Q&A: MARIS is On The Way to Becoming A “SUPER F*CKING MEGA ST*R”
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY IVONA HOMICIANU ☆
IF YOU HAVEN’T HEARD OF MARIS, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO CATCH UP—The rising queer pop icon is more determined than ever to leave her mark. With her two recent singles, “SUPER F*CKING MEGA ST*R” and “IT’S HARD (to be a Man),” her voice is one of the most intriguing of the moment.
MARIS is a New York-based artist who began her career in 2022. She released her debut EP Gravity a year later, with a stripped version of the project released earlier this year. Inspired by the 80s dance-pop, she continues to develop her art through song releases, including a collaboration with Caroline Kingsbury on “Give Me A Sign.”
Her latest single “SUPER F*CKING MEGA ST*R” delves into the jealousy and bitterness at other people having it easier in the world. It is riddled with undertones of commentary on class and capitalism, while admitting that she also wants to be part of that group of people. MARIS doesn’t hide away from the unpleasant matters of the mind, which makes her honesty resonate.
“IT’S HARD (to be a Man)” is inspired by her observations of men’s demands while doing sex work. With a satirical tone, she uncovers the consequences of men’s inability to find community within each other. It is a catchy tune with a particular sound that highlights MARIS’ vocal range, her interpretation a criticism of men’s lack of awareness towards women.
The music video further leans on the commentary of the song. What makes MARIS’ signature is her ability to speak about serious subjects in fun, anthemic songs. The artist is merely inspired by her own lived experience, but she manages to inscribe her perspective into a bigger picture. Her candid and authentic songwriting creates a connection between her music and the listener.
Read below to find out more about MARIS.
LUNA: Your last two singles both surround the same theme. They're both very fun but real. What inspires you to write fun but real anthems?
MARIS: Oh, thank you. I feel like it's just living through those situations. “IT’S HARD (to be a Man),” I was doing sex work and I was sending nudes on behalf of OnlyFans models and having a look behind the curtain. You hear a lot about the male loneliness epidemic and this masculinity crisis we're having; Not just in the U.S., but I think across the world men are really struggling to find community and connection. I would see that firsthand in some of the nasty sh*t these guys would say to me. That song came from a necessity to process some of the information that I was receiving, which was not very good.
“SUPER F*CKING MEGA ST*R”... I'm from Montana and I had never really witnessed true rich kids until I moved to New York City. I would meet people—I've worked a million different jobs—and I would sell speakers in SoHo to rich people. Being in that world then moving to LA, it is a blatant kind of discrepancy between people who have no job and go out every single night, they live in a crazy apartment in Beverly Hills. It’s like having this feeling of jealousy and envy towards that, but then also being like, “I'm going to get to that. I want to be a super f*cking mega star. I'm going to get there. Just give me a second.”
Both of those songs came from trying to process feelings that I was having in real time. There's lines in “SUPER F*CKING MEGA ST*R” that now I'm like, “I don't know if I still fully agree with my bitterness there.” Maybe I don't even feel that same bitterness or envy, but the special thing about making music is you capture that feeling at the moment that you're having it.
LUNA: I feel that “SUPER F*CKING MEGA ST*R” talks about the differences between being lower or middle class compared to being higher class. Is it the intention for your music to be integrated in a bigger picture rather than just talking about your experience?
MARIS: That's actually such a good question. I don't know. Everything that I write, I'm usually coming from a personal place. Even if it's about something that's happening in the world, it's obviously all my opinion and my analysis of it and how I'm processing what's happening in the world. I don't know if the intention is for it to be broader in who I'm trying to talk to or what I'm trying to say, but also I think my observations, or the things that I write about, are often not just about what's happening to me.
More recently, I've been tuned back in. I feel like for a second I tuned out of politics and I would only get certain things, now I'm reinvested in the debates of mayoral candidates across the country and specifically what's happening in New York with Mamdani being essentially elected to be the New York mayor, and he's a democratic socialist, which also he's not the first democratic socialist to ever be elected there. I think my music at this moment has started to become a lot more about broader political themes and things that I'm observing from the news, but it just goes in waves and cycles. I try not to picture the impact of a song when I'm writing it, because I feel that might take away the honesty of the moment.
LUNA: “IT’S HARD (to be a Man)” has several questions, or Google searches, in the lyrics. If you pick one lyric that you identify with the most, which one would it be?
MARIS: I’d probably say the “Am I gay?” one, because I definitely googled that a lot as a kid. I’d be like… “Jealous that my best friend is hanging out with other girls. Am I gay?” It's also really fun because now live, that's one of the lines that people just… scream. I feel like I have a lot of fans that are young queer girls and girls that are queer in their 20s, so I think we all had a moment of googling “Am I gay?” in our childhood. I would say that's the most personal line.
LUNA: You recently collaborated with Caroline Kingsbury. How did that come to be?
