Maya Hawke is already well on her way to superstardom with roles in two major projects out last month — Stranger Things and Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood — but on August 10, the actress declared that acting is only one of her many talents.
The Julliard-trained performer excitedly announced the release of her two debut singles, “To Love a Boy” and “Stay Open,” on Friday.
“Here is a snippet from one of the first two songs I’m going to release (lyrics by me music by Jesse Harris) and preview of the cover for this A side/ B side single,” she captioned the cover art, which features a photo of Hawke in which, commenters point out, she looks a bit like Billie Eilish. “They will be released on August 16th and I’m playing a show to celebrate at the Sultan Room in Williamsburg on August 21st.”
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In the clip, Hawke’s trademark husky voice (reminiscent of her mother, Uma Thurman) takes on an almost airy quality as she croons over quiet, melodic guitar strums. “I want to love a boy / The way I love the ocean,” she sings.
Hawke recently explained in a press release that her love for music and singing has been as long-standing as her love for the theater and drama, but only acted upon more recently. “This is a passion project for me; I have loved singing, writing lyrics and music since I can remember,” she said. “For the last two years, Jesse and I have worked on these songs, and we are really excited to finally share them with an audience.”
Harris is a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter who has worked with such artists as Norah Jones and Melody Gardot; he wrote a number of songs for Jones’s 2002 debut album Come Away With Me, including hits “Don’t Know Why,” “Shoot the Moon,” and “The Long Day Is Over.” He also has peripheral links to Hawke’s father, actor Ethan Hawke, who starred in 2007’s The Hottest State, for which Harris wrote all the songs.
Earlier this summer, Hawke was a major scene-stealer in season 3 of Stranger Things, as Robin, Steve Harrington’s coworker at Scoops Ahoy (and one of the series’ few explicitly queer characters), and in July, she made her big-screen debut as one of Charles Manson’s followers in the star-studded blockbuster Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood, working with her mom’s longtime collaborator and sometimes enemy, Quentin Tarantino.
She previously played iconic Jo March in the BBC adaptation of Little Women back in December 2017, her first major on-screen role.
This story has been updated.