María Isabel Is Stepping Into a New Life
MARIA wears JACKET by ALPHA INDUSTRIES, TOP and SKIRT by MIU MIU, SHOES by NIKE, SOCKS stylist's own
Calling in from a sunny Los Angeles, María reflects on how much she’s changed since releasing her first two projects, her 2020 EP Stuck in the Sky and 2021’s i hope you’re very unhappy without me—reflections on love, loss, and long-distance relationships, which immediately drew attention for their introspective lyricism and bilingual fluidity. "A lot of the time, I get messages from listeners saying they found a song at a really hard time, and it helped them get through something. Even with my first EP, which was all about long-distance heartbreak, people have told me that it resonated with them in the same way," she muses on the emotional resonance of her previous projects and her thought process as she works on the next.
"I feel like I’m letting go of things I had envisioned for a long time, but in a way that’s been positive," she continues. "Loss and change are hard, but I feel lighter, and I’m a better version of myself now." The lessons she’s learned, she explains, continue to ripple through others. "That’s the most gratifying feeling—knowing my work isn’t just for me, but that it can help at least one other person."
Read our interview below.
Before becoming a full-fledged musician, you were a poet. What inspired the shift to pursue music full-time?
They were always separate loves for me. Writing felt natural because I loved reading, and it was my first way of expressing myself and I grew up singing, whether in talent shows or my church choir — but always singing other people’s songs. It's funny looking back because I don't know why it took me until adulthood to connect the two.
After college, I realized music was what I really wanted to do, and that I wanted to sing my own words. Going to the studio helped me take what I'd been writing for years and put music to it. That's when the two finally made sense for me.
Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?
I do, I’d there are two "first" songs. Technically, the first was when I was five. I got stuck on a line, "Won't you get out of my dreams?" and I just repeated that for two minutes. I was really proud of it at the time. As an adult, the first song I wrote was for a songwriting class — it definitely wasn't great, but it was a key moment. I just took one of my poems and played simple piano chords under it for the class, which was my first time connecting the two in front of people.
Are there any daily rituals that you’ve followed since then?
Yeah. I have two daily rituals: calling my mom and hitting my snooze button at least twice when I wake up in the morning. [Laughs].
What’s the biggest lesson you were taught that still rings true to you today?
I think the biggest lesson I was taught is “closed mouths don’t get fed.” You have to ask for what you want, no one knows otherwise.
The lyrics in your songs feel very emotionally charged. Do you consider yourself an emotional person?
I'm definitely an emotional person, which is what really spearheaded my interest to write in the first place. At first, it was an outlet for negative emotions, so a lot of my early songs were slow and a bit sad because that's what I was drawing from. That’s changed as I’ve grown. Now, I try to pull from the full spectrum of my emotions. Whether I’m experimenting with genres or themes, I just want to sing about what I know and what I’m going through. It’s been fun to evolve that over time.
I'm just like, Girl, what the fuck were you so sad about? But also... real. I feel like everyone's depression peaks during that time in your life — when you’re like 19, 20 years old. Now I'm like, There's so much more to life. Looking back, it still means a lot to me and I'm grateful other people can find those songs but I've definitely outgrown that way of thinking.
Do you have any role models or artists you look up to?
Absolutely. Alicia Keys was a big one for me. I still think "If I Ain't Got You" is one of the best songs ever written, listening to it for the first time made me want to create something that would evoke that kind of feeling in someone else. I also think her being so New York and quintessential to my experience growing up in the city is definitely part of it. The Diary of Alicia Keys was one of the first albums I really got stuck on and played forever. Lauryn Hill is a big one too. I also always go back to Amy Winehouse — how honest and vulnerable she is in her songwriting really meant a lot to me growing up.
What’s been your proudest career moment so far?
That’s hard, but I’d probably say Colors was a big one for me. I had been watching for a while and discovered so many people there, and I really started my career as Covid-19 took over so a lot of what was happening for me was only online and not all tangible up until that point. Recording that moment live and seeing it come out to an audience bigger than my own was really great.
In the same vein, going on my first headline tour. It was probably the New York stop at Baby’s All Right. There were two sold out nights and my entire family was there, even people I’d grown up with that I didn’t really know came out so it was such a full circle moment, being from New York and really feeling that support where I’m from.
