Nearly 10 years ago, high school student Maris pulled up to Missoula, Mont.\u2019s Rockin Rudy\u2019s record store in her \u201905 Chevy Impala, a plastic bin full of burned CDs in tow.<\/p>\n
At 16, the budding singer-songwriter was convinced that unless she wrote and produced an album on her own, she\u2019d never be a real artist. So she recorded a handful of songs, bought 150 jewel cases and started spending lunch periods in graphic design class, where she had access to Photoshop. Serving as her own manufacturing plant, she packaged the discs, self-designed slips and handwritten notes while watching movies. <\/p>\n
Maris recalled Guitar Center and Barnes & Noble declining to sell her music at their stores. But that day at Rockin Rudy\u2019s, her luck changed, and the 12-track \u201cOf the Sea\u201d \u2014 the Latin translation of \u201cMaris\u201d \u2014 was the No. 1 CD at the record shop for two weeks. <\/p>\n
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Maris, an L.A.-based singer and songwriter, closed her debut co-headline tour with Caroline Kingsbury at the Echoplex in October. <\/p>\n
(Hon Wing Chiu \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n
At 26, Maris said she hopes to never hear those songs again. But every time she visits Rockin Rudy\u2019s, she buys a T-shirt as a thank-you for taking a chance on her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to be very evidence-based in the way that I approach the world,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it gave me evidence: this is something that can work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maris rounded the back pool table at Highland Park Bowl, her NASCAR cutoff tank and low-slung jeans rendering her unrecognizable as the high-femme pop star who took the Echoplex stage weeks earlier to close her first headline tour.<\/p>\n
Billed as<\/a> \u201cthe intergalactic sapphic pop show of your dreams,\u201d the monthlong Give Me a Tour run was a joint effort with L.A. transplant Caroline Kingsbury, who featured on Maris\u2019 retrowave track \u201cGive Me a Sign.\u201d The song, released in March, hit 1 million streams in a month. Since then, Maris has landed a co-sign from Elton John<\/a> and a feature on \u201cRock Hall Rising.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n At her Echo Park tour closer, Maris sported her prized \u201980s Bogner ski suit that she thrifted back home in Missoula \u2014 a rhinestone bustier and micro shorts layered underneath, for a routine mid-set striptease \u2014 and signature celestial makeup. The crux of the glam, an oversized star drawn on with glitter and eyeliner, evoked David Bowie\u2019s iconic lightning bolt.<\/p>\n In its first iteration, Maris\u2019 stellate insignia consisted of silver plastic stars from Party City, placed like tears to match the somber music she made at the time. Years later, on the New York punk music circuit, she switched to eyeliner, because she loved getting sweaty and smearing the black streaks down her face.<\/p>\n In L.A., where her music became brighter and more colorful, so did the emblem.<\/p>\n Maris moved to L.A. in 2021 to pursue pop music. <\/p>\n (Hon Wing Chiu \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Many Maris superfans at the Echoplex show donned stars of their own. Some of them, the singer drew during the VIP meet-and-greet while Kingsbury doled out packets of glitter gel.<\/p>\n Kingsbury first tapped Maris to collaborate late last year. Serendipitously, Maris had been scouting for an \u201ciconic vocalist\u201d to feature on \u201cGive Me a Sign.\u201d<\/p>\n The pair put their duet and its accompanying video<\/a> together in just a couple weeks, \u201cthen all of a sudden, we\u2019re talking about going on tour,\u201d Maris said.<\/p>\n Admittedly, the structure of the resultant Give Me a Tour run, wherein Kingsbury and Maris served as co-headliners rather than an opener-headliner pair, was untraditional \u2014 as was the open mic karaoke that replaced an opening set (Maris\u2019 pitch). But it was sensible for Maris, who didn\u2019t have a wealth of resources or history of ticket sales to reference, to dip her toes into headline touring.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to the suits, it\u2019s really hard across the board for people to sell tickets right now,\u201d the artist said. Splitting tour costs with someone else allowed her to gauge her reach with lower financial risk.<\/p>\n Of course, Maris was quick to add, her partnership with Kingsbury was also creatively driven. But for her, the business side of her trade is front of mind. It has to be.<\/p>\n \u201cMe being super hyper-aware of all these things is the only way that it\u2019s sustainable,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s all part of the game \u2014 the long game, the short game, the medium game.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs a business person, it\u2019s conducive to me to be able to pitch my product, but as an artist, I really believe in what I\u2019m doing,\u201d Maris said.<\/p>\n (Hon Wing Chiu \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Raised by entrepreneurs, Maris has always figured herself a salesperson as much as a singer.<\/p>\n During her New York stint, she worked a market research job that lent her a framework for engaging her fanbase. At the core of Maris\u2019 strategy are her virtual \u201cStar Seminars,\u201d wherein her fans, whom she\u2019s nicknamed \u201csuperstars,\u201d are invited to weigh in on anything from her merch drops to her next-released singles. <\/p>\n When her Christmas song \u201cChristmas Now\u201d dropped in November, Maris polled her Instagram broadcast channel Star Club about whether to celebrate via Instagram Live or Google Meets. The former won by a landslide. <\/p>\n Some artists say a digital-driven music industry is a doomed one, Maris said, \u201cbut at the end of the day, social media has just given artists the opportunity to make their fans their label.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s one of the reasons that, despite her fierce ambition and the allure of major label sponsorship, Maris is content to stay independent for now and maintain her creative license. <\/p>\n Such is the case with her \u201csecret album,\u201d a SoundCloud compilation of demos that operates as a fluid prototype for her eventual debut album. Generally, whichever songs get the most streams, she releases \u2014 with the caveat that as the \u201cmayor of town,\u201d she maintains veto power.