On Netflix’s Stranger Things, Maya Hawke became a fan-favorite as Robin Buckley, the closeted lesbian teenager who became an important member of the “Upside Down” monster-hunting group. In real life, the 24-year-old star is gearing up to release her sophomore album, Moss, on September 23.
Hawke recently sat down with podcast host Kyle Meredith to discuss her forthcoming music, which she described as “smooth but not soft” — a sound that stood out to her on Taylor Swift‘s 2020 album, Folklore.
“I was super inspired by Folklore to the point which I wanted to work with Jonathan Low, who mixed Folklore and ended up mixing this record, as well as the single I released a little while ago,” she explained. “Especially for mixing, this ability to have it feel smooth – the idea that you can both run to it and also fall asleep to it on an airplane is how I feel about Folklore and what’s so amazing about that record.”
She continued, “I don’t necessarily know that we achieved it, but I aspired to achieve that with this record – this combination of it being motivating and moving forward, without being the way that some pop music […] wakes you up from your nap when it comes on the playlist. I wanted it to feel like it could be part of a dream.”
Moss will follow Hawke’s 2020 album, Blush. On music streaming services, she joined the ranks of on-the-rise alternative musicians with her folk rock singles “To Love a Boy” and “Stay Open.”
Watch the full interview with Hawke below.