Single cover – photo by Neil Anderson
After charming everyone with her single “Ghost”, French poet and singer Manon returns with her best offering yet – glamorous and decadent homage to Tinsel Town. “Hollywood” is a truly unique composition: catchy, transcending musical genres and with hellishly clever lyrics. A perfect storm delivered by one of the most original and mesmerizing figures on the circuit.
Mango in Euphoria has been baffling fans and artists alike since her arrival in the UK. Like a chameleon she can transform from feminine to androgynous and was compared to such icons as David Bowie and Lana Del Ray. Her personal image has been unsuccessfully copied by others and her stage presence landed her in the papers. Somehow, she is always catching eyes and turning heads. If you think I am writing here an ode to Mademoiselle Mango then you are right. I am absolutely head over hills because nothing gets us more excited at Vanadian Avenue than bold and exceptional artists.
Mango in Euphoria may be at the beginning of her musical journey but her vision and ideas put her years ahead of competition. Call her provocative, daring and even controversial but you cannot deny that there is something about her that is truly outstanding. We strongly believe that “Hollywood” is a breakthrough single for the singer.
The way she merges nostalgia for the 80s with modern sound is both curious and very intelligent. From one side “Hollywood” feels like a nod towards Daft Punk and their take on the Tron soundtrack. But it also could undeniably be a deep cut from BLACKPINK catalogue. K Pop at the 80s arcades, two distant worlds coming together and it just makes sense. If you like dark electro pop with gusto and mystique, then Mango in Euphoria is your next favourite thing.
If Manon was living in the 80`s, she would be a superstar and “Hollywood” would be Billboard no 1 for several consecutive weeks. Laura Branigan, Shannon, Kim Wylde or Irene Cara would be her besties and her posters would adorn walls of millions of teenagers around the world. She would have her own Barbie doll, a cameo in “The Dynasty” as a femme fatale and people would camp outside HMV to get her new concert on VHS tape. Times change and I am very sorry that we no longer tend to artists the way we used to. What assistance indie circuit can offer to a talent of such magnitude as Mango in Euphoria? I doubt big bosses in the music industry read Indieterra, but you know you should on occasion.
Silver Screen Goddess – photography by Neil Anderson
We loved “Hollywood” so much, we asked Mango in Euphoria some questions. This is what she had to say:
In the PR note for the single, you say: “L.A. was always a city I was attracted to in a weird way. In a low-key way it felt dangerous to my soul: the most amazing and the worst things happen there”. It almost reads like an account Hank Moody would give in the TV series “Californication”. Is there an inspiration in the hedonism of Hollywood?
Mango in Euphoria: I watched Californication when I was younger. I used to wake up in the Netherlands with my very first boyfriend and we were watching it as we were having breakfast. You’re reminding me of very good memories of my early twenties! I didn’t think of that TV series when writing the song, but I see what you mean. Let’s say that this song is sung by a fantasy version of myself with some elements that are personal to my real life. It’s probably carefree just like Hank, and very pushed on the egocentric side. My main references were “Hollywood” by Madonna or the song “Plastic Hearts” by Miley Cyrus.
We know you personally visited Los Angeles in the past. Would you like to share your impressions of the place? Did reality meet the expectations?
Mango in Euphoria: I love the weather and the sunset on the beach, that’s for sure, but LA is so big. It is such a huge city. I prefer New York. But when I’m rich maybe I’ll get a house near Malibu because I can’t lie, I like it there too. It’s a nice area. I guess I’ll need my posh bitch house at some point.
There are so many homeless people in the main streets of LA. Hollywood Boulevard is so popular that it’s very, very dirty. I did expect to meet these kinds of Instagram influencers too you know, and I did. People do what they want and I support anything that’ll make you feel confident, but back then it was very surprising for me to see so much surgery on someone in real life. I was born in the Paris suburbs and was raised in the countryside of France so I was amazed by the gap between the two worlds.
Looking at the lyrics, the song seems to be inspired by the Me-Too movement and all the brave women who decided to fight the abuse of power and corruption to have their careers back. It feels powerful and feminist in its message. Do we get it right?
Mango in Euphoria: It is free for you to interpret this song the way you want to, really. There’s obviously still a lot of men wanting to control females in the music industry, and you can think about the bridge that way indeed and that makes a lot of sense. But to be completely honest this is truly what happened before I started to write this song. The Californian guy I was spending some nice time (wink wink) with was into some kinky shit just like me and I thought it was a great lyric to insert to make the song even darker. The theme gravitates around being so close to selling your soul to the Devil so yes.
Mango in Euphoria photography by Neil Anderson
“Hollywood” is a perfect marriage between K-pop banger and a soundtrack from science-fiction movie Tron! Like a futuristic musical theme to an old school arcade parlour. It`s not just a simple retro pop revival but rather a statement of intent. Was there any particular reason why you wanted to bring those two elements together?
