Ariana Fig Dives Headfirst Into the “Deep End”

The Hamilton-based singer-songwriter reimagines “Mambo No. 5” through a sun-warped lens on her dizzying new video single.

by Cam Delisle

Photos by Steph Montani, Video Directed by Jamie Lynne

Published on July 23, 2025

There’s something subversively powerful about building your next era off of Lou Bega’s “Mambo No. 5.” For Hamilton-based singer-songwriter Ariana Fig, what started as a Halloween joke quickly turned into her most serotonin-packed single yet.

“Deep End” is a pop kaleidoscope: vocoder-soaked vocals, an unexpected saxophone drop, and a sparkling, pitch-distorted bridge. It’s also the product of Fig’s most collaborative recording process to date—pulling in a cast of indie musician friends and a TikTok saxophonist to help her bring the sound to life.

Fig is entirely independent, booking her own shows, engineering her own vocals, and making highly-conceptual music videos for the stories that live inside her head. But “Deep End” marks a shift—a reminder to not take herself (or the process) so seriously. We chatted with Ariana about brain-freezing vocals, quitting perfectionism, and why your non-musician friends might secretly be your best co-writers.

What has the reception been like playing “Deep End” live prior to its release?

I’ve been playing “Deep End” for over a year now and the reception has been kind of crazy. I’ve never had so much push for a song release before from friends or new fans of my music, which inherently made me take my time making it. The longer I played it live, the more people wanted it, which made me want it to feel like a new chapter for me sonically even more.

The vocal production on “Deep End” is next level. What were your sonic influences for that section of the song?

I am SO glad you asked that question. I’m obsessed with the song “Eventually, Darling” by Declan McKenna. I wanted to do my own spin on this sort of vocoder effect that he does in the chorus of that song. It actually happened by accident with my co-producer Sarah MacDougall. While we were shuffling through her plug-ins trying to find something to work with, she somehow selected multiple effects to play at once. We laughed at first because it sounded crazy but I asked her to play it back and we ended up falling in love with it. That happy accident stayed in the song and it’s definitely my favourite part of the song too.

What was the process of producing “Deep End” like? That outro is SO cool, and felt unexpected?

The process of producing “Deep End” took about 5 months. There was a lot of trial and error. Normally I go into a session knowing what vibes I want to aim for. For this song, all I knew is that I wanted to do something that I hadn’t done before. Sarah and I tested a lot of things out. One of them being adding saxophone to what feels like a song that almost shouldn’t have it. But I trusted my gut and hit up Jeffrey Stevenson (@jeffrey.sax on TikTok) after coming across his TikTok page. I knew that he was the right person based on his love for all things pop music and his passion for making pop songs even better with saxophone.

There were a lot of studio musician collaborations on this song, more than any other song I’ve made in the past. I really followed my vision for this song and asked the musicians I admire in my community if they’d be interested in contributing to it. Matt Soliveri from The Red Hill Valleys did this epic drum line that made everything feel so groovy and upbeat. Chris Wong did some electric guitar and bass, and Alex Wolf did some electric guitar too! I engineered my vocals and did some synth work, and Sarah MacDougall did the drum programming and messed around with the synthesizers too. It felt like a huge hoorah to have all of these talented musicians be a part of it.

You manage your own career from gigging to marketing—what has it been like navigating that during a time that feels like the rise of independent artists?

It’s been fun and stressful at the same time. It’s overwhelming to be chronically online as an independent artist that constantly compares themselves to their peers. I think the music industry is shifting now more than ever to D.I.Y methods, especially since the cost of living has basically forced artists to learn how to do things on a budget to not sacrifice their artistry. Marketing for myself is one of my favourite parts.

This year I wanted to really test myself with the marketing of my music and I’ve been exploring that with music videos. It’s been really fun to have these visions in my head and hear that people relate to not only the lyrics, but the entire concept. I’m grateful that I am an independent artist in 2025 solely because of the fact that I can express myself freely and find a community both online and in person.

Talk to me about any specific aspects or moments on “Deep End” that were a direct result of an event or a time in your life, and what the creative process of the track helped you discover.

I wrote “Deep End” during my time in this songwriting group based in Hamilton called Shaky Knees Club. It was a really great group that forced me to want to bring them work I was proud of and push through any kind of writer’s block.

The openness of the group is what led me to being comfortable with sharing the fact that this song is entirely due to the fact that I listened to Lou Bega’s “Mambo No. 5” on repeat more than anyone else has in their life. It unlocked my block and the whole song came out in one go. I wrote it on Halloween in 2023 and just made myself laugh the whole time with it. While there might be some truth to the lyrics in the chorus, it’s fun for me to have a song where I’m not reminded of any sort of painful memory. This song has let me build happy memories instead.

The joy I had making this song showed me that I need to stop overthinking during the writing process. It isn’t until I’m singing a song on stage that I can tell how I truly feel about it. It’s definitely made me more relaxed when it comes to sharing my unreleased and imperfect work.

What do you do when you hit a wall in writing—walk away, push through, phone a friend?

I love hitting up my friends that aren’t musicians. I just call them and ask what’s going on and then trap them into a FaceTime call where I sit with my acoustic and write down things they say. I find it really helpful to write songs with people who aren’t songwriters – it gets me out of my own head and reminds me that writing a song doesn’t always need to feel like a diary entry, it can be telling somebody else’s story too.

You started out in classical music—what’s something from that world you wish more pop artists would borrow?

I grew up playing classical violin, and I think that a lot of people think of classical music as old and boring, which is simply not true. In my own experience, it’s helped me in ways that are hard to explain. I know that I am good with writing melodies because I’ve been playing violin for 20 years now and my ear hears things a certain way.

I wish more pop artists would listen to classical music for the mere fact that you can feel something without hearing any lyrics. The moving parts of every instrument in an orchestra work so that the composition as a whole feels seamless. There’s a reason why we still talk about Beethoven and Mozart today, because their music makes audiences feel something without saying anything at all.

How do you balance being both the artist and the producer? Is it hard to switch hats, or do you like having all that control?

Unfortunately I am a control freak so I love doing this. Whenever I feel like I have no control over my personal life–music is where I go. I can’t say it’s been hard to balance because I would drop literally anything else if it meant getting to work on music that I love. But it has been overwhelming to step more into the producer role when it feels like I am still learning the ropes, but I don’t think that feeling will ever really go away.

How does “Deep End” mark a new chapter for you—where do you see this song/your career taking you next?

“Deep End” has really challenged me to stop trying to be so serious with the music I make and start creating based on how I feel. It’s been the most fun project to date between the writing in Shaky Knees Club, to experimenting with my sound, to creating an entire world for the song in a music video. I see this song reaching lots of people who just want to vibe. Life is so crazy right now, and this song let me escape that for a few months while making it, so I hope that my listeners get an escape from it too.