Q&A: Get Lost In The Future Nostalgia of Marci’s ‘Mask Lady and Late Night Girl’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY AUGUST NGUYEN ☆
Aabid Youssef
MARCI JUST WANTS TO HAVE FUN—whether it’s writing, crafting her sound, dressing up or putting on a show.
Filled with leopard prints, butterfly stickers and spinning sunglasses, TOPS’ Marta Cikojevic’s new album, Mask Lady and Late Night Girl, expands the synth pop soundscape from her self-titled debut—this time, with a little more sass and a little less restraint.
In a 2026 pop culture obsessed with 2016 aesthetics where nostalgia has become a gimmick rather than an inspiration, this record takes the new to revive the old; the futuristic to create the modern classic; and uses contemporary lyricism to recontextualise its vintage production. Marci has no interest in reheating anyone’s nachos. She makes her moodboard obvious: 70s Italian balladeers Mina and Gina O’relli, 80s soft-rock bands Def Leppard and White Snake and 2000s party girls Uffie and Kesha—remixed and reimagined in the funky “Stars Are Fake,” the glossy “Hot Sexy USA” and slightly moody “Edge of the Knife."
Mask Lady and Late Night Girl, as she put it best, is “a chaotic fun time.”
It takes a certain level of whimsy to find inspiration in your own neighborhood and an even greater one to realise that its message already exists in the art you’re making. “As I was writing the songs there wasn’t an overarching idea, but once I met the mask lady, it started showing itself to me,” Marci says. “I found that a lot of the lyrics happened to reflect the exact duality of the mask lady and the late night girl so it was kind of crazy to have [the interaction] fallen on my lap.”
The fact that this record sounds as cohesive and reflective of its visuals as it does, without Marci ever intending for it to do so, speaks volumes about her distinct artistic identity. Mask Lady and Late Night Girl is a bit of everything—it’s charming, chic and a bit cheeky; not because it’s trendy to be all or any of these things, but because she just is.
Read Luna’s conversation with Marci below on how she writes, creates, procrastinates, prepares for tour and more.
LUNA: Congrats on your incredible new album! The first full-length solo project in four years after your self-titled debut, how long has this been in the making for and how does it feel now that the record’s finally out?
MARCI: Thank you! It’s been great. I think people are digging it, which is all I can really hope for. It’s always funny putting a record out because almost after the release you’d start to appreciate it more. This album’s just been with me for so long now that when it’s finally out, I can stop dissecting what it sounds like.
I started Mask Lady and Late Night Girl with David, my producer since the last record — there are some songs on here that were actually from studio sessions for debut four years ago so this new one feels weirdly old (laughs). It took a while because David lived in Montreal and I moved to LA so it was harder to get together. There’s so much time in between which I definitely don’t want to do again; it makes you lose the flow in a way but I still love all the songs!
LUNA: Mask Lady and Late Night Girl was inspired by this interaction you had in LA with a masked lady walking around your neighbourhood. There are songs in the tracklist named after and/or directly referencing these two characters like “Chaotic Princess” and “The Lady with the Mask.” Is it fair to call this record a concept album?
MARCI: It’s definitely more of a theme. As I was writing the songs there wasn’t an overarching idea but once I met the mask lady, it started showing itself to me. It eventually became a bit conceptual, but I’d say it’s more of a serendipitous event that ends up working out with whatever I was writing at the time and weaving everything together. I feel like that’s the fun thing about creating, where the art you’re working on itself gives you inspiration in a way and makes you pay attention to these oddly specific things in real life.
I found that a lot of the lyrics that were already on paper happened to reflect the exact duality of the mask lady and the late night girl so it was kind of crazy to have that fallen on my lap. However, it often takes me really long to write the lyrics even if I already have a good melody, which is where this interaction comes in as a nice theme to bounce off of.
LUNA: Wow, that’s like divine intervention!