MARIS: Caroline had followed me on Instagram, or I had followed her, I don't know who followed who first; but we were mutuals on Instagram for a long time. I loved what she was doing and then she DM’ed me one day and asked if I would ever want to write for her project. We had a studio session and we were writing. The song ended up not being used, which is so funny, but I had the demo of “Give Me A Sign.” I had already written the song with Dylan Bold and Val Hoyt, and I had it on a secret SoundCloud album. You could scan a QR code and see this secret link and whichever songs were getting the most listens on this link, I was like, these are the songs that I probably should put out, because people are really resonating with these. It was an opportunity, which now I'm moving more into creating a democracy out of my pop project. It was the start of testing some of these ideas. I don't really know if I need a label or A&R to tell me what songs should be put out. I can just ask the people who like my music already like what they are gravitating towards.
“Give Me A Sign” was on that link, and immediately amassed more streams than anything else. I was like, I'm gonna put this out, but I really want to have an iconic queer voice on it, because this song is about part of my journey with queerness where sometimes I feel a lot of hesitancy and shame towards approaching women, because I don't want to make them feel like I'm being predatory. I want to make sure I don't treat women the way that men have treated me. It's that compiled with internalized homophobia and things that you don't even know are going on in your brain. I really needed an iconic queer vocalist on this. I played it for [Kingsbury], and she loved it. Four days later, we cut the vocals for it. I had the opportunity to vocal produce, where Dylan and I were sitting in the studio, and we were like, “Try like this.” Then I also was like, obviously, make it Caroline Kingsbury. Like, the whole point of you being on the song is that it's Caroline Kingsbury on the song. She gave us all this magic and talent and that was how “Give Me A Sign” came to be.
LUNA: You toured with her, right?
MARIS: Yes. We did a nationwide and international tour, because we had one show in Canada.
LUNA: You've also been on tour with Maude Latour, which is so fitting, because I feel you have the same queer pop genre.
MARIS: She's amazing. She saw me open for melt. She was a special guest at the melt LA show. She had such a good time during my set, she asked me to open for her tour. It was really cool.
LUNA: You spoke about how this tour with Maude [Latour] influenced you in a good way. Could you tell us about that?
MARIS: It was really wonderful to see a female leader that really has a tight, curated set. That's something I really admire. You can tell she takes her craft and the experience of her fans very seriously. Before, I've opened for audiences that maybe don't super align with the kind of music I make, or the kind of show I put on, so getting to open for her fans felt very aligned, like you're saying. It felt like it made a lot of sense. Also, she's a wonderful person and very sweet and caring.
LUNA: Who are some of your favorite sapphic pop stars today?
MARIS: Obviously, everybody loves Chappell Roan, she's iconic. I feel like I was ahead of the curve because in 2020 I was trying to show everybody “Pink Pony Club” and my mom was like, “I don't like this.” Now she loves “Pink Pony Club.” I'm like, “I tried to tell you woman before it was too late,” but I mean, too late. Hemlock Springs is really amazing, just opened for Chappell as well. Queer pop, anybody. I love Conan Gray. I was trying to open for him. We did a cover of “Vodka Cranberry” at my D.C. show, because I love that album so much. Another queer pop artist I want to throw in my ring to, is Luka from The Scarlet Opera, and also Molly Grace. They’re two of my sweetie pies that also make queer pop.
LUNA: Last summer you released a series of singles, “Julia Roberts,” “The Fight” and “Salt Water Taffy.” How did you decide that they wouldn't be part of a bigger project?
MARIS: Honestly just out of necessity, because at the moment I don't have the funding or the listener base I feel to be able to make it out on. It's just been like, what songs are standing out on their own, and what are having the ability to stand the test of time too? I would like to make a full body of work. I'm just not there quite yet.
LUNA: “Julia Roberts” is a very catchy song. It's very emotional when you look beneath the upbeat production. It obviously talks about the movie Pretty Woman, which is incredible. Do you have any other Julia Roberts movies that are your favorites?
MARIS: Oh, yeah, I love Mystic Pizza. That's one of her first movies that is so good. I mean, I would say Pretty Woman is my favorite. I'm sure I have so many to watch, and I'm sure I'm blanking on some right now, but off the dome, I'm gonna say Mystic Pizza.
LUNA: You've been making music for a while now. How do you feel like industry has changed since then to now?
MARIS: I feel like it's a lot more quick content based. When I got into music, it was more about music videos and the aesthetic of your Instagram feed. Now it feels like everything is about who can make the most intriguing short form videos, which is not a good or a bad thing, it's just a change.
LUNA: I feel like it's such a blessing and a curse too, because thanks to Tiktok, a lot of people can discover small artists that otherwise wouldn't have gotten the chance, but also it's difficult because now everyone expects small artists to be content creators. It's difficult to go viral.
MARIS: Virality doesn't even mean anything anymore. You can go viral and still people don't really know who you are, or what you do. My life got better and my content hopefully got better when I shifted my focus from virality to genuine connection with people. Even if it's only 100 likes on something, those are 100 people. Shifting the focus and value is good. I feel the pressure, but I think it's good to stay above the pressure.
LUNA: What can we expect next from you?
MARIS: More music. I have a Christmas song coming out next month. It's very sad. It's not a happy Christmas song, but that's important because a lot of people don't have happy holidays. Even though I love the nostalgia and the Christmas music that is jolly and everything, I also think it's important to hold space for the fact that not everybody has a good holiday season. I want to play some Christmas shows, and then next year more touring and more music. I would just stay tuned.
