Remington Maxwell is an American artist currently based in Stockholm. She has recently released her first single Cotton Candy, which introduces us to her great sound – so we wanted to hear more about her background.
Remington grew up in a creative household, her mother being a visual artist and makeup artist, and father a musician. Her grandfather started a music store in Louisville, Kentucky, which her dad later took over. She was in her first pop/rock girl band “the Hi-tops” at the age of 8 – and that band actually continued playing for ten years.
“My entire childhood was spent at my dad’s music store rehearsing with my 4 best friends and playing gigs on the weekends! It was quite the childhood! Full of creating and support”, Remington explains.
After high school she moved to Los Angeles and started playing as a solo artist. She lived there for five years and played many shows at Hotel Cafe, Viper Room, etc.
The reason she is now in Stockholm is the usual one – she fell in love with a Swede and they got married last October in the States and flew to Stockholm soon after. She actually walked down the aisle to the song she has released as her first single: Cotton Candy.
The song is chill indie pop, and it’s all about her husband. She started writing the song by banging on her kitchen table and singing the first verse, very upbeat and funky. Later on she took it to a session, where it got slowed down in acoustic form. Remington recorded it with her friend Taylor Grande, and they added some synths and deep bass and loops. So through those experiments in the studio it turned out much more electronic than what she was used to .
“I used to spend way too much time caring and listening to what people had to say about me and my various sounds as an artist. “
Remington writes in different styles – one day it can be something sarcastic and upbeat, another day a Christian song, and the next day a folk tune…
“All of it rings true to who I am. So I would say, the constant is my quirkiness, unapologetic self, and my acoustic guitar (plus obviously my voice). Every artist evolves, I just seem to evolve everyday!”
We wanted to know what her favorite things about Stockholm are, and Remington says she really likes the cafés (and especially the free coffee refills almost everywhere). Söder is her favorite area to hang around, as there’s so many entertaining things to be found there. But there has been some cultural differences that took a bit of getting used to:
“People with their heads down on the subway threw me off for a while. I am pretty outgoing and am usually going into deep convo with anyone who is willing! So being quiet for most of the day is weird for me, but I have learned if I just leap into a conversation, most Swedes are more open than you think. Its just the reserved part you gotta break through!”
Remington says she hasn’t really met so many people from the Stockholm music scene yet, but would love to record her next single here. She went to college with a bunch of Swedes in LA, and thought they were all so perfect with their voices, looks, musicianship and everything…
“Everyone here is good at their craft whether its marketing, being a doctor or musician. Y’all are talented!!”
