“Sanity 2 Madness” is Mona Mula’s first-ever album. It was released on the 31st of October 2020 and Mona chose this date because it complements Halloween. Mona gave the album this title because she feels like one half of the album is sane while the other half is insane; just like how her brain is wired. She also likes to describe herself as a quintessential dichotomy, hence why the album and all its facets radiate that description. The album entails both upbeat and dark vibes; it’s a painting of her envisioned world. As she wrote this album, she is/was still an undergraduate bachelor student so the album was put together with little money. Every song was made in her bedroom but quality-wise, one could think that this was all done in a studio. The beautiful thing about the project is that she has put together a team of like-minded creative individuals. She managed to connect with producers, graphic designers and sound engineers from different countries who all saw potential in the project. What made the album work is that Mona managed to establish a unique team who all shared one common trait — passion. She says you don’t need money to create art, you just need yourself and a passion.
Her sound is one that matches artists like Travis Scott, Lil Mosey, COMETHAZINE, XXXTENTACION, The Kid LAROI, Roddy Ricch and many more — it’s incredibly new-gen. What makes her music stand out is that there is not a female artist yet in the industry that has exactly the sound that she has, she is ready to enter the market and bring an entire new wave for all female hip-hop artists. Not only does she rap, she sings too. Her sound is comprised of things like commercial auto-tune vibes, aggressive bangers, melodic hooks and even dark, sad, atmospheric, raw vocals. She may have one voice but she has many different sounds and that clearly resonates throughout the entire album.
The album entails upbeat vibes but it’s secretly arcane in nature; it has darker tracks too. All the things she wants in life are still ‘dreams’ at this point and that is portrayed in the song “Big Slatt”. She also talks about ‘notoriety’ and that is the state of being famous or well-known for some bad quality or deed, hence why she calls it a scam. Anyone’s road to fame is different and there’s no right way of doing it. Some people work hard and earn their fame whilst others get given fame on a golden platter. Society is changing and Mona has the power to make it better but she cannot fix all of its adversities. She also makes references to the ‘Dam’ which stands for Amsterdam, she is Dutch so she likes to represent her country. She also talks about ‘counting all her losses’ which keeps her up at night sometimes; she can be pessimistic and self-critical. Moa wants to learn to weigh out the positives from the negatives — learn from her losses and focus on her wins. It doesn’t always have to end bad.
It’s safe to say that a lot of people think money makes the world sick. It really does. This ideology is conveyed in the track “Money Disease.” If Mona ever becomes famous, she wants to make sure her money gets invested in the right places. She wants to be able to help those who aren’t fortunate enough in society – if she ever become wealthy enough to buy a Rolex, then she says she must also be wealthy enough to pay for people’s college fees, electricity bills, water bills and medical bills. So, that’s what she would do. Moreover, what she feels in her veins is energy. That energy can be anything but right now, she says it’s music. Music is one of the few creative outlets she has and it keeps her sane. And in this life she knows no bane because she is learning to deviate from focusing on life’s distresses. She long knew that the hip-hop industry has its twists but she has also learned that it has beauty.
One of the things Mona experiences being a female artist in the industry is that sometimes men perceive women as a ‘race’ or accolade. She wants to reiterate that she is not that and will never be that. She wants women to know that they can be their own person; women don’t have to be someone’s accessory. A large portion of the rich-and-famous industry is plastic. When she watches reality TV, sometimes she wonders whether she is looking at real humans or whether she is looking at plastic, fabricated humans. The rich-and-famous love it all dramatic but she, again, never fall into that. You will see Mona Mula at her best and you will see her at her worst. With or without make-up. She wants to teach people how to differentiate the real from the fake.
In the interlude “Perfect Crime,” she used ‘elements collide’ because it complements ‘sapphire’ and ‘sulfur.’ It’s a bit of a strange metaphor but that’s how she envisioned it. Sapphire is comprised of trace amounts of elements like iron and titanium, while sulfur is a chemical element on its own. Therefore, the sapphire in her eyes represent the strength that she radiates on good days, while the sulfur she burns in the sky delineates the bad vibes she tries to destroy on bad days. Sulfur is used in black gunpowder and fireworks so by letting that element explode, she is trying to mark the end of a bad era and commence the beginning of a good era.
Lastly, in the track “Sanity 2 Madness” the song complements the album in its entirety and there’s a few messages in this song that she is trying to convey. This track describes a large part of today’s hip-hop scene. They say legends never die but in reality, they do. We’ve lost too many good souls like XXXTENTACION, Lil Peep and Juice WRLD alongside many more. Mona feels like a lot of artists lose themselves too much when they become famous; she understands that it must be hard to stay true to oneself but she wants to encourage people to stop playing with their lives; take care of yourself. Your life is precious, take care of it. She describes the galaxy as placid in this sentence because it’s tranquil when she thinks of it. When she’s fantasizing, she’s usually cogitating upon the universe and its secrets. But sometimes when she thinks too hard, she has to confront her fears within these fantasies. She goes from sane thoughts to insane thoughts and that’s what the entire song and album is about. Welcome to her world. Welcome to insanity. Welcome to the madness. This is Mona Mula.
