Indie pop artist MARIS talks “Mary + I”, Alter Egos, and Upcoming Tour

Up-and-coming indie pop artist MARIS has exploded onto the scene with her infectious, candid discography. Group Chat Mag sat down with MARIS to talk about her latest single, “Mary + I”, her relationship with sexuality and weed, and her upcoming co-headline tour with Caroline Kingsbury.

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GCM: Can you just tell me a little bit about yourself? 

MARIS: For sure, my name is MARIS, I'm from Missoula, Montana, which is a beautiful, little hippie town in Montana, and I moved to Los Angeles, gosh almost 4 years ago now? 

I've always been loud, I've always loved music, and had kind of a codependent relationship with music. Now I just get to make music and play shows, and it's the best. Life is good.

GCM: Where do you pull your inspiration from?

MARIS: Kind of everywhere, honestly. I write just mostly about my life, I kind of think everybody that knows me knows that. Pretty much all my music is coming from a place of, like, trying to process something that has happened to me that I feel a lot of feelings about, but I don't know what they are, you know? And I don't understand why I feel the way I feel. So I'd say my inspiration is really just mostly me trying to understand my life.

GCM: So, when you're in that headspace, how do you know a song is ready for you to share with the world? When does it feel fully complete for you?

MARIS: I think it feels fully complete. When I can see the movie, or, like, the music video I would make for it, and then I can also see that it resonates with other people. Because I make so many songs, and some of them I know are kind of just for me to have had a place to process what I was going through, but not necessarily part of… The kind of greater narrative that I want to have as an artist, and so I think when I can see the music video, and I can feel and see that the song is resonating with other people. 

GCM: Okay, you were talking about this kind of world that you want to create. What is this world that you're trying to create through your music and the artwork for that?

MARIS: I think it's very much shaped by  what I feel like is a timeless feeling for me, and it's also, like, there's this fantasy, especially with the live show, I'm an astronaut. And I've crash-landed on Earth, or on a planet. And I have to perform in order to not be, like, killed by the people on this planet. Or whatever, and I have, like, an astronaut striptease, and, like. In some ways, it's very, what's the right word for it? Like, it's slutty, but not exactly, it's very flamboyant.

And I love my body, and I love sexuality, and I want to embrace moving through an artistic space, and being a part of the bimbofication of the world. And I also just love high camp, I love high fantasy. I think the overall ethos of the project will change and evolve with time because it's really shaped around the song, so it does start from a personal experience. And then, for the videos and for the show and everything, I want to, like, take that and extrapolate it and make it, like high camp, high fantasy, kind of, theatrical. So I think the building of the world is always also kind of a flying-by-the-seat of my pants in some ways, and just being like, what would evoke a reaction out of me? If I were to see a music video or whatever, I feel like it kind of varies song to song.

GCM: Okay. I saw your short film that you put out.

MARIS: Yeah. Yes, “Gravity: The EP: The Movie” .

GCM: Yeah. Could you tell me a bit about, like, how that was set up? What was your initial vision going into it, and how did it develop as it went on?

MARIS: Yeah, that was one of the coolest, craziest experiences of my life, getting to be a part of that. I'm big on PowerPoints. I'm a Virgo, so I'm really big on, like, organizing my thoughts in that way.  and being able to communicate ideas is, like, one of the most important parts about being an artist. Because, if you're lucky, like I was in this scenario, I got to have a massive group of people working with me, but communicating your ideas is one of those things that's really essential if you want it to kind of take shape and suit your vision. I got to work with the incredible Carol Knapp as a co-director, and it was my first time really directing anything, like, on that scale at all. So, it was really a blessing to get to have her be a part of my process there. But, we sat down, I showed my PowerPoints to everybody, talked through each of the things, and then we had an incredible crew of young creatives help us bring it all to life. It was so awesome.

GCM: Do you take a lot of visuals from your live performances to go into your music videos, or I guess, how do you intersect those two forms of art while keeping a visual branding?

MARIS: Hmm… I'm still figuring that out. Honestly I think the music videos are… usually they're shot way before the song is performed live. Except for recently, like, my song Mary and I, I was playing that live months before it came out. But I think it all kind of informs each other in different ways. Like, once I started touring, my writing processes became different, because I was just thinking about the live experience of that song way, way more than I had previously, or like, being like, oh, in my set, I have these things, I have this song that does this, I have this song that does this, like, I need this song that can give the audience this experience as well. And also allow me to communicate in this way. So, I think it all kind of informs each other, honestly.

GCM: Do you have an alter ego that you bring onto stage?

MARIS: Yeah. I think so… not fully. I mean, I am a pretty outgoing person in my everyday world and life, and I feel like it feels like I'm stepping into kind of a different personality in some ways, maybe just a more amplified version of who I am. So I guess, yes, in some ways, I do feel like there's an alter ego. But also on stage, especially with my fans, I feel like I can really be the most myself. So, it's interesting, it's like a little bit of both, I think, because in order to give a crazy show some days, I really need to lean on that, you know, putting the makeup on and stepping into that kind of alter ego fantasy, but then other days, it's like, it just feels like I just get to go be myself for… an hour, you know.

