Can you introduce yourself to people who may not have heard of you before? I’m Maya Lane. I’m a singer-songwriter from London, I’ve released two EPs and I’m currently working on my next project, which is going to come out very soon, and I’ve just come back from a trip to Nashville.
How was Nashville?
Oh, it was amazing. I mean, it’s a dream place for any musician, there’s just music everywhere. The people are so friendly. Everyone is so good at what they do. It’s perfect for folk, pop, & country-influenced music. It’s a great place to go to get inspiration, write with people, and see shows. I didn’t want to come home. I was on the plane like no, don’t make me go back to England. I would love to move there at some point. Hopefully one day in the future.
This year you released your second EP: Diary Of An Overthinker, which has this gorgeous country-pop vibe. Do you have a favourite song to perform? That’s really hard actually. I love performing ‘Just A Girl’. That’s probably my favourite one to perform, it’s obviously a very personal song, and I feel like the meaning really comes across while live. I like how it’s just me and the guitar, because it sounds almost the same as on the record. And I feel like all the women in the room really get it. I’ll often end my set on it, and at first, I was unsure of whether ending the set on a slower song would work, but it seems in a way to be like the perfect round-off. I get really emotional every time I sing it.
You and your friend Edie Bens have spent a lot of this year doing living room tours – what inspired that idea and what has it been like?
Yeah, that was amazing. So me and Edie met on tour, we were both supporting the band Far From Saints, so I did half the tour, and she did the other half, but immediately we just clicked and got on really well; we’re in the same realm music-wise, and now we’re really good friends. But at the time we felt it would be really fun just to carry on touring. So we wanted to try and find a way to get out to people and make it accessible for them, but also accessible for us as young independent artists. Obviously, you go into these things not knowing how it’s gonna go, or what you’re gonna turn up to, but everyone has been so lovely, so kind, so welcoming. It’s really special to be able to play the songs in such intimate setting and take requests and hear what people have to say about them, and be able to spend time with people after the show and chat. We did a two-week run and we are actually doing another run in October and it’s something that we hope we can keep doing.
Your Instagram is full of your journaling and scrapbooking, as is the cover to the EP – is there any specific story behind the cover?
Edie actually designed my EP artwork – when we were on tour I realized I had to submit the cover by a certain time, and I hadn’t got it ready because we’d been planning the tour and I was being a bit unorganized. And so we sat down one night – she’s really good at graphic design – in her house in Wales and we just designed the EP cover together. It was actually a really nice moment to be doing the tour, and designing the cover for the EP that was coming out at the same time. And to have one of my closest friends – and an artist who I love – do it. So we sat there and I was writing out all these notes, and we were scanning them, and my manager was emailing us, asking “have you got it yet?”. So I’m scribbling, getting all my scrapbook pieces, trying to scan them on an iPhone and all of that. So it was kind of a funny way of doing it, but it worked out well.
Every time I see you, you’re wearing an incredible outfit. What would you say are your fashion staples?
I’ve got a pair of cream cowboy boots. They’re like a tan/cream colour, and I found them in a car boot sale for like £50. And people always say “that’s so expensive for a car boot sale”, but I searched up the price when I was there and they’re originally like £400. So I feel like they’re my ultimate bargain boots. And they are so comfortable because someone else has broken them in before me. They go with everything. I feel like you can’t go wrong with a pair of brown cowboy boots… and also flare jeans. You have to have a good pair of seventies flared jeans. It’s so hard to find vintage jeans that fit but I found one 70s pair and now I will wear them until they have holes all the way down them.
So you’ve spent a lot of time in Nashville, and you have your country-esque music – have you ever line danced or been to a hoedown?
Yes, I have now. On this last trip to Nashville, I went line dancing and I went two-stepping, which is like partner line dancing. I didn’t realise that when I turned up, so I turned up thinking I was dancing solo and then all of a sudden I’m being spun around this room. But the good thing about two-stepping is that even if you have no idea what you’re doing, a good partner can make you look really good – you just have to let them throw and spin you around. So that’s been something that was very fun to do in Nashville. I put my boots on, I put my best country outfit on and got out there. I can’t say I’m a natural, but I do enjoy it. And hopefully, one day as I keep doing it, I’ll get better.
How would you describe your music in three words?
Inspective, retro-ish, and folky.
What colour would you use to describe your music?
I always see my music as blues and yellows. They’re often summery, like a light blue and a light yellow, kind of like this shirt or my hair.
What three songs do you have on repeat at the moment?
I’ve been loving ‘Coincidence’ by Sabrina Carpenter, ‘Francis’ by Role Model, and then, ‘Want You Back’, by Haim. It’s not that old, but it’s kind of a classic – I’ve had it on repeat. Because all the roads in America are so big and wide, and in their music video, they’re walking down this huge wide road. So every time I was driving there I felt like I needed to put the song on. I felt like I was in a Haim music video.
What film do you think people should go watch?
I’m really bad with films. My favourite film is High School Musical 2, which is not a very cultured one… I would say Licorice Pizza – if you like my style of music or my fashion sense or things like that, you’d probably enjoy that film as the soundtrack is brilliant. It’s all music from the 70s, the styling is great, and it has one of the Haim sisters in it. What more could you want?
If you had to eat one of your songs, which one would you eat and what would it taste like?
The first one that came to mind was ‘Bump Into Me’ because I feel like it’s all pink and blue and kind of like a sunset colour, so it would be one of those rainbow layer cakes you’d get for your birthday but like a sunset. With a classic vanilla birthday cake flavouring, maybe with a Smarties surprise in the middle. And then the little glazed cherries on top.
To keep up to date with Maya’s music you can follow her on instagram @mayalaneuk.
Written by Lucy Fudge; Photos by Sophia Fraser
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