Mariah Belgrod first discovered her passion for performing at a very young age. She grew up participating in local theater productions in her Pennsylvania town.
At age 15, Belgrod lost that spark as she began to struggle with depression.
She found her voice again when she discovered the karaoke-style app Smule in 2016. Now a verified partner of the app, Belgrod uses her platform to spread mental health awareness and connect with and “M-POWER” her audience.
Her latest single, “Team Player” is an empowering anthem about understanding your worth.
We chatted with Mariah Belgrod about the single, Smule and more.
Excerpt from the the podcast:
What was the inspiration for your single, “Team Player”?
It was actually written with my fiance, Jeffrey (Graham) when we were doing a long distance relationship. We wrote it over a Skype call. I was going through a point in my life, like I mentioned earlier, I was kind of having low self esteem and I just needed to feel empowered, and know when to cut ties. I started just writing something catchy, but it evolved into being like, if someone is not being a team player in your life just tell them to play on, know what you deserve. It’s a fun anthem. I feel like melodically, it’s upbeat and you can listen to it while you’re driving or working out, but lyrically, if you are going through something you can feel it but be happy while feeling the feels.
You often use your platform to spread mental health awareness, happiness, and empowerment. Why is it important to you to be able to show that on Smule and to bring community together through that?
When I was a teenager, a lot of my social media was filled with people or ads that had perfect lives. That’s how they made it seem. It was really challenging for me. I had a really low self esteem because I was constantly comparing myself to other artists or models or other people, male or female. When I had the ability to have my own platform, I wanted to make a safe space for people where they feel connected and know that I have good days and I have bad days – they’re both great and that’s okay. It was just really important for me to keep that line of communication open and kind of be a space for people to go and be like she’s talking about how bad her day was and that’s funny because my day was bad too. She’s relatable. That’s what I strive to be because I feel like I am.