is like a backstage pass for fans if you can get your followers to tune in to meet and greets online and play requests for them you can keep your audience entertained and hopefully gain fans.

Is pay to play still a thing?

It is still a sing. Performing, recording songs, writing new material is still work and Artists have the right to get payment for that. The challenge is to find ways artists can earn money performing for so many years you just watch everything free online that now you are trying to get people to pay for things they never have.

What about holographic concerts..

I am sure the budget to produce a show like that requires a lot of fans in a state of the art arena and production team. It is amazing to see that because music is so timeless and it would be amazing to see the Whitney Houston hologram concert. It really looks like she is still with us performing her best songs in concert. I don’t mind it, but if you can tell me how to organize such kind of a concert, I don’t mind to try as long as my hologram looks very beautiful. Lol

If you can’t do music, what would you like to be doing?

I think I would be a dancer or translator. Cause dancing is my second passion and learning of foreign languages is my third. I know French and Italian just a little bit, my native language is Russian and I can also speak a good Ukrainian.