The nine songs Maya Hawke couldn’t live without: “I want my brain to work that way”
When Maya Hawke joined the cast of Stranger Things in 2019, many fans might have rushed to call her a promising newcomer if they weren’t familiar with her nepotistic background. As the daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, it wouldn’t be unfair to say that the actor has had a significant head start in the industry. Yet, growing up surrounded by a world of art and performance evidently had a strong effect on Hawke, and she has found a creative outlet through various means – not just acting, but music, too.
In fact, Hawke is perhaps as well known as a musician as she is an actor now, with three studio albums to her name and an EP. Releasing her debut album, Blush, in 2020, Hawke found acclaim for her collection of folk rock tracks, quickly revealing herself to be an introspective and considered lyricist. While folk is one of her main loves, she has taken inspiration from a wide array of artists over the years, ranging from the genius wordsmith Fiona Apple to the nostalgic indie of Arctic Monkeys.
Talking to The Line of Best Fit, she revealed nine songs that she simply couldn’t live without, starting with Apple’s ‘Extraordinary Machine’. Taken from the album of the same name, the song resonates strongly with Hawke, who associates it with a pivotal moment in her musical education. “It’s one of the first songs that was put on for me by my parents in the house that wasn’t older music. […] It felt confident. And feminine. And modern. It was rich and lyrically complex.”
Apple proved to be a huge influence over Hawke, who recalled her first impressions of hearing the song, “‘I want to be an extraordinary machine! I want my brain to work that way.’” On the topic of female solo artists, Hawke was also inspired by Taylor Swift while growing up, picking out the song ‘Ours’ from Speak Now as one of her favourites. “Her music immediately brings me home and makes me feel happy and safe. I have this sentimental attachment to her, not only because she made me feel safe and seen as a kid, but because she also made me feel safe as an adult.”
She loves Bright Eyes, too, citing them as a significant lyrical influence. The one track of theirs that she can’t live without is ‘At the Bottom of Everything’ from the 2005 album I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning. “I love the way it opens, with him talking with the straw. It was a way of storytelling through music that I hadn’t heard before,” Hawke noted. It appears that Hawke is deeply attracted to songs with poignant lyrics and evocative storytelling, which is why she also loves ‘Hard Drive’ by Evan Dando, explaining, “The lyrics are so simple, but they kick me in my heart when I hear them.”
The same goes for ‘Radio Cure’ by Wilco, finding the song a helpful tool in dealing with teenage melancholy. “It deeply touched me, and it felt like a comprehensible sadness. It felt like a modern sadness, versus some of the older Americana music that I grew up listening to.”
Those older artists include Don McLean, whose song ‘Vincent’ is Hawke’s favourite. Reminding her of going to her mother’s cottage when she was younger, the actor explained that the song “evokes those long drives up that winding road,” adding that “it recalls this sense of being alone in nature.”
Then there’s George Harrison, of course, whose classic song ‘My Sweet Lord’ remains a prominent track in Hawke’s life. “It’s active listening, which I always prefer, as opposed to passive listening, and you can dance to it just as easily as you can cry to it.” She’s right – the song is full of emotion, spurred by the iconic guitar parts that feel full of nostalgia and memory.
Music has the power to shape your choices, to inspire the way you want to live, and spur you onto the next stage of your life. When Hawke first heard Arctic Monkeys’ classic indie tune ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’, it marked a moment of coming of age that she couldn’t turn back from. “It felt like some kind of sexual awakening to me – and an awakening to adulthood. It felt like I’d been living in these places of sadness and melancholy, and then it was like, ‘Whoa… ‘She used to get in her fishnets / Now she only gets it in her nightdress?’”
Finally, a more recent pick in the form of ‘Shaking the Can’ by Peach Fuzz, one of her friend’s bands. Yet again, it’s the song’s lyrics that initially struck Hawke the most. “I’m a really huge fan of hers. The way her lyrics work, the way she creates sounds, is a huge inspiration to me. […] It’s an upbeat song with these really introspective, complicated words, and I love that.”
