MAYAA: "There's A Whole Other Wolrd Waiting For You"

“In German we say, “from nothing, comes nothing” reflects the 24-year-old Viennese singer Maya Wopienka, also known as MAYAA, when asked about her career. And if there is someone who knows this well, that is her.

Maya released her first single “Feel It” in May, a track she made herself from zero. “This was always my dream growing up,” she says as she pops her notes app open. Hidden in there is a list of all the songs she has written throughout the years. “Yeah, last year I had a big downfall, I would say. My father passed away, I quit my job in kindergarten. So I took some time off for myself. Draw, go on walks… then I started going into the studio.”

And perhaps for Maya, the studio is a safe space, a place where nothing matters but music. “There I would say, hey, that’s catchy! And you know, building something… but it was nothing professional. It was just for me. That was the first time I got to make music.”

Soon after she took inspiration from a friend who was already putting music out, and she introduced her to her producer, Wink182. This led her to record “Feel It”, a track she had started writing at the beginning of last year. “It had never had a chorus, that part was missing,” she explains. But inspiration often strikes at the weirdest of times, and that’s what happened to Maya: “I woke up in the middle of the night, grabbed my phone and said, this is it, I’m gonna make it. I had a chorus.”

Her producer helped with the rest. “I said, hey, can you give it a catchy beat? He said, yeah, no problem. He did it so well that I was shaking from happiness when I recorded it. When I went back home I started to cry. It was a full circle moment.”

The song came along with a music video, but this hadn’t always been the plan. “Fuck it,” she laughs as she remembers how the music video for “Feel It” was put together. “I grabbed a couple of friends, my sister, and we’re gonna film something for fun.”

Maybe she got lucky in more than one way, because she filmed it herself with a second-hand camcorder that only cost 60€, which everyone she’s told this to thinks it’s a steal. “I wanted a vintage feel, not the best quality but authentic.” Then she — astonishingly — edited the video herself using CapCut (no, this isn’t sponsored).

Soon the conversation moves towards the music industry. Coming from Viena, Maya has always thought that being known in her own country would be nice enough. “It’s small. You can go far and no one would recognize you.”

I’m most surprised to hear about the independent scene of the city. “There is a lot of artists supporting each other, which is very cute! There are big labels too, but they often push artists who sing in German. I didn’t want to force myself into something I might not be… I did write some songs in German, but they’re still not quite out there. They’re very edgy… My music happens on its own, I never thought oh, I’m going to write in English, I’m going to write in German… no.”

But being such a young artist, Maya has a lot of room to grow and see where the path she’s carving for herself takes her. And so far she’s not even thinking about stopping. “I’m actively recording, I have two songs… I’m not sure which one should go first.”

The first one is a track with her friend (……….), “We’re working on another project, it’s a very poppy German song, but we’re not quite happy with it right now.”

"When I went back home I started to cry. It was a full circle moment."

The second one might be MAYAA’s next single. I wonder what her inspiration for this next track was. “I don’t always write about myself. I often think of other people, or I make stories up! This one I wrote for my best friend. She’s very… delusional. There was a boy, and I knew he was not good for her, but she didn’t listen… so I just wrote about it.” We laugh, and I can’t help to think to myself, aren’t we all a little bit like her friend? I think I speak for all the delusional girls in the world when I ask her to please release it. We need more songs about us. “It needs to be finished! There’s something missing.”

At least, while we wait, we can still enjoy “Feel It”, which has the perfect summer vibes. “I like music with a euphoric feeling to it,” she states. “Like when you lay in bed and feel like your soul has left your body. I think I made it happen with that single.”

All of this was possible thanks to the switch she made after her dad’s passing. “There was a before and an after,” she says. “If someone wants to push themselves to pursue a dream, I would say just ask somebody. Have the courage to ask for help, to walk to a studio and just ask." I'm reminded of what she said minutes earlier, how from nothing only comes nothing, and I feel like I understand it a little better now. "And that’s still something. Put yourself out there. Give yourself a try.”

Listen to MAYAA here:

"Put yourself out there. Give yourself a try.”

Images: MAYAA

Words: Reya Casajus

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