Mango in Euphoria: The main reason is the dystopian vibe I choose to go for my current music and artistry. It’s very much based around a dark underworld where I am trying to fight against so many things. And these things are my demons and unhealed wounds. But there’s also a silver lining in everything. It’s about finding the light in the darkest moments. That probably doesn’t make sense but it does make sense in my head lol (laughs).
I do think that Tron is one of these movies that contain a fabulous soundtrack made by my fellow Frenchies, Daft Punk, and this soundtrack has amazing electronic scores that make you feel like you’re in a dystopian movie and I’m so in love with it. I do enjoy K-pop music but that is not the main genre I listen to. I’m very much more into a project like Artpop from Lady Gaga, or Teenage Dream by Katy Perry because they were here when I was a dreaming teenager living in my countryside with nothing. And I miss this pop that had an identity. But there are some K-Pop songs such as “Fantastic Baby” by Big Bang or “CRAYON” by G-Dragon that I kept on listening to as well. I know BlackPink are huge right now, but I discovered Girls Generation first (laughs). “Run Devil Run” was a song me and my little sister used to dance on a lot.
I wanna include Kim Petras’s 2018 album “Turn Off the Light” here as that is a big inspiration to my sound as well. The songs are so good, I kept having them on repeat when I moved to London in 2019 so it stayed with me. It’s good dark pop.
Please tell us something about recording sessions. Where was the song mastered, how long it took to finalize the single, who accompanied you during the recording?
Mango in Euphoria: I went to Glasgow to meet this strong producer called Lewis Gardiner who is currently signed to Kobalt. He was the sweetest guy and his accent was so cute. He was not coming to London before the middle of February so I decided to hop on a plane in the early morning on my way to Glasgow and I came back to London in the evening of the same day. The whole session was fun, even though I was a bit tired for obvious travel reasons. I just went to record the vocals there and worked on some more details as we already remotely started to work on the vibe I wanted for the track before I got there. The song was mastered at a home studio in London by Mikalojus Serapinas.
But before all of this, “Hollywood” was first written by me at the beginning of 2022, and I worked more on it with my guitarist Matyas Csonka so we could play the first versions live. Believe it or not, it was a short song at the beginning, but there are enough short songs nowadays in this TikTok era so I made it longer, because fuck it. I’m the first one who’s so disappointed that some new pop songs last less than 2 minutes.
“Hollywood” is accompanied by a glamorous photo that reminds us of the sleeves to some of the 80s biggest hits, such as Laura Branigans “Self Control”. Who is the photographer behind it?
Mango in Euphoria: Neil Anderson! He’s such a legend since he photographed punk bands in the 80’s such as The Clash and Siouxsie and The Banshees for NME.
Welcome to Gotham – photography by Neil Anderson
If you were to take us on a (virtual) tour of the City of Angels, where would we go and what sights are obligatory?
Mango in Euphoria: Although I’m not a vegan (yet), there are plenty of places where you can eat good vegan food and I guess we’d find a nice spot to have some lunch. I can’t lie, when I was there, I did all the tourist things you can do. Griffith Observatory, Santa Monica Pier, Sunset Blvd, climbing to see the Hollywood sign, the LACMA, went to Beverly Hills too… And it’s still worth it if you’ve never been there, because these places are literally everything you see in the movies, and I was daydreaming a lot when I was younger and it made me so happy to see these with my own eyes.
But! There are some good vintage stores too and you can find cute stuff if you fancy shopping. Don’t miss the sunset on Venice Beach. It’s such a vibe.
I also want to party hard when I comeback there since I was on a road trip when I visited the city and I had to be careful about my money back then. Next time I’m there I’ll be financially comfortable enough to own the night.
Hollywood has been a subject of many songs in the past. What tracks should be on our TinselTown playlist?
Mango in Euphoria has composed the following bangers:
LA Love by Fergie
Plastic Hearts by Miley Cyrus
Hollywood by Madonna
Piece of Me by Britney Spears
West Coast by Lana Del Rey
The Fame by Lady Gaga
Celebrity Skin by Hole
You can follow Mango in Euphoria on socials:
https://www.mangoineuphoria.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mangoineuphoria/
https://www.facebook.com/mangoineuphoria
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4dNczo3zLfxpa2hJccmLWp
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_Tr2WRtTsOpXk3X6RlXO-w
https://soundcloud.com/mangoineuphoria
https://www.tiktok.com/@thisismangoineuphoria
You can read our review of Mango in Euphoria`s previous single “Ghost” here:
https://vanadianavenue.co.uk/2022/12/15/mango-in-euphoria-ghost-single-revie
Malicia Dabrowicz
Indieterria 