Meet Marick Lewaii

We were lucky to catch up with Marick Lewaii recently and have shared our conversation below.

Marick , thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?

Living in Puerto Rico, both locals and people who visit the island have a certain type of image of what they expect a Porto Rican would look like and apparently for most, I don’t necessarily fall in that category. Not saying this just because of my afro descendance because, there are legendary “afro-Boricuas” that are well known like: Roberto Clemente, Ismael Rivera (Maelo), etc. But given the mix with my Virgin Islands roots, I’ve always been seen as “not from here”. At first I didn’t see it as an advantage because Puerto Rico is full of talent and the audience could be very selective on who they choose to vibe with, specially if you’re an independent artist. So in live performances, I wouldn’t emphasize my cultural influences when I presented myself, I thought, “They already see me as not one of them so whatever I’ll just sing and done” But later I realized that when I presented myself and explained my roots, there was a better response.

Because it’s not the same thing to just let people decide on their own where I came from. People would set me up as Ethiopian, from the States, Jamaican and anywhere else but from Puerto Rico. But when I stated that I am from Puerto Rico with roots from the Virgin Islands, it seemed like a interesting factor. I noticed this later on because, I’ve always been clear of the type of music I wanted to put out and the desire to represent my roots entirely. But I would just put it out and done rather than explaining my story and my roots. So I think that storytelling and letting people know who I am and where Marick Lewaii came from helped with being more successful since people are able to get a better glimpse and understanding of my artistry, my uniqueness and why I sing what I sing besides just sounding good.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Marick Lewis a.k.a. Marick Lewaii is a singer-songwriter, musician and performer from Santuce, Puerto Rico with roots from the Virgin Islands. She reflects this in her music and artist identity singing different styles like: dancehall, afrobeat, urban pop, bolero and more. Al though her cultural roots aren’t her only musical influence, she’s also a classically trained musician. Studying the harpsichord and violin from middle school to high school at “La Libre de Música” All of these expands her approach to creating music allowing her to experiment different elements while creating.

She did her debut in 2019 with her first single ‘Skies Above” a vibrant song that shows both her cultural identities and her ability to sing and dance seen in the music video. She’s performed in big festivals like the Heineken Jazz Fest as a lead singer with the live band “Caribe Jazz” and Jesus Cepeda. And recently released her first EP titled: “Friesian” produced by Aurelio Adasme where you can see some aspects of her musical ability.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I like to think that with discipline, self belief and specially the audacity you can accomplish way more than if you lack of these. When I say discipline, this includes: practice because the best thing you can do is sharpen your skills to have no space for doubt when you’re performing of doing whatever it is you wanna do (sports, paint, etc) The other part under discipline is maybe just getting the thing done even when you don’t feel like it. Specially as an independent artist you’re gonna have to send the emails, pitch your music, search for the contacts, create a promotion plan, rehearse and it’s a lot. Now moving on to self belief, this is something I hold onto cuz believe it or not, to this day it could sometimes slip away. The mind is too powerful and sometimes could go against you creating negative thoughts but I’ve had to train myself to identify this and just tell myself the opposite of whatever the negative thought might be. Trust me at first, I don’t believe at all the positive things I’m telling my self , AT ALL. But I literally repeat it to myself and try to regulate my nervous system and that is what helps me to move forward and not want to stop creating and doing music. It’s important to believe in yourself whether or not others do because with thoughts follow actions and if you don’t think you’re valuable enough to accomplish something you’re not gonna allow yourself move forward or put yourself out there. And finally if you have the audacity, you’re gonna go places!! I’ve seen people go a long way because they aren’t afraid to present themselves and what they do, they believe in themselves so much they are literally walking around with their pen drive that has their beats in them ready to take any opportunity to be at an event, go to the DJ and say “Hey, I’ve got my music here can I perform or can you play it?” and the funny thing is they might even be less talented than you. But they put themselves out to people and are being seen. Maybe you don’t have to go around looking for the DJ and begging them to play your music but maybe you can just start with posting your music on every platform possible, reach out to venues and create your own events to play at, do FB Lives concerts., go to the audition, etc. Cuz trust me if you don’t to it, someone else with possibly less talent than you will and is accomplishing more just because of their audacity.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I love collaborating, many of the projects that have performed great and that have been the most fun are collaborations. Right now I’m down to collaborate with other artists both local and from around the world. maybe try different styles. I like to adjust to the other persons vibe if necessary. Also working with photographers and videographers to portray a vision the might have, interviews like this or for any type of collaboration. If any one wants to do a collab they can feel free to contact me at [email protected] of on Instagram

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Dvere Lewis

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