Maya Hawke has opened up about the emotional toll of releasing new music, admitting she dreads the process and often feels exposed when her work finally reaches the public.
Speaking to PEOPLE, the 27-year-old singer, who dropped the album Maitreya Corso earlier this month, didn’t hold back when describing how uncomfortable she feels every time she puts out a new project.
She said, “It’s always weird. If I’m being honest, I hate putting out music.”
Maya continued, “There is this pointing at the self, where it feels so great to write all these personal songs, and to record them and make them with your friends, but then you have to promote it, and it feels like promoting your diary.”
It takes quite a toll on her when she puts out her personal life, adding, “There’s something that feels very yucky to me about it, and it’s painful and hard. No compliment will ever make me feel good, and every insult will hurt.”
The singer went even further, revealing she doesn’t see album releases as celebrations at all. “I like to see it more as a funeral for the record than as a release of it. Because it was yours, it was this living thing that was movable and changeable, and now it’s this frozen dead thing out in the world that people get to talk about.”
Despite the discomfort, she stressed that she is still grateful for the listeners who connect with her work.
“I’m thrilled that people are hearing it. I’m wildly flattered. And I’m so happy to be letting it go, but I’m terrified while I’m doing it,” Maya Hawke expressed, as she thanked her fans despite not liking creating and releasing music.
