If there is one artist that has an extremely bright future in the music industry then that’s Maya Lane. A voice distinctive and addictive to listen to, Lane is way beyond her years in music and lyrics. As a fan of Taylor Swift herself, you can see why Swift has been such an inspiration to her. Much like Taylor Swift, Maya Lane has a great imagination and uses her lyrics to write about real life experiences but also songs inspired by others, films or maybe even just a story she has heard.

It’s exciting to find an artist like Lane. Already with Radio 1 plays under her belt, Lane may indeed be the artist to not just bring Country Music to the mainstream but UK country music to the mainstream. Lane’s song Heart for a Heart received a fair amount of play on Mollie King’s Future Pop show! Since then, Lane has released more music including the track Four Leaf Clover of whom she wrote with Dwight A. Baker of The Wind and The Wave and Far From Saints. A delicately beautiful Folk song, Four Leaf Clover is that little sound of Spring blooming into Summer.

This Friday – May 31st 2024, Maya Lane is set to release her EP ‘Diary of an Overthinker’ which can be pre saved here

When we spoke to Maya Lane, Maya had been busy on her living room tour as well as releasing new music. The Living Room Sessions saw Lane playing various dates across the UK to fans in their living room, local café’s, gardens and more.

I love the song Heart for a Heart and it has been receiving a lot of Radio 1 Airplay which is so exciting and very much deserved. What does that feel like?

With the kind of music I put out which is country/folk/pop, I think originally it didn’t feel like there was much space for that on Radio 1 but I feel like in the last year there is a real resurgence or turn I guess. The love for country music has always been there for me but for the general population, they may not have thought to listen to it so it’s cool to see if getting played and my most country sounding songs being played on radio 1. It’s great to hear all the support and that people are loving it. It’s really really special.

Do they give you a heads up that they are going ti play your music?

They let you know about a day before. I found out a day before each time.

Do you know when? What time?

You kind of know roughly. They send you a playlist but last time I got played I was meant to be at a different time so then I was anxiously waiting wondering if they were going to play me. It’s nice to listen to the other music in there because it’s a future pop show so there are loads of new artists and new tracks being played so it’s really cool to be in amongst all those artists as well.

Do you notice an increase in followers, listeners, streams after airplay?

Yeah definitely! Some really nice messages from people as well.

I always think country music has a place in Radio 1 as there are so many songs that would work!

Yeah definitely, they also played Dasha last week!

Tell us about Heart for a Heart as I read that a film inspired it and I wanted to know what film?

I went into the (writing) session the day after I watched ‘Where The Crawdads Sing’. I couldn’t get that scene of her lying on the beach screaming when the boy that promised to come back for her never came back out of my head. We went to the session the next day and I said that I wanted to write about it. It worked out really well because the other writer (Louise Williams Selby) in the room, she had just seen it as well a couple of days before. I really wanted to channel that feeling of revenge and I felt that the sinister undertones throughout the whole film were really interesting and how they just combined it with this beautiful nature and setting. Everything from the outfits to the cinematography I thought was really great and I just wanted to capture that. As we went about writing it, you tap into your own feelings that of feeling betrayed or hurt. It was refreshing to dive into this other world and start as a catalyst for a song. It gets you out of your world for a bit and into someone else’s.

It must be quite different to write from someone else’s perspective rather than your own.

I think for me, I am quite an overly imaginative person and I am quite empathic. I think being a writer as well, you put yourself in other people’s shoes and taking in what friends or family are feeling or something you have read online or in a book. It’s definitely a different experience. Sometimes it’s a lot easier and sometimes it’s a lot harder. It kind of varies song to song. ‘Heart for a Heart’ was so specific. We had all these visuals, we had all read the book and seen the film. We all had our own feelings that we could draw from so the song flowed out really quickly. There has been other times when it’s hard. It definitely depends on the song.

What came first was it the chorus? Verse?

I can’t fully remember. I think it was the lyrics “Take an eye for an eye, I’ll take a heart for a heart”. I feel like that is what I went into the session with but I think we started with the verse though. I wanted to start with a beach visual.

Is it harder to write a happy song or a sad song?

For me, it’s much harder to write a happy song haha

I thought it might be haha

I think with the happy songs it’s harder because I get worried it will venture into the cheesy or cliché. I think when you are really upset or really emotional it’s kind of easier to tap into those feelings and get more from it and than being really content and happy. I have happy songs but it’s definitely easier to write sad songs haha!

I think it makes perfect sense.

Tell is about ‘When You Need Me’

I actually wrote it on a Zoom session in lockdown with Katy Rae. It was my first ever session with her. I had this idea, I wanted to write a song about my sister. That was a “I don’t know how to not make it cheesy” moment. The whole concept of the song started with actually writing it with my sister. I remember we were sitting in my room and we just came up with the first three lines together.

Then we just stopped there. We are six years apart so we’ve got quite a big gap! We probably had an argument and one of us walked off and we moved on to do something else. I found these lines in my notes app and kind of carried on writing the song. I think I had both the verses written and then wrote the chorus with Katy. That song is a really special song for me, I feel like it perfectly portrays or says how I feel about my sister and having that desire to want to shield and protect her from all the stuff you go through growing up. For me 13 was a really rough age and she has just come out of that now. I think especially writing it through that time and thinking back on my younger self, the song also taps into that talking to your younger self and telling them that everything is going to be ok and that you’re going to get through it. It’s nice to have a song that supports women as well.