GCM: Can you tell me a bit about “Mary + I”, and, like, where that came from?

MARIS: Yeah. Totally. I spent a summer–I think it was last summer, If I'm not mistaken–stoned out of my mind and celibate, like, the whole summer. And I was really struggling with my relationship with my own sexuality. And I was really struggling also with, like, some shame that I didn't really know that I had that was definitely deep-rooted. And it was kind of preventing me from being present during sex. And I often found that sex was more of a performance than it was an act, if that makes sense? I wasn't really feeling pleasure from being present in my body, I was feeling pleasure from making somebody else feel good and being what I thought they wanted me to be. 

And I kind of went on a deep dive mentally and did a lot of meditating, and for me, cannabis is one of those substances that really helps with self-reflection and helps me take a moment to really think through how I've been feeling and unpack a lot of stuff. So this summer was like, or last summer, was like so transformative in so many ways, and I really just wanted to write a song kind of dedicated to my relationship with cannabis, because it's also obviously one of those things where anything in surplus is dangerous. Like, if you're not moderating any kind of substance, it's gonna be a complex dynamic, and there's gonna have to be some reckoning in some way. So I felt like I just wanted to have a song that kind of helped me through that, and then I got in the studio with Cooper Holzman and Dylan Bald, who are such incredible musicians, and Cooper started playing and I was like, that is so… Fucking fire. That is so sick. And then, you know, in classic stoner fashion, I went and smoked a joint and, like, wrote the lyrics and had just so much kind of reflection on my dynamic with cannabis, and how I wanted to change it, and how I wanted to just clock it, even, but also how much it helped me come back to myself, um, and my sexuality.

GCM: How do you feel like your relationship with weed and your sexuality has developed since making that song?

MARIS: Mmm. I feel like I go through ebbs and flows. I recently took a tolerance break, just for like, a week, because I was having these weird little intrusive thoughts in the back of my head that my creativity was dependent on being stoned, and I just like to nip that in the bud, you know? Like, let's not even go there, so I was like, let me just pull back for a second and make sure that– because I really love cannabis– I was like, let me make sure that my relationship with this substance is in a healthy place, and that, like, I can be creative without it, just to make sure. And so it was really good. I ended up writing, like, two songs every single day that I was off weed.

I feel like when I get back from touring is when I struggle the most with, like, moderation. Because I'm missing the constant adrenaline and dopamine hits. I'm, like, a big thrill person. I'm not about to drive a dirt bike off a ramp or anything, but the thrill of performing is something that kind of keeps me stimulated in my life. So getting off tour can sometimes feel a little devastating energy-wise, and dopamine-wise. So, those are the times when I feel like I have to kind of check it the most and keep myself the most accountable, because I crave it the most. 

But yeah, I mean, Mary and I, we’re good, I love that bitch. Which is why I need to keep tabs, you know, on what's going on with us.

GCM: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I totally get what you're coming from. Could you also tell me a little bit about the sexuality aspect of this for you?

MARIS: Yes, now with my sexuality, I feel a lot… I mean, sexuality's so hard, right? I feel like we’re physically animals and we just want to you know, bust a nut, I guess? But mentally and emotionally, it's much more complex.

I set out on this mission this summer to have it be the summer of a thousand flirts. I have a tendency, if I like something I want to do that all the time, and I become obsessed with it. I, like, hyperfixate on this thing or on a person. And I really want to get emotionally and mentally to a place where I can have a crush and not be so hyperfixated on them that it, like, ruins my day.

So, that's been my journey thus far, and I think it's been going pretty well. I've been, you know… on hinge, and, like, going on dates, which is cool. But I'm really trying to make sure I'm staying centered in myself regardless of who I'm crushing on. But I, like, love an obsessive crush, girl. Like, you know, that's my life's pleasure is, like, hyperfixating on somebody and making a person in my head that's, like, perfect. And then, inevitably, you know, either getting icked or crashing out. So, I just want to have a better relationship with it. So honestly, just to be so transparent, I'm still on a journey with my sexuality and with everything, but I definitely don't feel the same shame as I did before that summer when I unpacked all that stuff. I think I uncovered and have healed in a lot of ways, and will continue to heal from, you know, being raised Catholic.

GCM: What are some of your favorite lyrics that you've written?

MARIS: Ooh… Now, watch me forget everything I've ever written.

You know what? I'm gonna say, in “Mary + I”, I really love “It was a wet, hot summer, but I stayed high and dry.” I remember when I was in the room with Cooper and Dylan, and I said that out loud, everybody was like, UGH! And I was like, “Yup, yup, yup, okay, we're in.” So, I'm gonna say that one. Although, honestly, maybe this is so, like, kind of narcissistic. I love my music. I listen to my music, I wouldn't make it if I didn't want to listen to it and I didn't love it. It's too much work, you know, to do if you don't actually fuck with what you do.

GCM: What's one thing your fans don't know about you… yet?

