Nia Bowers
Most often, we only see the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the work of composers and songwriters—the fame, the fans, the autograph sessions. But how exactly do they write music and songs? What is their daily life like? How do they find inspiration? To find out more, we spoke with composer, poet, and member of The International Creative and Art Association Radmila Valeeva. She does several things at once: she writes music and poetry professionally, dances ballet, creates sculptures, and even acts in films. In short, she is a multifaceted personality! And a very talented one at that.
Soundtracks as a separate art form
Radmila Valeeva’s uniqueness as a composer lies in her unusual approach. She writes compositions that are not only played on the radio, but also become soundtracks for short films, student and independent films, theater productions, music videos, and art videos. The peculiarity of a composer’s work in these genres is that they must be able to create accents, build atmosphere, and, conversely, reduce tension.
Indeed, industry leaders working in film production often emphasize that writing soundtracks is a special kind of art. The purpose of such music is to complement what is happening, not to draw all the attention to itself. Let’s take a look at the great classics. Max Richter prefers to use a minimalist structure for his compositions and not overload them. Danny Elfman, in turn, treats music as an extension of a character’s personality. In each of these cases, the composer does not write as he pleases, but is forced to subordinate the sounds to the rhythm of the frames and the meaning of what is happening.
But Radmila, as an outstanding composer, also has her own approach to writing soundtracks. Her ballet background helped her in this—she used to be an active dancer and ballerina. This gave her an unusual advantage—a rare sense of tempo and sound. After all, dance and music are like yin and yang. A person who understands dance also understands music!
How does the process work?
Modern experienced composers, including Radmila, usually begin their work by talking to the director about the emotions the music should evoke. Then they come up with the main idea for the sound. This can be a melody, a rhythm, or just a general mood. Radmila prefers to use the live sound of an orchestra or individual musical instruments. She often records them herself.
The composer adapts the finished fragments to the editing, removes unnecessary elements, and changes the tempo and volume so that the music does not interfere with the dialogue and enhances the necessary moments. According to her, one soundtrack can be reworked many times until it becomes a single whole with the picture.
Sometimes Radmila is asked to provide a ready-made composition. This is much easier—all she has to do is sign a contract, transfer the rights of use, and wait for the film or theater production to be released.
Just music
Of course, there is also room for simple music in Radmila’s work. The composer admits that she used to gravitate towards classical music, but today she is increasingly trying to work at the intersection of genres.
She has accumulated enough material that Radmila is even thinking of releasing her debut album.
Not just music, but lyrics too
Unlike most composers, Radmila often writes the lyrics to her songs herself. She explains this by saying that she has always had a passion for poetry. Radmila grew up in a theatrical family where books were an integral part of life. The shelves were filled with classics: Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Baudelaire.
Of all the poets, Radmila particularly admires Pushkin and Brodsky. She knows a little French, so she can read many works in the original, albeit with a dictionary.
Life itself inspires her, and not always the pleasant moments. Radmila admits that, like many creative people, she finds inspiration for her work in difficult life situations: unhappy love, sad days, failures. In her opinion, this nourishes her creativity and makes it stronger. And, as a result, it turns into reflection and gives her the strength to move on.
When does she work?
After waking up, Radmila does some stretching, takes a short walk, does breathing exercises, and drinks her favorite coffee. Her phone is put away, her laptop remains closed. If she creates, it is only when night falls. There is nothing surprising about this concept. Many creative people draw their inspiration from the silence of the night. Bob Dylan, for example, admitted that he often worked at night.
What inspires her?
When talking about musical influences, Radmila often refers to soul legends. Amy Winehouse and Adele are particularly significant to her in this regard. But being inspired does not mean imitating. Their work simply serves as a guide for creating soundtracks.
Using one of her famous works as an example, Radmila explained where she draws her inspiration from. She is convinced that any sound can create music. That is why she often experiments with different sounds, mixing pop, soul, and jazz. She even gives a chance to things that cannot be called musical instruments. For example, the jingle of coins or raindrops hitting a plastic barrel. Surprised? So are we. But it is precisely these unexpected sounds that can be heard in some of her tracks.
Radmila Valeeva: “I like experimenting with new sounds. It just so happened that I grew up in a family of classical music and theater lovers. That’s why I learned to play the piano as a child. An academic foundation is important. But it’s also important to be able to string together different, non-standard creative ideas, like beads.”
For her contribution to the music industry, Radmila was even honored with an international award, The Inspiration Awards, in 2024, receiving the award in the Best Musical Composition for Screen/Stage category. The award was given for one of her musical compositions, which became a soundtrack. In it, the classical musical foundation was complemented by unconventional musical solutions. It is noteworthy that in this work, Radmila acted not only as a composer, but also as the author of the entire artistic idea.