A lot of your songs are bilingual — did you grow up learning both English and Spanish simultaneously, or was one your first language? Do you consider yourself a true heritage speaker?
Spanish was my first language just because both of my parents are from the Dominican Republic, and although my parents were already living in New York when they had me, we went back and forth a lot as they started to lay their roots in the city. I also grew up with my grandparents and aunts and uncles, but my parents’ English was pretty advanced compared to everyone else so English came right after. I don’t remember a time when there wasn’t both. I’m definitely a heritage speaker but it’s so funny — I see all these memes that are like “being bilingual means you’re just bad at two languages,” and it starts to feel like that after a while.
How is it visiting DR now?
I was just there actually. My parents had been out there for a few weeks and both of my mom’s parents and dad’s mom are still in DR so we just hung out with them for a while. I think so much of why I love the Dominican Republic is that, while everywhere changes, the rate of change there is so much slower than in America.
I’m 28 now so it’s different from when I was 4 and living there, but it still feels like you’re going back in time and to a simpler way of living. I used to hate it as a kid, because that’s when everyone started having phones so I’d go and never have service and be annoyed. But now I go back and I’m like, This is incredible, no one can reach me. I’m going to sit in this rocking chair for hours.
Do you have a similar experience when you visit Corona now that you’re living in LA? Has the neighborhood changed much?
It’s actually kind of similar to going to DR in that way. It’s definitely changing — I was jarred the first time I saw a Starbucks pop up — but I feel like it’s still much slower than other parts of NYC.
What’s your favorite spot in Corona?
My favorite spot in Corona — well in New York really — is probably Flushing Meadow Park. Growing up, that's where all the family barbecues, events, and birthdays were. If my parents had a day off from work that’s where we’d go to hang out. Growing up going to Mets games and working at the US Open, that was the center of my world for a lot of my childhood.
Do your early experiences getting together with family in the city inform your approach to shows and performances as an artist?
Yeah, a hundred percent. It’s funny you say that because I saw a post on Twitter yesterday of a group of people watching an MMA fight on a projector on a street in Brooklyn. I just feel like you don't see that anywhere else unless it's a planned event — it’s such a New York thing. That’s why performing at Baby’s was such a pivotal moment for me. I want to feel connected to everyone when I’m performing live, talk in between songs and interact with the crowd in a way that’s genuine and it was easy to do that there.
Do you ever feel a tension between creating things for yourself and trying to make it in the industry, especially with the focus on virality and algorithmic songs?
Totally. There’s this balance between singing being how I make a living and it also being something that I consider sacred and I want it to remain that way always. My reminder to myself is basically what we were talking about before, being able to go back to a Lauryn Hill classic or something similar.
I also feel like people are tired of the bullshit already. It feels like we’re reverting to that authentic way of creating. This generation is good at seeing through what’s fed to us. For me, it connects when it’s genuine and I know that’s what’s gotten me this far.
How often are you in the studio these days anyway? Are you working on anything you’re excited about?
I have been in the studio a lot. From a listener's perspective it must feel like so long since I’ve released music, and honestly, it feels long to me too, but I’m having so much fun just trying new things and I can't wait to share.
It’s also been so nice to just live my current life and to have all of these new experiences to draw from — when you’re dropping a project, going on tour, doing interviews, you don’t really have time for that. I feel like I've lived a new lifetime in the last year or two.
Where are you finding inspiration currently in this new chapter or this particular chapter of your life?
A lot of reading and watching a million things. The last book I finished was The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. It’s so heartbreaking, I was like sobbing over this book. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. And she’s an incredible writer.
And I feel so similar now. What used to feel like the end of the world to me just doesn’t anymore. I’ve been going through all of my experiences with that mindset. The way she goes through those things and keeps living. I know I have to keep living mine until the end.
What are you most looking forward to in this chapter you’re entering now?
On the career side, getting to share the new music and figuring out how I want to do that. In a personal sense, new experiences and new people. I know I’m still grieving things, but I have a much easier time letting things go. I understand that people are in my life for a reason, and things just can’t last forever. It’s impossible. It’s funny too because I used to be that kid that was like, You’re my best friend, you can’t go anywhere, I can’t do anything without you, so a lot has changed.
