Overview

WOW! Thank you to everyone who has supported my campaign so far! I am so incredibly grateful and excited to make this album for you. Because we’ve made so much amazing progress so quickly, I’m hoping to add a brand new bonus track to the album! Any further contributions will go a long way to get make this album bigger and better than ever. Thank you, again, and I can’t wait to make more music for you!

Hello world! My name is Mariela Flor Olivo, and I'm a singer-songwriter here in the beautiful city of Brooklyn, NY.

I’ve been making music and performing all over the city for almost 8 years now, busking in the smelly subways, private garden gigs, iconic Lower East Side venues, in Brooklyn, Queens, and beyond. I’ve poured my heart, mind, spirit, and soul into songwriting for years, sharing, speaking, and singing only on what I know: my personal experiences. I’ve written about 40 tunes, none of them yet professionally recorded, and I’m being asked more and more frequently from venues and fans, “Where can I listen to your music?” I earnestly invite you to go on this journey with me, taking these songs I’ve sung for years, turning them into fully dreamed out, album-worthy tunes. 

The material is ready, and the musicians are waiting -- this Plaid Dog campaign is the final step toward creating my first ever, professionally produced studio album.

This campaign is raising funds for my professionally recorded album with Mike Davidson in Boston, MA. Mike is a Boston-based producer and engineer with 15+ years of experience working with both established and up-and-coming musicians. Together, Mike and I are digging into my original material, writing arrangements, and reaching out to local musicians to bring the songs to life. 

While I haven’t made it to Boston yet due to the current health crisis, I will––and I know this album will be worth the wait! In the meantime, I’ve been able to cover the costs of recording and producing a demo of one song remotely, with the assistance of some pretty amazing technology.

This first song is called “Please Stay,” and you can check it out below!

While I’ve been able to fund this initial recording process for “Please Stay" on my own, to create an album of songs with full production and studio quality, costs add up quickly. With that said, this campaign can give us a unique opportunity to collaborate and make great art together. Your donation will cover the following costs of my project:

1. Pre-Production: This is where everything starts. Mike and I will start crafting the arrangements for each song slated for the album. We’ll hold rehearsals to fine-tune the songs and arrangements and talk through new and exciting ideas for how to approach the recording process.

2. Recording: This is when we enter the studio and start capturing the music and where the songs become what you'll hear on this album. This campaign will play a huge role in making sure we have enough time to capture great performances for every member of the band.

3. Mixing & Mastering: Each track will get mixed to create the right balance between instruments, texture and color that make up a track. As a final step, the album will be mastered from beginning to end so that the listening experience is cohesive and carefully choreographed from start to finish.

And what will you get for your generosity and support? So many awesome things!

I am so appreciative and grateful for any support you can lend to this campaign. In exchange for your generosity, I've put together a really exciting group of gifts that are available exclusively through your participation in this campaign.

Check out some examples below and a full list to the right!

It's hard to express how much this project would change my life.

Music allows us each to feel something, anything, and express ourselves, whether we’re the writer, the listener, the one singing karaoke at the top of our lungs, or the one with our head hanging out of the passenger seat window as the radio blasts. Thanks to the truly immeasurable support I’ve received over the course of my life, I’m finally feeling brave and confident enough to offer my music up to all of you who are kind enough to listen.

Music has guided me my entire life and is honestly, humbly, what I was born to do. I’m an open book. My story is there in these songs, just waiting to be heard, shared, and felt. If there’s one hope I have for my music, it’s to make these experiences we all have as humans, big or small, collective or separate, joyful or heartbreaking, all the more relatable. If you listen to my music and feel something, anything, then I know I’ve done my job as an artist.

This album will peek into the human experience through the only lens I dare to offer: my own, with a special emphasis, intimate look, and deep dive into my first few years in New York City and the love, life, and loss I felt. I believe these experiences are felt universally at one time or other as we each tread upon this Earth and learn what it means to “grow up”. 

I cannot truly convey what it will mean or feel like to hear what’s long echoed in my head, fully conceptualized and complete, playing through speakers, headphones, in the car, on the radio… All I can honestly tell you now is that I tear up just thinking about it. With my whole heart, thank you for reading, for caring, for even considering donating to this project. You are truly helping my dream come to life.

If you're ready to contribute, just click the "Back This Project" button on the top right of this page! Every little bit counts, and I’m so grateful for all your support.

If you have folks in your network that would be interested in supporting me, please feel free to share this page with them.

Thank you so much for checking out my campaign page. I can't wait to share this music with you.