Anna Margo's got it all - "Bad Friend".

Singer, Songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer - Anna Margo has devoted her life to music, she's perfecting her craft even as you read this. So great has been her dedication to the art form that maybe she's also been a "Bad Friend" to herself in the mean time.

"Bad Friend" is ultimately about self-sabotage, about all the little ways we fail ourselves, however, the lack of a truly somber tone allows the track to take on a cathartic attitude as if Ana is lifting a weight off her shoulders by admitting to the very perception of her own flaws without stepping in and flogging herself for them. Transparency and vulnerability have become some of the most important tools in the contemporary songwriter's arsenal. With "Bad Friend" Ana seems to be embracing those tools while embracing herself fully.

"It’s easy to blame your environment to explain why you’re sad, but you’re actually to blame for a lot of it. The song helped me. You’ve got to be honest with yourself about your flaws and shortcoming. You also don’t hear piano solos in pop very often,”

Another one of Anna's most important tools is her formal education in music, which you'll notice often manifests in the subtleties of her rich melodies. Ana is a classically-trained pianist who grew up binging on some of the most illustrious composers of all times -chief among them, Sergei Rachmaninoff, a virtuoso pianist himself who would become more or less Anna's favorite. Her musical devotion eventually led her to Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music, eventually finding her way under the wing of Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling Producer, Engineer, and Singer/Songwriter ´Kadis´ alongside whom she would contribute piano, arrangements, and additional production to Iyla’s critically acclaimed "Other Ways To Vent EP." She also joined Iyla on tour, performing piano and supplying background vocals.

Anna's debut proper came with "Place", a song that gave us a deep moody insight into what the upcoming "era of discovery" for her sound is going to be, as she navigates her own emotions and outlook on what her life has been so far through her music, inviting us along for the ride. "Place" would generate quite a bit of an impact for a debut track, reaching well over a million combined streams and views across platforms and even making it to Apple Music's "Feeling Blue" playlist.

Although "Place" and "Bad Friend" are not so far apart emotionally, the two do contrast a little bit and they showcase a bit of the no-doubt boundless range that Ana Margo is working with both as a songwriter, musician, and producer. Nonetheless, it's an exciting time for Anna, and an even more exciting time to start paying attention to her, because she's pushing her own boundaries just as she releases completely new music and makes a name for herself. “Up to this point, it’s the most brutally honest song I’ve ever written,” she reveals of her latest song.

All in all, I think Anna is poised to blow minds away with this very rare combination of soulful pop and virtuous piano-fighting.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Samuel Aponte is Venezuelan-born raised and based. 

I joined Rival Magazine after a few years of doing PR work for independent musicians of all stripes; understanding their struggles to be heard in a sea of constant  ADHD noise and paywalled access to platforms, I now bring a willingness to always appreciate and encourage the effort and creativity that artists put into their work . Can also find some of my writings on LADYGUNN and We Found New Music.