Maya Donovan
Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Maya Donovan has just released her captivating new single “We Should Get Dinner”.
The first thing that caught my attention when listening to this song is how incredible and smooth her vocals are. Fusing pop and jazz, “We Should Get Dinner” explores the feeling of frustration and heartache that come with the experience of one-sided friendships. Produced by Gabe Leeman, the new single is mesmerizing and unique. A must listen.
”We Should Get Dinner” is now available worldwide.
Introduce yourself - what's your story?
Hi! I am 24 years old, I’m based in Brooklyn, NY and I am a singer, songwriter and pianist. I write a lot about the dark, painful parts of life and try to find some humor in how absurdly bad things can feel/ be sometimes.
What did you grow up listening to?
My parents danced me to sleep every night as an infant listening to “Wide Open Spaces” by The Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks). Well, maybe it wasn’t that specific song every single night, but it was one of the popular ones! As I got older, there was a wide range of artists that would echo through the halls of each of my (divorced) parents’ houses. My mom gravitated toward the storytelling and lyricism of folk/ country singers like Bonnie Raitt and Dolly Parton while my dad, a big, big music lover, listened to everything from Kirk Franklin (gospel) to whatever was topping the pop charts. I listened to what my parents would play for me, but independently, I was in awe of young women who were up-and-coming singer-songwriters at the time like Sara Bareilles and Taylor Swift. I saw myself in their music and their honesty in retelling the emotional core of events of their lives and I wanted to be like them!
When did you know it was time for you to become an artist and release your original music?
I’ve been writing music for as long as I can remember and sharing the music I write with people around me has always been a really central part of my love for songwriting. I write for myself, for sure, but nothing has ever been more meaningful than sharing a song and having it resonate with someone else. The first time I remember this happening, I was 12 years old and I worked up the courage to play an original song at a school talent show about being afraid of change/ new things. Over the summer, a classmate who I didn’t know very well emailed me saying how comforting the song had been to her as her family was preparing to move across the world. I think about that moment all the time.... it made me feel so powerful. To write about some of my most intimate, lonely thoughts and feelings and have someone else recognize that fear or pain is such a profound kind of connection.
Who was the first person to ever believe in your music?
I’m extremely lucky in that my whole family has always been unwavering in their support for my music. They are always in the front row at my shows and the first people I share my new material with. Outside of my family though, my childhood piano teacher really believed (and continues to believe) in me. I met him when I was 7 years old and we still keep in touch to this day. Somehow I’d convince him to let me blow off the classical pieces we were working on, and he would play piano while I sang Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield.
"We Should Get Dinner" is your new single - what's the inspiration behind this song?
This song came from a place of frustration and heartache while I processed old friendships changing in the face of new priorities in my peers’ young adult lives. The way these relationships changed felt very mundane in a way, in the sense that there was no dramatic blowout or break-up, no particular watershed moment, but still, I found myself really grieving the slow decline of certain people’s presence in my world.
Could you describe the songwriting/production process behind this song? Who helped you create it?
The song itself came together very quickly after some texts in a friend group chat inspired the lyrics in the first verse. That morning, I was also listening to “The Dress” by Dijon, and the feel of that song really made the lyrics bloom into a melody in my head. Taking the 80s vibe and running with it, I immediately took the hook to my longtime partner and collaborator Gabe Leeman who ultimately produced the song with me and brought it to life. Usually, Gabe produces hip-hop/ more electronic-based music, while I’ve typically worked more acoustically, so the song ended up being a beautiful marriage between our two styles: he helped me experiment with electronic sounds I’ve been scared of using in the past and I kept a big presence of vocals and lyrics.
What made you want to release "We Should Get Dinner" as a single?
After a long time of not releasing music, I was excited to share a song that (production-wise) sounds really different from other stuff I’ve shared before. I wanted to push myself to try something new and accept that some people might like it and some people might not. I also think that while this song is still about a sad thing, the spirit of it is a little more fun than my other songs. There’s so little fun in my music usually that it was nice to lean into that.
What message do you want to deliver through this song?
I’m not sure there’s really a moral to this story, it’s just an honest snapshot of where I was emotionally at this particular moment in life. Sometimes relationships do change. Sometimes it’s for the best, and sometimes it just sucks and hurts if it changes in a way you don’t want. I think it was important to let myself feel angry and blame everything on someone else for a second and then to come back around by the end of the song and admit that I’m really just bruised by feeling unwanted.
Could you list a few records that influenced the music you are making today?
Julia Jacklin - Crushing
Feist - Let It Die
Christian Lee Hutson - Beginners
…to name a few!
What are your thoughts on today's music industry? If you could change one thing, what would it be?
I really wish that social media presence was less of a prerequisite for breaking into/ remaining relevant in the music industry. I feel really unnatural on social media and as I’ve gotten older, it’s something I’ve wanted to avoid more and more. Professionally though, avoiding social media hasn’t felt like an option. It’s been strange to force myself to lean into something that I know is a toxic world and will probably harm me emotionally even if it gives me a little boost in my “career.”
What's the best advice you've ever received?
Not sure this is the best advice I’ve ever received, but it’s a simple thing I’ve been using a lot lately. I don’t even remember if I heard it/read it/watched it somewhere or if a real person told me, but the advice is to squat when you’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed. In a very basic, literal way, it changes your perspective and it really does help.
In your opinion, what would make the world a better place?
That’s a big question! There are lots and lots of changes I would love to see in my lifetime to make our world more livable. I guess one small place to start is curiosity. We as humans are so often ruled by fear and that fear often surrounds what we don’t understand. I think the world would be better if we were more curious about each other’s experiences especially when they are vastly different from our own.
What biggest life lessons have you learned so far?
The world is more forgiving than you may think it is. It’s more willing to accept you where you are and to let you reinvent yourself, try new things, mess up, embarrass yourself, and so on. It’s easier said than done and it’s so cliche, but I am trying to internalize that it’s okay to make mistakes and to try new things even though it’s just as scary now as it was when I was 12 years old.
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