Season 1, Episode 8. What I Learned When Comparison Made Me Want to Quit: An Interview with Mariah Hlatywayo
What I Learned When Comparison Made Me Want to Quit: An Interview with Mariah Hlatywayo
We are interviewing all of our regular contributors in Season 1 for you to get to know them better. Today’s guest is Mariah Hlatywayo, a singer-songwriter and drummer from Perth.
Mariah shared what she learned from struggling with comparison and discouragement, what she learned about God’s love and growing in faithfulness, as well as the influence of this struggle on her upcoming
EP, I’ll Be Counting Still.
Thanks for listening to Season 1, Episode 8 of The After Dinner Mint, a podcast of Stories I’d Tell You at Dinner. Thanks for sharing your day with us!
We are interviewing all of our regular contributors in Season 1 for you to get to know them better. Today’s guest is Mariah Hlatywayo, a singer-songwriter and drummer from Perth.
In today’s episode, we explore:
The joys of writing and performing music, as well as feeling close to God through music.
Growing up in a musical family in Colombo, Sri Lanka, with a mother who was Catholic and a father who was Pentecostal. In her twenties, Mariah attended a Bible teaching church with her family and came to realise how deeply God loved her.
Mariah’s struggles with comparison in relation to her body image and music, and wanting to quit music because of this. She shared how God met her in this and what helps her fight discouragement and comparison.
How these periods of struggle have influenced her new EP, I’ll Be Counting Still, releasing in July 2025.
You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get podcasts.
Mariah is launching her new EP, I’ll Be Counting Still, live at The Ellington on Tuesday 1 July. You can listen to her music on Spotify.
Mentioned in this episode
What You Are Looking for is in the Library by Michiko Ayoama
My One and Only Jesus by Mariah Hlatywayo
Melody and Remedy Music
"We picture lovers face to face but friends side by side; their eyes look ahead. That is why those pathetic people who simply "want friends" can never make any. The very condition of having friends is that we should want something else besides friends. Where the truthful answer to the question 'Do you see the same truth?' would be 'I see nothing and I don't care about the truth; I only want a friend,' no friendship can arise - though affection of course may. There would be nothing for the friendship to be about; and friendship must be about something, even if it were only an enthusiasm for dominoes or white mice. Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow-travellers.” C.S. Lewis The Four Loves.
You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me—Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead (Song of Solomon 6:4-5 ESV)
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them (Psalm 139:14-16 ESV).
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6 ESV)
About Mariah
Mariah Hlatywayo (lutch-why-oh) is a singer-songwriter and drummer from Perth, Western Australia. She grew up in a musical family and enjoys writing, singing and playing songs inspired by her Christian faith and life experiences. When she is not making music, you can find her teaching music to teenagers, drinking coffee, and annoying Felicity – her fluffy rag-doll cat. Find more at mariahhlatywayo.com