MARIS: Ooh… Honestly, I don't know. Sometimes they know stuff before I do. Like, this fan, Elliot, who's, like, the coolest, she's such a superstar. She runs MARIS Fans HQ. And sometimes… like, I sang the national anthem at the Dodgers game two nights ago, and they posted a photo of it on their Instagram, and Elliot reposted the photo, and I didn't even know they had posted the photo, and I was like, what? So they stay knowing more about me than I do, but what do they not know about me?

Honestly, I'm kind of an open book. Like, I'm in the group chats, we're kiki-ing, we're gossiping, I tell them secrets all the time. I guess they don't know the full song that is going to be coming out in… they don't know when it's coming out either, but I can't say it yet. But it will be coming, it comes out in August, and they don't know that yet.

GCM: Oh, okay. Do you have any teasers you could say about the song, or, like, what it's about?

MARIS: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, it's about my very short stint as a sex worker. Selling nudes on behalf of OnlyFans models.

GCM: That's really interesting. How did you get into that?

MARIS: A friend of a friend. He posted on his Instagram story and was like, are you looking to make a fuckton of money, blah blah blah? And I'm like, I'm always looking to make a fuckton of money in this economy, you kidding? I basically, you know, you have, like, 8 girls, and you have access to their entire catalogs, and you get in a chat with some dudes and they think that you are them. And you kind of, you know, you either talk dirty to them or whatever, and then you're like, “Send me 25 bucks, I'll send you a photo of my tits.” And then they send you 25 bucks, and then you send, you know… And I really struggled with that. Some of these men are fucking abysmal, and disgusting, and having to submit to them, in a certain sense, because of the fact that I'm getting paid to make you feel good enough to give me money for this girl's body really fucked with me mentally, and I needed a place to put it, and more so, I needed a place to laugh about it. Which, it's hard to be a man - it's called It's Hard, and then in parentheses, To Be a Man. Because one of the things I would type all the time was, like, oh, it's so hard, it's so hard, and it's like, I'd be typing that and just, like, literally deadpan having, like, suicidal thoughts, typing that, and so, like, nah, I mean, I'm being dramatic, but it was one of the worst jobs I've ever had. And I wrote a song about it.

GCM: Wow. How long were you doing that for?

MARIS: Girl, 3 shifts. I'm so dramatic. It made a lasting impact on me, though, obviously.

GCM: I mean, it makes sense, like, I feel like that could be really startling.

MARIS: Yeah, and you know, you don't want to think about men like that. And then you hear about this, like, this male loneliness epidemic, and it's like… you are in a cage that you have built, and how do I deconstruct that cage? But I'm capitalizing off of it.

Like, you have made women into objects, and they're so foreign, they're so far from being a human being in the way that you are. And now, those same women are pulling in $43 million a year off of you, and you cannot connect to a real woman. It's like, it's very sad. But also very ironic.

And I just have so many feelings about it. It was such a crazy kind of thing, and like, I have two brothers. And my little brother and I were talking about the male loneliness epidemic, and like… this whole thing, and he was like, I was at the grocery store, and this guy was helping out a really hot girl and he was just not funny, was, like, making her feel weird, like, he was like, I could just see it. And my little brother grew up in a house of pretty much all women for most of his life. So then he goes up to the register after watching this guy, like, eat shit, talking to this girl, but, like, really trying. He goes up and the guy's deadpan, doesn't give a fuck, just, you know, beep, fuckin' whatever. And he was like. It's so crazy to see somebody make a woman into such an alien thing. But it's like, if you can't talk to people, you can't talk to women. Like, you should start by getting good at talking to people, period.

Like, anybody that comes up to you, you should be able to engage with them, and flirt, you know? Make them feel good about themselves, make them feel like you're listening, like you see them, like you relate to them, and then we can talk about talking to women.

But yeah, this job really kind of… I didn't even realize how dark it is, until I worked this job, and I was like, oh… I cannot do sex work, I'm way too sensitive, um, and way too emotional.

But the girls are capitalizing, baby.

GCM: Yeah, I mean, I can't hate on somebody for wanting to make some money.

MARIS: It's true. Really, the chorus of the song is, “It's hard to be a man in a woman's world, so send me money.”

GCM: Yeah. I agree.

MARIS: Right? Like, shit. It's depressing and it's sad that humanity has gotten to that point and that technology has been such an essential vessel for us to be disconnected from each other. But also, get your bag, baby girl.

GCM: Do you have anything that you want to plug or promote?

MARIS: Ooh, yeah. I’m going on tour in the fall, doing a co-headline tour with Caroline Kingsbury. We’re playing all across North America, and it's gonna be so much fun, and we're combining our show, so it's gonna be kind of like, it's karaoke, so everybody's an opener, everybody's a superstar. It starts with VIP, and, like, the VIP experience is gonna include free makeup, and, like, a makeup station for everybody to get to know each other and do their makeup together, and then we're gonna start karaoke. And then we're gonna hand it off to VIP, and then VIP's gonna continue karaoke, and then, you know, everybody can come in once doors are open, and be a part of it, and then we're gonna have, an extended set that’s Caroline and I handing the show back and forth throughout the entire thing.

So it's gonna be a pop show, it's gonna be rock and roll, it's gonna be theatrical and cool and… gay and weird, and freaky, it's gonna be so good. And that is starting in September.