MARCI: Honestly it was. It’s like the universe confirming everything you’re doing and I loved that it worked out this way because even the person who shot and painted the album cover is also my neighbour and friend Alex. This project just feels like my whole neighbourhood coming together which is pretty cool.
LUNA: Is this way of creating anything different from when you were writing Marci? Did you find the process easier or more challenging?
MARCI: I actually didn’t know when making my self-titled that it was going to be a whole album; I just wanted to record a bunch of my songs. Debut was pretty much just me experimenting with my sound and figuring out who I was whereas this one definitely felt a lot more intentional. I enjoyed both in different ways because as light and fun as writing the first one was, having a vision of how I want things to sound makes me super excited to create the next one!
I’m such a go-with-the-flow person at heart though. Planning is not my favorite thing to do because especially for a four year-long project, sometimes I’d go back and wonder if I’m no longer the same person writing those very old songs but well. At the end of the day, everything you created still comes from you and reflects a part of who you were and that’s beautiful.
LUNA: Not only does your album art, title and tracklist reflect this duality between the mask lady and the late night girl but I can also hear it in the production—a very 80s, synthy, vintage pop sound that is, at the same time, very futuristic. Was this intentional?
MARCI: You know, I wish I could be like “I totally did that!” (laughs). It’s just, however, the Gemini in me being chaotic and wanting to do everything from dance, country, rock, to any fun genreless sound I can cook up, which actually makes the record feels very true to who I am. I’m a little bit of everything!
LUNA: What are some recent releases you’ve loved that you think’d become modern classics?
MARCI: I really love the new Kim Petras record which I think is awesome. I’ve also been obsessed with Eli; I love how candid she is and Stage Girl is such a well-done pop record that’s reminiscent of y2k-era music but somehow feels very new. A lot of my friends make great music too—Paycheque, Born at Midnite, Cecile Believe who has such cool songs coming out—that I can’t wait for everyone to hear.
LUNA: Oh my god, I love Cecile. I still remember a friend playing me “Bitch Bites Dog” for the first time—life-changing stuff.
MARCI: I love that song so much, a futuristic Britney Spears song if there ever was one.
LUNA: What was on the rotation when you were making this album?
MARCI: There was a lot of Def Leppard, Whitesnake, and bratty 2000s stuff like Uffie but also 70s Italian balladeers—Mina, Gina O'relli, Gino Paololi, Ornella Vanoni... I have a playlist on my phone called “Italy Plus.” I love how dramatic the melody is in this kind of Euromusic! You can see the influence in the opening track “Stars Are Fake” where I try to emulate this soft 70s Italian ballad sound.
LUNA: You mentioned that, with Mask Lady and Late Night Girl, you wanted to do everything you didn’t get to on Marci. Did you ever revisit Marci while writing the new record?
MARCI: Not really, no. Maybe when I’m drunk.
LUNA: Do you enjoy listening back to your old stuff at all? I know a lot of artists don’t.
MARCI: Well, if I write a really good song, I will just be so stoked that I can’t stop listening to it over and over again. Whenever me and David made something sick in the studio, we’d basically put it on loop and I’d listen to it on my way home too. But you need to be careful not to listen back too much though because soon you’ll start to not like it anymore.
LUNA: You’re about to go on the Mask Lady and Late Night Girl tour starting November. What should people wear to a Marci show? And what can we expect?
MARCI: I’m really hoping to see people in leopard prints. I wish I could have a million of those glasses I wear on the album cover that I got at a convenience store, but they just don’t exist elsewhere. Or the iconic mask that lady wears, of course (laughs).
I’m also putting together my band at the moment. It’s gonna be a three-women show—I’ve got me, my guitar player Steph who actually toured with Eli, and another keyboard/bass player. We’re all dressing up looking super cute and leopard-printy so it will be a chaotic fun time!
LUNA: Will you play songs from self-titled as well or will it just be the full new record?
MARCI: Oh I’ll for sure play my old stuff! I have to because it’s always so fun. Will I play the whole new record though? Good question. See, these are things I’ll have to figure out starting hopefully tomorrow