<\/p>\n Along with enabling Maris to keep her finger on the pulse, the model has allowed fans to learn the lyrics of even her unreleased songs. It\u2019s a likely explanation for why her pre-release performances of \u201cMary+I,\u201d a song about the summer she spent stoned and celibate, felt like covers. Even those who didn\u2019t know the words beforehand caught on by the second chorus.<\/p>\n Dylan Bauld, who\u2019s produced several of Maris\u2019 songs, called her secret album \u201cone of the coolest and smartest decisions I\u2019ve seen an artist make.\u201d<\/p>\n Although it\u2019s a gray area that not every producer would feel comfortable treading, Bauld said, the people with whom Maris works trust her instincts.<\/p>\n A few months back, Bauld played an acoustic show with Maris. It was an industry crowd, he said, and after watching many performers fail to get anyone\u2019s attention, he figured their chances were bleak. But Maris was unfazed, working the stage as though it were her own. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was like a stand-up act,\u201d he said. \u201cShe got everyone so hyped and laughing their asses off before we even played a note.\u201d<\/p>\n In Bauld\u2019s eyes, Maris is a unicorn of sorts, that kind of generational artist whose raw talent is matched only by their work ethic. For her, he said, nothing is lacking \u2014 it\u2019s just a matter of time.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I\u2019m at the ground floor of something huge,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n As she laments on the grungy \u201cSuper F\u2014 Mega Star,\u201d Maris is still waiting on her big break: the smash hit, the major record deal or the high-profile tour opener gig.<\/p>\n But she got a taste of a breakout in July, when John played \u201cMary+I\u201d on his \u201cRocket Hour\u201d radio show. Well-known for championing new talent, John on the show showed early support<\/a> for several rising stars including Blood Orange<\/a> and Olivia Dean. When John\u2019s team reached out to get Maris\u2019 permission to feature her song, she thought the message was fake. <\/p>\n Instead, it led to that kind of moment Maris wished she could tell her 16-year-old self about. For Bauld, it was \u201ca perfect way for \u2018Mary+I\u2019 to get attention.\u201d<\/p>\n After the song\u2019s last synth echoed, John capped off his segment by likening Maris to iconic performers like Lady Gaga and Freddie Mercury, concluding, \u201cI\u2019d love to see her on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n The first time Maris watched Queen\u2019s hallowed performance at Live Aid, she was mesmerized. With so little words, she said, Mercury communicated to his audience exactly what he wanted from them \u2014 and they listened.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is a true embodiment of what it means to be a performer,\u201d Maris said. The singer\u2019s years studying Mercury\u2019s and other famed entertainers\u2019 crowd work are manifest in her stage show, which she said is ever-evolving.<\/p>\n Among the bits in her current rotation are an inflatable guitar solo, a group stretch and a classic stage hop, which she started after she noticed people weren\u2019t greeting a particularly raucous song with the energy she wanted. <\/p>\n \u201cI was like, I need to get down there and show them how to rage, because that\u2019s my job,\u201d Maris said. \u201cMy job is to be so ridiculous that everyone else feels comfortable being as ridiculous as me.\u201d<\/p>\n The singer doesn\u2019t mind giving people a nudge, either. At a recent show in Columbus, Ohio, she spotted an attendee jiving at the back of the room as she played \u201cSuper F\u2014 Mega Star.\u201d She called them up to the front, and in no time, people had formed the dance circle that Maris dubbed the \u201c\u2018Super F\u2014 Mega Star\u2019 pit.\u201d<\/p>\n Val Hoyt, one of Maris\u2019 collaborators, said she\u2019s \u201cnot afraid to just belt at the top of her lungs or be like, \u2018No, you\u2019re at my show, you\u2019re gonna jump. You\u2019re gonna dance. You\u2019re gonna be involved, whether or not you want to.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBy the end of the show,\u201d Hoyt said, \u201cshe\u2019s won that whole room over.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy job is to make people feel good and like they can be themselves, so I can\u2019t get uncomfortable. I can\u2019t get self-conscious,\u201d Maris said. <\/p>\n (Hon Wing Chiu \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Maris may have memorized the pop star playbook front to back, but her mother, Dawn Maddux, said she was a performer from the jump. In one of Maddux\u2019s staple anecdotes about her daughter, Maris as a toddler lugged her Barbie boombox out to where a construction crew was working on her parents\u2019 house.<\/p>\n \u201cShe always had a little whiskey voice,\u201d Maddux said. \u201cShe goes, \u2018Good morning, builder boys! Do you want to hear my tunes?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Maris pulled similar stunts often enough for her family to christen them her \u201cdance-abouts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always been a little ham,\u201d Maris said. \u201cMaybe not always vocally talented, necessarily, but definitely always a ham.\u201d<\/p>\n The vocal chops did eventually come, thanks to voice lessons pushed by her stepfather. But as much training as she got in that respect, Maris said her mother was her best coach. And she never pulled any punches.<\/p>\n \u201c[Maris] would say, \u2018Do I sound flat?\u2019\u201d Maddux said. \u201cAnd I would say, \u2018Yep, you do today. You have to work a little bit harder.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut she is also a super hard worker, so it\u2019s not like it was hard to keep her on track,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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