Margeaux Labat: ​“Influencer is a bad word, but I’m ready to reclaim it”

Margeaux Labat has hacked the algorithm. The music critic/​influencer/​tastemaker/​journalist, better-known by her Insta handle @marg.mp3, is ready to throw herself completely into what has so far been her side gig: interviewing her favourite artists about their favourite artists, and updating her hundreds of thousands of followers across TikTok and Instagram about what she’s been listening to.

“I’ve only been giving it about 60 per cent so far,” Margeaux says, calling in from her flat in New York. That’s hard to believe given the quality and breadth of her recommendations – many of which have gone viral over the last few years. From synth pop and ambient music to psychedelic rock and folk, Margeaux’s taste forms a rich, diverse tapestry of genres that largely reflects her upbringing.

“How I am, how I was growing up in school, directly informs how I am now,” she says. ​“I’m from New Orleans and I have two older brothers; as kids, they were really great jazz musicians. One of them played many different instruments and the other was focused on becoming an expert jazz drummer.”

The trio went to the Louis Satchmo Armstrong summer camp during school holidays, which, unbeknownst to Margeaux at the time, was led by New Orleans jazz legends – including saxophonist Donald Harrison, who allegedly introduced Biggie to the genre. Back at home, they’d make an annual trip to a jazz festival that took place just around the corner. Alongside her brothers’ own affinity for music, it’s these memories that formed the bedrock of her understanding of the medium.

“Then when my brothers became teenagers, they started experimenting with different types of music,” she continues. ​“There was hip-hop and punk, alternative genres, dub. But I was always on the outside looking in, I never played music. I love my brothers and I’m grateful for them, but they were pretty pretentious when it came to music and film. That put me off ever picking up an instrument because they’d be like, what the fuck are you doing? But they did end up putting me on to all my favourite music.”

Now, Margeaux is the go-to for many obscure music-seekers who feel despondent with The Algorithm and data-mining that has reduced our feeds to personalised ads and suggested content. Recommendations that come from an actual human being? We’re gasping for them.

“In many ways, a large function of my posts is [for me to] organise and keep track of the music I’m listening to, so I have a place to put it,” she says. ​“When I get really into music, I want to know everything about it and articulate that to others. I want my content to be accessible but also accurate. Music is so subjective – I never want to be like, this is good, this is bad. I want to be like: this is what I think. And if it appeals to you, check it out.

“Experimental music, indie rock, ambient… A lot of these genres have pretentious fans who want to keep it away from the masses. What I’m doing is the opposite of that. If I think something is really cool, you should get to see it too.”

Hey, Margeaux. It’s interesting that your account was born out of a need to get your thoughts in order. Did you ever imagine that people would respond to it so well?

I created a music Instagram in 2019 – I realised that I was just posting about music on my personal account and people who know me from school wouldn’t care about which obscure album I’m listening to. I’d literally just post album covers and then write my thoughts in the caption. I did that for two years and nothing was really happening. I had about 300 followers but was getting a lot of fulfilment from the account – friends and friends of friends, randos from the internet, they were all really supportive.

Then 2020 happened, you know, Covid. TikTok was on the rise, and I thought of it as a very loud, chaotic, overwhelming place. But then in 2021 I got a social media internship at a music label which meant I had to learn how to use TikTok – begrudgingly. My first video took me, like, six hours to make, but they were like, this is so good! You should make some for yourself!

In June 2021, I had my first viral video. I was so caught off guard. I put my phone away – I was like, I’m just gonna come back to this later, because what is happening? When I went back a day later, it had like 100,000 views. It was a video that I made about [Chinese-Hong Kong singer-songwriter] Faye Wong. I’ve never directly engaged with comments, though. That’s a big thing of mine. I’m a deeply sensitive person and I’m just not strong enough to handle the comments.

Do you feel like your social media presence is an accurate reflection of your true self?

My Instagram is my resume – it’s my creative portfolio, it’s who I am as a person. It shows off my breadth of taste, it shows off how I talk and my personality. It’s my knowledge.

Talk us through your most memorable interaction so far…

A really notable interaction I’ve had was at the Grammys earlier this year. I went with Pitchfork and I was interviewing people on the red carpet. I knew that Caroline Polachek was going to be there and I’m a huge fan. I was wondering if I’d get to see her. Then the moment comes and I’m like, I hope I can just wave to her. But then she goes, ​“Can I hug you? I’m a huge fan!” I was like, what are you talking about? I’ve had people tell me that Caroline said I was the future of music journalism, which is kind of surreal and definitely changed the way people perceive me, I think. Even when I interviewed Charli recently, she was like, I found out about you because Caroline is out here gabbing away. It’s crazy that someone I look up to and admire on every single level – creatively, artistically, intellectually – is a fan of me. Thank you, Caroline!

Where do you find new music?

I always have a back catalogue of things that I need to listen to. I definitely keep up with people’s posts on social media. I listen to a lot of NTS. I’m always Shazamming in public places, I have no shame. Honestly, I do use Spotify a lot. A lot of my music taste is indebted to Spotify, because Spotify has over a decade of data on me at this point. And given my eclectic taste, they usually do recommend really good stuff, because it has only gotten more and more niche over the years. They must be pulling stuff out of the vault to give to me at this point and I’m like, yo, this is amazing. And I’ve always been a heavy, heavy Reddit user. I also get a lot from YouTube comments.

You’ve got Caroline Polachek calling you the future of music journalism, but you’re also a content creator in the traditional sense, as well as being a critic. How would you define what you do?

I think about this daily. People call me a lot of different things to make sense of what I’m doing, whether that’s a journalist, which helps people take me more seriously, or a curator, or a critic, a tastemaker. I don’t know. I’m just a music lover, who is sharing their love online to many people. Honestly, I see myself as a music influencer. I know influencer is a bad word, but I’m ready to reclaim it, because I’m literally influencing people’s music taste. The algorithm plucked me out of obscurity and it’s worked out.

If you had to recommend an artist to FACE readers, who would it be?

OK, I’m gonna do something new and something older. I am famously a MJ Lenderman stan – I think he’s incredible and deserves all the hype. Then there’s this minimal synth album that I recommended in my very first viral videos: it’s called ​’83 by a band called Iko. The whole thing is phenomenal.