This week’s artist’s spotlight focuses on Shelby Merry, who writes music inspired by The Maze Runner!
The Artist’s Spotlight is a Hypable weekly feature that will focus on someone who has caught our attention for fandom-related art, whether it be drawings, songs, crafts, or more! Every week you can expect a new talented artist we think you should be aware of!
Hypable: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Shelby: My name is Shelby Merry, I’m from southern Ohio, and I’m a singer/producer/songwriter.
When did you start writing music?
I started writing music around 3 years ago. I was in college at the time, studying English, and I’ve been playing guitar since I was 12, so everything kind of came together around then. Piano is my baby, but I’ve picked up a lot of instruments along the way, just sort of as I need them. I’m a big ‘figure it out as you go’ type of person, especially with instruments. Which helps because everything I play I’ve pretty much taught myself. I tried taking lessons before, but I’m a pretty stubborn person, haha. (It didn’t go very well.)
What prompted you to start writing music inspired by The Maze Runner series?
I was coming off of a new album at the same time I was reading the books and I wanted to try something different writing wise. What I loved so much about the books was how raw it was and how focused it was on the characters, the suspense, and the actual story of what’s happening to these boys. I just immediately clicked with it. I was pulling out old material and found this piano riff and thought, “Woah, this could be something really cool.”
You have an amazing sound. What musicians or artists inspire you?
Thank you! I have to give a lot of praise to my mom. She’s worked in radio basically my whole life, so I grew up around a whole lot of classic rock. Consequently, I work in radio now as well, haha! AFI was a big influence on me growing up as well. I think Jade Puget is an absolute melodic genius. I basically taught myself guitar just by trying to play his stuff. As for what I listen to, a lot of oldies find their way on my playlist: Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, Danny Kaye… I’m a big blues fan as well. And it would be wrong of me to not mention Gustavo Santaolalla or John Williams. The Last of Us soundtrack is always on repeat in my car. It’s madly genius.
“ Pretty much everything I write is based off of what I’m reading or watching at the time.”
What’s your music writing process like? How do you go about creating a song?
I’m a big fan of story telling, so I usually figure out that first and follow with the mood I want. The rest is just playing with sounds and chord progressions to reel it all in together. It’s usually just me sitting in front of my piano messing around with different melodies and ripping my hair out for a couple of days, haha! I’m not the best at taking my real life experiences or my feelings and going off of that, but I like spending time in different worlds, you know, the whole story telling mindset. It’s fun.
Have you ever written music for any other fandoms?
Funny enough, almost everything I write is based off of something! “Gallows” was based off an idea for a short story I had, and I thought, “This could be a really cool ‘Walking Dead’ style track.” Promotion for “The Great Gatsby” was out around the time I wrote “Young Gun,” and I really wanted to do a Motown, snarky type song for that. So, pretty much everything I write is based off of what I’m reading or watching at the time. I’m a bit of a film/TV geek, so that’s where a lot of my inspiration comes from.
Is there a Maze Runner song that you’re particularly proud of?
I would have to say “When the Darkness Comes,” just because it was the first Maze Runner-themed song I wrote, but that song is really close to my heart on a personal level as well. I’m particularly proud of “The Scorch” because it pushed me out of my comfort zone a bit. I’ve never tried to do a more orchestral style driven song before, so that was definitely a challenge for me. There were many mental breakdowns writing that song, haha!
What’s your favorite book in the series and why?
I love them all, but The Scorch Trials was definitely my favorite. I think that’s when we really see the characters hit the hardest point, that’s when they have to dig deep. I don’t want to spoil too much, but it’s such a drastic shift from what you know in book 1, it’s hard to absorb the new world they’re in and adjust quickly — it lends to some cool story telling. (And Brenda is my favorite.)
What’s the most valuable lesson this project has taught you?
To be really honest, to just do what you really want to do, even if it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to anyone. If you’re really passionate about something, you should just do it, and for no other reason. Get obsessed with it, make it your whole world, get excited like a kid about it.
Do you have any other future music plans or dreams?
I would love to work in film, music composition specifically. There’s been a big change in my goals this year, in the kind of work I want to do and the type of media I’m passionate about. I definitely wouldn’t want to just be a signed and touring artist. There’s a lot of other platforms to be figured out and worked with and I want to be right in the middle of it. It’s definitely a goal of mine to get into acting as well. All sides of the film/TV fascinate me.
“If you want something, work like it’s already yours.”
If you could offer any advice to other aspiring songwriters or fandom participants, what would you say?
The best advice I could give is that if you want something, work like it’s already yours. What you do may not make a lot of sense to anyone, or the job might not really exist, but do it anyway. Put your passion and your interests first, and the path will form itself. And most importantly, make yourself uncomfortable. You have to push yourself out in order to learn new things. Mental breakdowns have taught me more than I thought they could! Just keep working it out.
You can find Shelby and her music all over the Internet. Her music pages include Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and YouTube, where she also shares some personal videos as well. And of course you can always reach out to Shelby on social media as well. Here are links to her Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.
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