Mad Hawkes’ flair for life is equally as amazing as her flair for music. She went with the “babe rock” genre for herself and her music. “I overheard someone say the word so I just went with it. I admire Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes and Amy Winehouse. They just both bring such a forceful female presence. You know they’re there,” she tells me.
Hawkes is so confident in her sound and presence and she’s only 25! She says she’s become the woman she is today through trial and error. “I have a lot of family and they’re awesome. They kind of forced me to confident and taught me to build a thick skin,” she says. “High school was different for me. I played the music for myself - I didn’t really advertise it. It was for me and my self expression.”
She credits her success to her privacy. “I wasn’t trying to be cool for anyone, and unlike people from my high school, I left the South Bay area.”
Her inspiration comes a lot from her personal experiences. “It’s normally when I’m sad about something. This is my “go-to”,” says Hawkes. “I kind of get upset and I write a fragmented piece, and if it’s good, I’ll go back to it and finish it.”
Her latest single just premiered and has gotten a lot of buzz and even mixed interpretations. Hawkes explains to me, that “Fantasy” came from a place when you feel like you’re cheating yourself out of the things in life. “I had something good and I would always find excuses for why it didn't’ work and it would ruin something else better,” she says.
Her debut EP set to release this year is different than any music she’s released before. “I have different parts of myself. Rhythmic and lyrically it’s aggressive like my other songs, but like “Fantasy” it ties in a lot more dancey tunes.”
Stay tuned for more music from this talented songstress this year and check out “Fantasy”now.
