Maris Maddux-Ward, otherwise known as MARIS, is a pop artist who performed at the University of South Florida’s BullStock Music Festival.
Photo courtesy of Gabriel Ballister-Rivera.
By Irena Mesa
From the second her sister showed her the GarageBand app, MARIS knew she wanted to be a musician.
She moved to New York at 18, playing what she called terrible gigs with just her guitar for five people who hated their lives.
On Friday, April 10, she brought her flashy pop songs and bright style to perform in the BullStock Music Festival as an opener for The Driver Era.
“I feel like my music is bright, colorful and saturated, so I try to execute that on my face with stage makeup as well and it brings the whole thing together,” MARIS told The Crow’s Nest.
MARIS sports a star drawn with graphic eyeliner, a personal touch dating back to high school where she wore plastic stars as tears, which eventually evolved into a part of the look and atmosphere she wishes to evoke with her music.
“It’s a place where people could come to be loud and obnoxious and glittery and punk, and it doesn’t matter where you’re from — if you’re here and you’re here to have a good time, you’re welcome to party with us,” MARIS said.
MARIS writes her own music, and she told The Crow’s Nest that it is a form of therapy for her and inspired by whatever she is going through.
“I went into the studio one day and I was like, ‘I think I need to analyze my relationship with cannabis,’ because I was smoking a lot, and ‘She’s that girl, but we need to take a look at that.’ And then ‘Mary and I’ was born,” MARIS said.
MARIS explained that “Body is on fire” was inspired by a late night of crazy sex and provided an outlet for what she was feeling.
With all of her songs, she hopes to share the message of the positives that come from being dramatic and loud.
“Creating a space for yourself to really feel all of your feelings to the thousandth percentile is healthy and good,” MARIS said. “I feel like a lot of my songs are about different things but take the most dramatic angle that I could possibly take.”
Photo courtesy of Gabriel Ballister-Rivera.
Her live shows build on that idea, allowing fans to come together, meet new people, make new friends and to dance and let go all in one space. And she believes that aspect of community is essential.
“Go and make friends with people that are different than you, because the world is a really incredible, diverse and stunning place, and you can always learn something from everybody,” MARIS said.
The MARIS “Goes to College” tour started on April 8 in Georgia, and will be touring through the United States with a final stop in Canada in Sept. Her next stop is in Chapel Hill, NC.
