Q&A: Chatting With Rising Popstar MARIS About Inspiration, Dream Collaborators, and Upcoming Tour with Melt

In May 2023, I had the chance to check out pop singer-songwriter MARIS live. I had only discovered her songs a few months prior, but I became a fan instantly, so much so that her song “Crashland” was on my top songs of 2023 playlist on Spotify, landing at #14. Her music is infectious and high-energy and her stage presence draws you in so naturally, like you’ve been a fan of hers for years.

I had the chance to talk to MARIS over the phone last week, learning more about her origin story, how she got into music, and gearing up for a new tour opening for indie-soul band MELT. She’s also about to drop a new song: “Salt Water Taffy” drops tomorrow, August 2.

Check out our Q&A below:

SH: Can you share your elevator pitch about who you are as an artist and why our readers would be interested in your music?

MARIS: Oh, totally. I mean, honestly, I’m so bad at keeping it short and sweet. 

SH: That’s okay!

MARIS: I am from Missoula, Montana and I’ve been writing songs about my life since before I could remember, as a way of processing everything. When my parents got divorced, it became almost like a codependent relationship with music and so that just has continued to grow and evolve as I’ve gotten older. Now I’m fortunate enough to get to play some really cool shows and work with incredible musicians and bring a lot of the vision to life. 

I’m super inspired by like a lot of the icons from like the ‘80s specifically, like Prince, Whitney Houston, and Michael Bolton.

SH: How did you get into music?

MARIS: I’ve always just been super connected to music in the like very raw sense of just melody, and my mom would sing to me when I was a baby. I got into writing and playing instruments when I was like, 13 or 14-years-old, and I started uploading covers to YouTube. Writing then became actually sitting down and writing songs as opposed to just singing my feelings with a melody and trying to make sense of them? That started like, probably around 16-ish. “

The first time I ever heard myself back was my sister [Kelsey] had gotten a MacBook for architecture school and she was showing me all the features on it. She’s like, ‘there’s this really cool program called Garage Band, you can make music on there.’ I would just walk around the backyard and sing these little songs about what I was feeling and not even really understanding what I was singing about. 

I still remember like the melody of that song to this day: I just remember singing it and hearing it back, even though it was through like the shitty MacBook microphone, I remember hearing it back and saying ‘oh my god, that makes so much sense to me.’ 

I feel like I just was inclined to sing. So, I would say it kind of it’s been a bunch of little moments over the years that have been solidified me being like ‘I’m gonna move to New York and pursue music.’

SH: So I know your most recent single “The Fight” has a backstory about wanting to adopt a kitten but not really feeling ready to, and I can identify with that: I also love cats. 

MARIS: Oh my god. They’re so cute and so expensive. 

SH: I know right. Would you say that that sort of story is typically the way that you are inspired to create music or more like, you know, the typical things that people go through? 

MARIS: Well just to be completely honest with you, Kristin, my love life is dry as a boat. I’m not experiencing any romance, I’ve just been working so much and trying to get this project off the ground and everything. I’m a Virgo, so I got to a certain point in my adulthood where I was just like ‘you know what, I gotta weigh the cost.’ 

I’ve definitely had my fair share of like toxic relationships that derail my life, but I just got to a point where I was like, ‘that’s not happening anymore.’ I’m like, you know, kind of stoic now about a lot of stuff, and so, romance is not something that I write about: unless it’s really happening to me.

I also think it makes shitty songs or just a shitty lyric to try to write about something that you haven’t actually experienced or aren’t currently experiencing. It’s easier for me to understand myself after I’ve written about something. 

With “The Fight,’ it was an interesting situation because I was working with some new people in the studio. I had never worked with Kevin Fisher or Issa Mullen before, and I think sometimes, people who don’t make music may not realize how vulnerable and weird it can be to go into a writing session with people that you’ve never met.

I sat down and they go, ‘So, what are you going through emotionally right now?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh my god like at least lube it up first!’  

I remember I went into that session and I was like, ‘Honestly, I have no tea: I have no relationships in my life that are evoking any kind of Shakespearean level poetry…but I have been like reeling over this kitten that I had…so that’s kind of where that came from.

“The Fight” came together so it’s a little more universal. I mean, a lot of people, like my mom thought I was writing about cheating with somebody! I was like ‘Bro, I tell you everything! You would know!’

