Stranger Things' Maya Hawke Is Ready to Tell Her Own Story
Maya Hawke made her major silver screen debut last summer as a Manson devotee in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Born to actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, Hawke is no stranger to the limelight. Having starred in projects like BBC's adaptation of Little Women and the immensely popular Stranger Things, Hawke has garnered her fair share of recognition.
Acting career in full swing, the former Juilliard student is exploring other creative mediums. Like fellow Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard, Hawke is beginning to carve out a place for herself in music.
The first single from her forthcoming debut album Blush arrived as a lush indie folk song that embodies the passive loneliness of the age of social isolation. "By Myself" explores Hawke's experience weaving in and out of character on movie sets, but the song - like many others - has taken on newfound meaning in quarantine. When she broods, "I'm talking to myself," in the hook, the comical relevance stings a little.
Hawke informs her songwriting by drawing from her career in show business. The young starlet told MTV, "As an actor, you navigate and spend so much of your life and energy living in other people's stories. Living in other people's imaginations, love affairs, and the lives of the characters that you're playing, it can become confusing to your own sense of reality."
This blending of identities is reflected in the duality of her music. With a remarkable self-awareness, Hawke intertwines folk's candid charm with a dazzling tenacity that screams Billboard Hot 100. Illustrating her ability to touch upon multiple worlds at once, she traverses the corridors of folk, pop, and soft rock with ease.
The visual for her second single "Coverage" is a one-shot wonder home video directed and filmed by her movie star father. Maya takes center stage, singing into the camera as her sibling ensemble provides the accompaniment. The soaring guitar-led ballad fills their living room with a familiar intimacy. According to the elder Hawke, Maya "aced" every take… but unfortunately, the same could not be said of his thumbs.
Blush is scheduled for release June 19 on Mom+Pop Records.
