Singer-songwriter Ava Maybee brings pop-rock sound to Launchpad

Following the recent release of her debut EP, “Orange Drive,” and a sold-out performance at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom, rising pop-rock phenomenon Ava Maybee has embarked on her first tour as a headliner. And she is coming to the Launchpad in Downtown Albuquerque on Monday, June 9.

Maybee burst onto the national stage in 2022, becoming a finalist on season 20 of “American Idol.”

“I used to have really bad performance anxiety,” Maybee confessed on a recent episode of the Journal podcast, “Work in Progress.” “I would become a monster of a human being because I was so nervous.”

“Then, after I did ‘American Idol,’ all my nerves went away, because nothing could be scarier than that experience,” she said.

Maybee explained that without the pressures of being judged or “being eliminated by America” in a high-stakes competition, it’s been much easier to focus on “just having a good time” and helping her audiences have a good time, as well.

“Because having a good time, I would argue, is infectious,” Maybee said. “Like, if you see someone jumping up and down and laughing and having a great time, and singing at the top of their lungs, you want to do that in the audience, too. People are afraid they’ll look weird. But at the very beginning of all my shows, I’m just like, ‘Everyone here is weird, and everyone here is trying to have a good time. So, give people space, and let people dance, and let them be themselves.’”

Beyond singing and performing, Maybee is an accomplished songwriter, capable of communicating authentic emotions through her lyrics. A recent review in Flood Magazine said that her debut album encompassed the “emotional gamut of our social journey as human beings … both in connection with friends and lovers and in separation.”

Her songs deal with anxiety, betrayal, heartbreak and loss, and they are all autobiographical.

“I’ve yet to crack the code on how to write songs that are not about me,” she said. “I kind of just talk about what I know, and I hope that other people can connect to it.”

People are definitely connecting. Maybee’s single “Colors” has racked up over 12.7 million streams on Spotify alone.

“I think it’s really important to have young female artists who are openly talking about mental health and their struggles with it … and being authentic and openly talking about anxiety and breakups and insecurities. I just think it’s healing, and I think it’s powerful, and I think it’s necessary, and I wish more people would do it,” she said.

Maybee began writing the songs on “Orange Drive” while attending New York University, where she majored in music and minored in child psychology.

“My child psychology courses, honestly, were more helpful than my other courses in terms of how people connect to music,” she said. “It really seeped into my music, and I think allowed me to be vulnerable and not feel like that’s a weakness, but a huge sense of empowerment for me. I think that’s a huge reason why I’m able to write about anything very freely and not feel embarrassed by it.”

Maybee’s lyrics may be emotionally raw, but much of the music is upbeat and danceable. Her goal is for her audiences to experience a catharsis, moving through pain into joy.

“I want to make music that heals your inner child,” she said. “We have one hour together in this sacred space, where we can openly talk about hating ourselves, and our insecurities and breakups and feeling less-than. And we still get to let it all go, and dance.”

“There’s not a lot of times in a public setting, with groups of strangers, where people feel like they can do that,” she said. “It’s one thing to dance with headphones on in your room by yourself, but I want people to have that type of energy at my shows. So, that’s what I try and bring. It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, it’s kind of magical.”

Singer-songwriter Ava Maybee brings pop-rock sound to Launchpad