PODCAST: Mae Stephens Talks Growth, Boundaries, and Her New Era

And you were talking about this is kind of your entry into a new, like mature era.

Do you think it's was just like growing up or was there something that you're like, I want to I want to show that I can do something bigger now?

Yeah, I mean, it's really, it's a really difficult one.

I mean, obviously all the songs I wrote when I was younger, because I was a ballad artist before I did If We Ever Broke Up.

And those songs were about domestic abuse and the really dark sides of relationships.

And it was because I had friends who were going through those situations.

And so I started writing music as a way to show that it doesn't matter how old you are, the dark stuff still happens.

And so I was familiar with like writing on that side, but never towards the other side of it where you've got the more like frisky songs or like you're talking about drugs, you're talking about one night stands, you're talking about, you know, these topics.

And I was a very awkward child, like very awkward.

So like I would sit and watch a movie with my parents.

There would be someone who like a couple peck on camera and my parents would turn to me and just...

And it just, it absolutely threw me off.

My entire childhood, I was so awkward.

Like, would go bright red at anything.

And it was always, almost a little thing of like, not necessarily facing my fear of it, but becoming more comfortable with it.

Because obviously, as you get older,

you want to write about those subjects.

And so...

Yeah, it was a comfortability thing.

And then, I don't know, something switched.

Maybe it was, you know, getting a bit older, the frontal cortex going or just general brain development.

But I just went, we'll give it a crack.

Let's try and get over this fear.

And then lo and behold, I've written so many songs since then that just I'm ready for this new era.

I'm ready for it to be fun and to explore that side of it and you know to also become comfortable with those topics and yeah here we are I mean done with you when we were getting it ready for release I was very there was a lot of anticipation I was very anxious because I was like okay this it's like taking the first step you know dipping your toes in the water um and I'm so glad I did it because the next era is is just going to keep getting more unhinged I'm so ready for it.