Actress, singer, and songwriter Maya Hawke may be best known for her roles in Stranger Things and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, but her sophomore album MOSS looks set to make her famous for her music too.
Following the success of her critically-acclaimed debut Blush, Maya Hawke returns with a stunning second album written by Hawke in collaboration with Benjamin Lazar Davis, Christian Lee Hutson, and Will Graefe. MOSS serves as Hawke’s meditation on rebirth and acceptance.
“This record is called MOSS because I’ve been gathering a lot in the last few years,” Hawke says about the album. “Sitting still and collecting a green blanket of memories and feelings. Making this record was me trying to get up and shake it off and look at all of it. It was the first step in untangling myself and really trying to look at the rock under the moss.”
Coming off another successful season of Stranger Things, and feeling more inspired than ever, Maya Hawke originally introduced the world to her new album MOSS while sitting on a couch across from none other than Jimmy Fallon, where they also discussed Hawke’s single “Thérèse.” Hawke followed that dreamy, provocative track with the sweet and sprawling “Sweet Tooth,” an ode to Hawke’s mother and childhood innocence prevailing.
Maya explains it all: “Whether original or discovered, songs have always come into my life out of need. I think every song on this record is about a beginning hidden in an ending, hidden reclamations of ways I’ve disappointed myself. The record opens with ‘Backup Plan’... because I think being absolutely and freely myself was always stupidly my back up plan. If I couldn’t succeed at being the person I was pretending to be, if I couldn’t want the things I’d been pretending to want, only then would I give myself permission to just be me. Then came ‘Thérèse’ and ‘Mermaid Bar’ – ‘Thérèse’ is about a misunderstood girl trapped in a painting and ‘Mermaid Bar’ is about a girl who tries to end her life by jumping into the Hudson River and instead becomes a mermaid. ‘Bloomed Into Blue’ was originally a poem I had written with a friend in high school called the ‘B-Word Muse.’ It was a tribute to Ariel, to Eddie Sedgwick, Marie Thérèse, and so many more...women who were always the subject of art and not the creator. Worthy of being spoken about but not worthy of being listened to. This record reckons with childhood in ‘Sweet Tooth’ and ‘Driver,’ with regret in ‘Luna Moth,’ ‘Crazy Kid’ and ‘Sticky Little Words,’ with anger in ‘South Elroy,’ ‘Restless Moon’ and ‘Over.’ Above all this record wants to be about rebirth and acceptance. I’m crawling back to myself. Thank you for watching.”