I hope she likes it?

She does haha! She gets embarrassed if I play it at gigs because we look alike so they will notice it’s her and look over. I got her to be a part of the music video which I was really really grateful for. She doesn’t show her face in it but the back of her is in it. It was a nice full circle moment to have her in the video.

Let’s talk about Taylor Swift’s Red Tour because I hear that tour is what made you want to be a singer and performer?

Yes! I went to that when I was ten and it was my first concert ever! Having your first concert at the O2 I feel was quite a crazy moment, quite special! Seeing an artist that I was listening to, had CD’s on in the car and loved my whole life was a really eye opening moment for me. Seeing someone on stage with a guitar doing what I didn’t realise could be a job? I always sung and I always loved music but I didn’t know the effect it could have on people – so standing in a room full of however many thousands of people screaming and dancing was a real big moment in my mind and kind of flipped a switch of “ok this is what I want to do”. It’s a moment that still stays with me. I can still feel my excitement from my younger self. I was so excited I had my full Red outfit on, I was desperate to get picked by her mum and go back and meet her. I didn’t get picked and was upset about that but still had the best time.

What date did you go to? There were five nights and each night had a special guest!

I think Ellie Goulding! They sang Burn together!

Are you going to the Eras tour?

I am, I’m going with my mum and my sister which we are all very excited about!

Where did you grow up and what else are your early memories of wanting to be a singer?

I grew up in London my whole life. I feel really lucky to have grown up in London because I feel like there were just such an abundance of music and different types of music venues and so I started playing pubs, café’s and festivals and open mics nights, support slots and whoever would have me at the age of 12. I used to send emails to festivals, 200 emails and would hear back from 2 haha. At the time I was like “I’m playing two festivals” which is still amazing and started my love for the live side of music. I grew up listening to a lot of different types of music with my parents. They played lots of different genres growing up around the house. It opened my world up to different genres. The stuff that really stuck with me was the folk/country music of the 60’s and 70’s like Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac. They have all inspired me from their writing and their melodies. I think the way they are so timeless is another thing that I found inspiring! Now seeing people rediscovering Fleetwood Mac and that Stevie Nicks in headlining Hyde Park is really lovely! I often cover The Chain by Fleetwood Mac live and it’s really cool to see that everyone knows it. You get the tiniest kids to the older people singing it and I love the way that music can just translate through time.

Are you going to see Stevie Nicks at Hyde Park?

I am!

Oh good, so am I! I will look out for you!

I am guessing you had no other careers in mind and that it was just music that you wanted to do?

Yeah! I am really dyslexic and had ADHD as a kid so I really struggled in school to one, pay attention but also academically. I had to work really hard to stay focused and to spell anything so when I found music, I also used to love drama but when I discovered that whole creative world, I sort of delved into it and really went for it! I think it’s just something I have always naturally loved! When I was younger it was something that I felt I was good at. During secondary school I was bullied quite badly so I sort of turned to music as a bit of an escape and a form of therapy. I think from that moment onwards there was no other option, I was doing music! It’s what I love and I can’t picture myself doing anything else so I feel really lucky that I get to do what I love every day of my life.

Well I am sorry about the bullying and appreciate you opening up! It’s nice to be able to channel that into music.

Tell us about the first song that you ever wrote, do you remember it and is it out there in the world for people to hear?

It was terrible! I wrote a lot of songs as a kid and I remember a song that I wrote, I found this note book the other day full of them. I wrote it for my Nan’s Birthday and it was to the tune of Tracy Beakers theme tune haha! That’s not out to find anywhere but the first song that I put out haha, I don’t want to say it haha as I am scared people will find it! It’s called Up Up Up and I wrote it about being bullied and I was maybe 11? That was probably the first song that I wrote and I thought was a proper song. I remember being really worried after I wrote it because I thought it was really good and thought “how am I going to write another one?”. Luckily I am happy to say that hopefully they have got a lot better haha!

Who helped you hone your craft in the early days as a songwriter?

I started out writing alone and co-writing was something that I was quite scared of or quite intimidated by because songwriting for me was always a very personal experience and I had never done it with anyone before. When I met my management, probably about 14 – at first I was really against it and I didn’t understand how it worked. It has been the best thing and is something that I love now! I still write a lot by myself but I think it’s really special when you can create something with someone else, especially someone that you are inspired by. I have got a lot of learning still to follow and have been learning since 14 but I wouldn’t be in the position I am now as a writer or an artist without writing with loads of different people and taking skills or tools that they have taught me or just being in the room and seeing how it all works. Everyone starts in a different way and no ‘one’ song is the same process so just being in the room writing with people has been very special and really helped in the early stages.

Have you been out to Nashville?

Yes I went last year for the first time to write and I am going again hopefully in September.

Who do you play new songs to first? Who is your honest critic?

My family. We have a family group chat. I almost always immediately after I have written a song will send it in there. I like sending it to them because they are honest. They won’t just tell me it’s great which is nice! My dad and my sister especially haha! My managers too. One thing I don’t often do is send to my friends as I want them to hear the way it’s meant to be.

Are you working on an album?

I am working on a lot of things. My next EP is coming out soon! I have songs ready for the next EP. I want to put an album out but hopefully soon!

Keep up with Maya Lane via her website or Instagram, X

Pre- Save her EP Diary of an Overthinker here