The Beginnings of mxmtoon
Beloved bedroom pop artist mxmtoon is releasing a revisited version of her 2018 debut EP, plum blossom. At the beginning of October, she dropped her first single for the release: “feelings are fatal (revisited).” While fans await November 10 for the full EP drop, let’s take a stroll down memory lane and revisit mxmtoon’s beginnings.
In 2017, Maia X. M. T., of Chinese, German and Scottish descent, chose the stage name mxmtoon based on the initials of her name. At age 17, she first began earning the internet’s attention when she was in high school. Maia created cartoons and song covers on Instagram and YouTube, respectively. The attention she gained soon led to her original songs receiving just as much attention. Eventually, those songs would earn more attention than she ever expected.
Since Maia has become mxmtoon, she’s always had a way with her fans. Aside from utilizing social media such as Instagram and TikTok, the singer/songwriter/producer often used streams on Twitch and her podcast to stay connected to her fans, especially during the pandemic.
This fan connection is only aided by mxmtoon’s classic, earnest sound of intimacy, honesty and understanding. She draws listeners who yearn to be understood and heard, and they find just that in the relatable lyrics. There’s something incredibly charming about her soft, applicable, touching lyrics being sung with only a ukulele for accompaniment. And that’s exactly what fans have loved about her original plum blossom.
“the idea of you (revisited)”
The original “the idea of you” has the charm of mxmtoon’s older songs: ukulele, Maia’s warm vocals and a self-produced-in-the-bedroom sound.
The revisited version still has Maia’s warm vocals, but it adds a lot more, production-wise. There’s the ukulele, along with soft, tinkling piano, a shaker, drums, a hint of an electric guitar, and layered background vocals.
According to Sam Taylor at Dork, the artist spoke about what releasing “the idea of you (revisited)” signifies for her.
“When I was first deciding to do ‘plum blossom (revisited),’ one of the songs I was most excited about revisiting was ‘the idea of you.’ I always felt that song had so much potential to feel bigger than I could make it when I was 17 and I’m so glad I was able to make that happen on the revisited version. So much of the lyricism still rings true to me as an adult, so it’s so fun to have this version that still thematically feels relevant to me but is so much more sonically exciting! I’m so stoked for people to hear this one and hope they feel as much joy listening to it as I do.”
plum blossom (revisited)
mxmtoon announced plum blossom (revisited)’s tracklist in an Instagram post on October 12. Surprisingly, the tracklist does not mirror the original EP’s. Instead, it includes 2017 singles “stuck,” “hong kong” and “1-800-DATEME.” Additionally, it unfortunately does not include certain songs from the original EP. To many fans’ dismay, those songs are “i feel like chet,” “porcelain” and “i miss you.” The tracks are also reordered. Check out the full tracklist below.
- “the idea of you (revisited)”
- “cliché (revisited)”
- “feelings are fatal (revisited)”
- “stuck (revisited)”
- “temporary nothing (revisited)”
- “hong kong (revisited)”
- “1-800-DATEME (revisited)”
mxmtoon has also announced the limited edition, double-sided vinyl of plum blossom (revisited), which has the original plum blossom on side b of the vinyl. She also dropped new merch in anticipation of next Friday’s drop. Stay tuned with Music Daily for a review on plum blossom (revisited).
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