That cohesion is evident in the various projects that MAY-A releases, as they all have a visual, audio, and merchandise component that all carry a finely woven thread of a theme throughout them all. For example, “Apricots” has been delivered a bundled package of a queer-centric, heart-open, indie pop goodness of love and self-exploration song with a sweet music video, a graphic novel-esque comic, and collage-inspired merch. In MAY-A’s world, she pairs all the visuals, from music video to social media content to cartoons, to accentuate and accompany the music.
In fact, when it comes to creating, MAY-A admits that accessing the internal “off-switch” is not something that comes easily.
“I just don’t think my brain stops thinking about things that I could be doing because I guess there’s no timeframe on being creative and making art, so it is really hard to be like, ‘Okay I’m gonna spend an hour not doing anything,’ but I still view art as not doing anything,” she laughs.
When it comes to her music and lyrics, MAY-A amplifies her vulnerabilities in a cathartic form of therapeutic release by exploring the complexities of her relationships with others, and her relationship with herself. The track “Apricots” does just this as the intentional love song turned into an unintentional discovery of her sexuality.
“One of the questions I get a lot is, ‘When did you decide that you wanted to write the song?’ And I think that I didn’t like choose to write that song. I hadn’t written any of the lyrics before (going into the studio), which is super rare because usually I will show up with a page of lyrics and kind of move this around, and try and fit this, and see what works,” MAY-A explains.Related article: “Reload” by Kaleena Zanders is the Refresh We Need If there is a typical genesis of any of her songs, it’s usually began with a sheet of writing that’s compact with a stream-of-consciousness poetry style of writing that may or may not be paired with a guitar lead or a piano section. However, with “Apricots,” MAY-A approached the writing session with a feeling that she simply needed to get some nonspecific feelings down.
What was then revealed to her was her growing interest in a girl she had recently started talking with. In writing a could-be love song about this girl, MAY-A was entering a new aesthetic of discovering her sexual identity on a greater scale. Through the process of writing these lyrics, she started to understand more about herself and possibly the reasons why her former relationships with boyfriends hadn’t worked out so well in the past.
“Looking back, I didn’t know that it wasn’t really me that was the problem. It’s just that I hadn’t figured out that I was interested in girls and that was something that I didn’t know that I wanted. So, it kind of is me talking to my younger self,” she says.
Now, MAY-A has released a stripped-down, a cappella version of “Apricots” and handing over her most vulnerable track yet to the world. Flowing angelically with harmonic texture, the clean sample of her own tune is anything but simple. The perplexity of the situation explored through her lyrics feels smooth and easy, just as her pure vocals showcased are strong and sure. No charades here, she is unafraid of navigating this new terrain.
Coming into her queer identity wasn’t a challenge for MAY-A, as she went to a very LGBTQ-affirming school and identifying as gay, bisexual, or questioning was not a taboo thing. Trying to define her sexuality wasn’t the intention of writing the song, yet explaining it to folks once the track has been released, and even in interviews like this one, led way to some overthinking and possibly even oversimplifying something that can be deeply personal and complex. 
In reality, MAY-A fits the mentality of Gen Z all-around. Being open to growing, learning, creativity, sharing authentically, and community connection are of the utmost importance and it is on these legs that she stands on with pride and humility. While she admits that other themes that weave throughout her music are ones of self-depreciation and the building and dissolving of relationships, it’s that bravery of looking internally and choosing to share that with the world is the foundation of the art that moves us most.
Preparing to release more music in 2021, MAY-A also hopes to hit the road as soon as the world opens up again. Touring and performing live, something she didn’t get much of a chance to do before COVID put a kibosh on all of that, is a top priority for the performer. While she feels timid about sharing the next single, a deeply personal, real-deal love song for the object of her adoration which was written on the same day as “Apricots,” she is eager for audiences to experience her art and hopefully connect in some way.
“I think it’s really cool that you can connect points of your life to music,” MAY-A reminisces, “for example, I have albums that when I listen it takes me back to a country that I was in and I was listening to that album. They have become a part of my life and they (the musicians) don’t even know me. I think that that is really, really, really cool that you can do that. You can be the be a part of a soundtrack of someone’s life.”
Check out the brand-new music video for the a cappella version of “Apricots,” follow MAY-A on Instagram and Facebook to follow her creative journey, and get all new announcements and updates from may-amusic.com.
