Samantha Marie; 'Running In Place' yet going far

Running In place is often a metaphor for exerting huge effort into a seemingly pointless task that leads you nowhere, a race towards meaninglessness and frustration. How fitting, then, it is that Samantha Marie's titular debut EP results in the exact opposite feeling for both listener and author alike. The release is at its core about daunting tasks and unsurmountable obstacles, yet its very existence is a triumphant contradiction to its pessimistic gestation. "Sometimes it feels as if I have incredible ideas and no power." She says, yet the EP is here, an incredible idea manifested.

During a trip to Los Angeles, she was inspired by a friend who had heard her sing, and they urged her to “just do it.” Driving her car across the country at the beginning of 2022, and turning her life around in many ways.

Hailing from a southern Florida beach town. Samantha Marie Saglibene is the classical story of the misunderstood youth finding solace and a voice through artistic creation. Samantha struggled with her mental health early on, including eating disorders, depression, and anxiety. This resulted in a sensibility and a heartache that's palpable in her voice, a virtue of the singer-songwriter that is alchemizing pain into beauty and passion.

Being a musician is one thing, but actually pursuing a musical career is a completely different endeavor that takes intelligence and savvy in as much as it takes passion and talent. Breaking into the industry is a whole challenge in and of itself, however easier it may be to record and publish independently nowadays, it is also difficult to stand out in the incredibly broad and crowded musical marketplace, it is still a challenge to be heard out there. This challenge and the odds themselves felt like a stack set against Samantha, who says "The music industry has felt extremely daunting since this is my first entrance into managing my own music, lyrics, and melodies." What is to be done?

Samantha's answer is "Running In Place", an album that turns that daunting task on its head and makes it the very subject of her work. Refusing to side with any one genre in clean, Samantha instead opted to give each song its own sound and style to better suit the mood and ideas of each, a bold and interesting proposal all on its own that cleverly solves part of the "how to stand out" part of the challenge.

"Since writing these songs, I’ve been ignoring many “stick to one genre” comments, “find your niche” comments. I’m really passionate about expressing yourself through music and I don’t believe that has a genre label."

Running In place is a relatively short EP, featuring one amazing cover of INXS'S 'Mystify', three completely original songs, and one remix featuring producer Kevin Cho. On repeated listens, I'm starting to like Samantha's version of 'Mystify' better than the original (a huge achievement on its own) but it is on the original tracks where she truly shines. "When You're Not There" is a slow-burn electro-pop banger laced with some soft alt-rock edge. Meanwhile, "Never Did Get It Right" is a more traditional soft rock ballad where the play between the acoustic and the electric guitar is the key to tying the whole mood. Lastly "Through The Night" seems like an inevitable synthesis of each little nugget of sound of every other track before it, blurring the line further between the sensitive rock vibe and the warm pulse of pop optimism that lay at the heart of Samantha Marie.

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