Sometimes, if somebody sends me a beat, I see it in my head. I know a song is not gonna ever see the light of day if I listen to it and I don’t see the movie that [the song] is soundtracking. I was really lucky to be able to co-direct a visual EP to accompany the first couple songs I released. With every single one of the songs [I work on] that I’m excited about, I listen to it back and I can see like the music video or the movie scene that it’s soundtracking. The process is different every time, but I’m mostly striving for that visceral reaction.

SH: So you just mentioned that you have recently worked with some new people. Are there any dream collaborators you would want to work with for anything in the future?

MARIS: Honestly, I already am working with so many of my dream people. I work really closely with Jeremy Hatcher and he’s done some really amazing stuff, but he’s also just a really stand-up dude and he never hesitates to let me explore in the studio. The other day we had our first session back in a while and we had a 14-hour day together.

I really work with a lot of people that I would consider to be my dream collaborators at the moment, but if I were to really just like cast the net huge, I would say it’d be a dream to work with Mark Ronson. I’ve always really loved his personal stuff, but I also love the work he’s done with artists, specifically Gaga, and I know he just worked on the Barbie Soundtrack, and his album ‘Late Night Feelings.’ And obviously, the work he did with Amy is incredible. I’d also love to work with Jack Antonoff, I’m a huge fan. The album ‘Gone Now’ by Bleachers is my Mac and cheese album: I listen to that shit every time I feel like I’ve strayed a little too far from myself. It reminds me of New York, too, which I love so much. 

SH: Yeah, that makes sense with your sound. I’m manifesting for you! 

MARIS: Thank you. 

SH: You’re so welcome. You recently performed at Boston Calling, what was that like?’

MARIS: It was a dream. I had never played a festival yeah like that before, I had played like a random music festival in Europe a while back when I was part of a jazz band. I’m just so grateful I got to have that experience and everybody at Boston Calling was really amazing, everybody was so enthusiastic. I got to see some fans that have been following the music for a second and we got to have hugs and exchanges. 

It was so cool to play with this huge production because after I left the jazz tour, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to play with a big band like that again, but it was a dream come true. We had trumpet, saxophone, percussion, drums, bass, guitar, and keys and we also had background dancers! I hope I get to play another show of that scale someday: it just it felt like a dream fully realized like from the depth of my soul.

SH: You’re going to be touring with Melt soon, how are you feeling about that?

MARIS: When you’re an independent artist, you’re funding your own stuff. So even for Boston Calling it was like ‘Okay, you know I have pay these really talented musicians for their time and energy.’ The last tour I went on, I was so stressed out. I was managing myself and it was my first time going on tour for my own project. It was like completely overwhelming every single waking moment except for the moment I stepped on stage because that’s where I feel like I’m most comfortable and most familiar. So performance wise, I don’t have a lot of anxiety regarding that. Melt is such a cool band and they’re so friendly and I love their all of their songs. I feel like how the band is is a big indicator of how the crowd’s going to be. Everybody’s just down to be scrappy with it so that’s the part I feel the most anxious about, making sure everybody gets paid and making sure we are being safe. But my 30-40 minutes on stage is where I find that it’s all worth it.

SH: You’re releasing a song on August 2. Can we expect more music from you soon? What’s coming in 2025? 

MARIS: ‘Salt Water Taffy,’ that song is like, my heart in a bottle. It’s all about my summers in Montana as a kid growing up there and a love letter to that bittersweet feeling towards the end of August when you start to feel like your summer is slipping away. I’m so excited for that song to be in the world and it’s so fun to play live. We have one more song lined up for September that’s actually a ballad with no drums, which is very weird for me. Usually, I have drums at least somewhere. So I’m excited to have a little ‘emo girl fall.’

We’re kind of working out the details still, so nothing is set in stone, but I’m kind of working on an album. I want to create an experience for fans of the music where we can kind of build this album together, almost like creating a secret link that you can get if you come to the shows and things, but other than that, we don’t have any solidified release dates.

SH: We like to ask artists who you’re listening to. Any suggestions you have for artists that we should check out?

MARIS: Well, me and everybody fucking love Chappell Roan. I’ve been obsessed with Troye Sivan’s album Something To Give Each Other, I’ve been listening to that non-stop the past couple days. I don’t know what it is about it, but it just is so sexy and warm and candid, I love it. 

I love your smith: they have this song called “Debbie” that’s so good. I’ve been listening to a lot of Starship: they’re a band from the ‘80s. I love Bruno Mars and Silk Sonic so I’ve been listening to a lot of that lately.

Catch MARIS on tour with Melt starting October 3.

Photo by Linus and His Camera.