In the video for Maylee Todd’s new single “Dream With You”, her digital avatar Maloo struggles with unhealthy habitual thought patterns. Maloo makes a conscious effort to break up with some of those aspects of themself. In Maylee Todd’s words, “The universe is infinite and the mind is expansive. It’s important to challenge unnecessary intrinsic thoughts and rest in an abundant mindset.”

Throughout the pandemic, Maylee spent a lot of time in VR, and started thinking about the utopian possibilities of the technology. “Often we place too much emphasis on status, wealth, and clout on social media,” she says. “Instead, what if we find ways to share our dreams and goals for ourselves and society? Tapping into our creativity and imaginations rather than having to preserve status or identity for acceptance.”

Maylee created the avatar “Maloo” to attempt to address these questions. The songs on the album Maloo are told from the avatar’s point of view, set in a world called “The Age of Energy”. This world, portrayed in the video for “Show Me”, was conceived, created and animated entirely by Maylee. In this imagined world, empathy, mental health, and creativity are elements for survival.

Creativity, performance and humour have always been a big part of Maylee Todd’s life. Her father was an Elvis impersonator and her grandfather was a UFO obsessive and escape artist known as ‘the Great Toddini’. Maylee herself has a background in standup comedy and dance as well as music. Maylee has built immersive experiences around her albums before, including the world-travelling “Virtual Womb” show, but Maloo is her first virtual world.

Although Maloo was conceived in the virtual realm, the album’s subject matter is firmly drawn from Maylee’s personal life, especially her experiences with mental health. “Show Me” is a song about vulnerability, and the shame and stigma surrounding presenting your genuine self. Other songs on Maloo look at the effect of social media on self-worth, the expectations placed on women as they get older, and negative thought patterns.

Maylee originally wrote the sketches for Maloo on a Tenori-on, a discontinued Japanese sequencer initially released by Yamaha in the late 2000s, before refining the songs with co-producer Kyvita.

preorder at Maloo by Maylee HERE