Maya Hawke played the exhibition of her life. Then the apocalypse happened.
In mid-March, just four days before New York entered the COVID-19 lockdown, the actress and singer gave an intimate concert at the city’s well-known Joe’s Pub. His father, actor Ethan Hawke, in embarrassing dad mode, clapping and proudly calling his call from a table halfway. He then went to a bar in Greenwich Village where he brailedly played pop from the early 2000s on a record machine, much to the chagrin of his musician friends.
“It was my last night,” Hawke laments in a recent Zoom call from the Hamptons, where he is quarantined with his other known relative, actress Uma Thurman. (Her mother and father divorced in 2005 after seven years of marriage, but she is close to both.)
“I’ve probably played 10 screens in my entire life, and it was the first screen I felt like a musician on,” he says. “I felt incredibly in the song with my band, and in control of the way I sang and talked to people. I usually am in such a general state of panic, I have no idea what I’m doing.”
On Friday, Hawke will release her debut album, “Blush”, a collection of 12 songs of funny and evocative lyrics for her friends, circle of family and lovers. Co-written and produced through Jesse Harris (Lana Del Rey, Norah Jones), private music in detail is reminiscent of Hawke’s composition heroes Joni Mitchell, Fiona Apple and Taylor Swift, among them.
But unlike Swift’s “Folklore,” “Blush” was written “probably the 3 years less quarantined of my life,” Hawke says. “It’s definitely about seeing other people, touching other people and having experiences.”
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Hawke, 22, who gave the impression in season 3 of “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “Stranger Things” last year, talks to USA TODAY about music, fame and more.
Question: What’s the first song you wrote?
Maya Hawke: When I was little, I rewrote the lyrics to a Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana song, “Life’s What You Make It.” It was also the first concert I went to and it was quite surprising. I was a big fan. But I was obsessed with images of water, so I wrote something like, “Even when the river is rolling in the wrong direction, you have to cross it.” I don’t know. It was a kind of water metaphor founded on the fight. So it was probably the first song I wrote and I started writing a lot of songs.
Q: What attracted you to Hannah Montana?
Hawke: I think because I grew up in the public eye, there was something about the concept that she had those public and personal versions of herself that seemed like a fantasy to me. That you can be in the world expressing yourself and making art while you have a personal life has been a very romantic concept for me. You may have tried to create (a level character) and done a total thing, however, it would have seemed really artificial, because there is no global in which no one would perceive it. I dropped The Thurman on my call, because Thurman-Hawke was my high school call. There was something in my professional life, having a slightly different call that made me feel good.
Q: What have been the most demanding situations for navigating glory?
Hawke: I think I was ready. I imagine that if anyone would take care of him, I could do it, because I think I’ve controlled him all my life. But it’s another one when it’s you (you notice). It’s confusing that to be an artist, actor or singer, you also have to face a certain degree of celebrity. Social media has forced him not only to be a leading actor, but also to be a prominent person. So I put a lot of effort and power into finding the most productive way to use my platform. I haven’t figured it out yet.
Another (challenge) is how it affects your relationships, even if it’s like: “I don’t need to go to the beach with you, Maya, because when you get to the beach, you’re paparazzi.” Then it complicates things a little bit. But I don’t notice at all: I can put on my mask and sunglasses and sometimes I’m fine. Then I don’t know. Reviews and complaints are harsh, and if you read reviews on the Internet, you’re an idiot because other people are so bad.
I didn’t forget when I was 14, I went to a once with my mom and there were pictures. I read the comments and they thought, “Oh, what a pity she doesn’t look like your mom. God, you got all this money and you’re not going to get your teeth fixed? She wants a nose job. Array”. 14! He hadn’t reached puberty. I was going to get better, but I didn’t know it at the time.
Q: Did your parents give you any recommendations on how to manage care?
Hawke: A lot of the things that are hardest for me are things they haven’t faced. But then they did a lot of things and their recommendation is essentially to avoid that. “Don’t read reviews, don’t read comments, you don’t have Instagram, don’t. Good bye. You’re an actor.” But if you don’t have Instagram and you’re auditioning for something, studio executives will look at this and say, “Well, Pollyanna McPhee has four million followers on Instagram. We enjoyed Maya’s band, but Pollyanna can help us. announce this film. “It’s a developing company.
Q: Do you have any concept of how to resume production of “Stranger Things”? (Hawke plays Robin Buckley, a fan favorite character he brought last season.)
Hawke: There was a date; was driven. There’s a new date, but they’ll probably slow it down. The instances in Georgia are not diminishing yet, and that’s where we’re filming. But I hope soon. I laughed to the max I’ve had on the “Stranger Things” set during the two weeks of filming before closing. In fact, I was beginning to feel who Robin was and find more humor and freedom in her. In fact, I’m happy to be back.