Maisie Peters Is in Her 'Trust your Gut' Era

Maisie Peters doesn’t rush her songs and she didn’t rush Florescence. The album, written over the course of a year and a half between quiet gaps of life and long stretches in Nashville, reflects a slower, more intentional rhythm than anything she’s made before. Her songs come to life through the natural motions in her own: a title that arrives on a drive, a first line that lingers for a while in the shower, or poem that sets off her pen.

Her personal growth after her last two albums is easy to see, and serves as a reminder to her fans to trust their gut in the same way she has in culling the 60 songs she wrote into the carefully trimmed Florescence. On the heels of its release, Maisie shares the creative process behind her chart topping success with us.

Maisie, congratulations on your release of Florescence! It’s a beautiful album filled with so many deep & catchy songs. Could you walk me through your process for creating this album?

I made it over the course of a year and a half, writing and recording it predominantly in Nashville! It was definitely a slower process than I had done before, with month gaps in different places, which I think made it for a much more grounded, peaceful sonic than my previous music — I wrote about 60 songs and then got to spend a month with Ian Fitchuk and Konrad Schneider in Nashville recording everything which gave it a much more cohesive sound that I loved.

How do you like to go about crafting your lyrics? Is it spontaneous or do you dedicate moments to sit down & flesh them out?

It really depends on the song! I would say it mostly comes in the moment — I might have a title or a first line that starts me off that will have come to me on a drive or in the shower, in a book back cover or a poem, and then I’ll write from there and the rest of the songs will flow out. I would say I’m spontaneous in when and how the ideas come, and then pretty ordered in how I will go into the studio for the day and know that I want to come out of it with a whole song, so it’s a mix of both.

Is there a moment for you when you feel a song is ready?

In terms of writing, I definitely know in myself when I have executed the idea as best as I possibly can. I tend to write a song in a day, unless it’s an idea I’m chipping away at privately, in which case it might take a few solo sessions across a few months. The production as well is something that I think is a gut feeling as well — does it feel perfect to me right here right now. I would say I’m actually pretty good at knowing that in myself, which maybe comes from experience and time.

Has writing about someone ever changed how you felt about them?

Hard question! Writing music can deepen your understanding of your own feelings, but it can also be a misleading compass in some ways, as I’m never trying to write to capture the entire truth, just my own truth in that moment as i see it that day, if that makes sense! I like to think my songs show how my feelings have changed, become more or less complex as time has gone on, and a lot of Florescence is centered around this, so I guess yes and no.

What's the difference between the way Maisie the songwriter experiences love and the way Maisie the person experiences it?

Maisie the person just exists within it, feels it and expresses it whilst also just living along side it, like we all do! Maisie the songwriter is constantly hovering above it, analyzing and documenting and looking for the most interesting kernel of it to write about.

What’s it like to bring these new songs to life in front of your fans?

So much fun! This record feels so different to my last and it’s been so cool having these new feelings to all sing about together — Audrey feels like such a moment of peace and sweetness, and My Regards is like this joyful sexy dance party that I LOVE. I can’t wait to bring even more of these songs to the live show, Girl’s Just Flying especially.

If you could send a voice note to all the fans who've connected with your music, what would you say?

Just thank you so much, I’m so honored you include me in your life, and I really do it all for people like you :’) It’s a crazy thing to know you soundtrack people’s lives and I am so lucky to do it, and to do it for such thoughtful, interesting, intelligent people.

With your growing success as a musician, do you feel it’s made you more confident or more self-aware?

Both! All the time! Some days I feel smarter and better, like I know myself and my taste more than I ever have, and some days I miss when I was younger and braver, didn’t know enough to compare, and wrote without any self knowledge at all! I think both are natural and it’s about taking the best parts of both those feelings and channel them to work together, but I’d be lying if I said I have it all figured out.

What would you say you’ve learned through this journey of creating Florescence?

So much it’s crazy — to trust my gut, to trust the process, to remember the joy of releasing a whole body of work and how that always makes everything make sense to me. I saw a Jack Antanoff quote where he said ‘the album is god’ and I couldn’t agree more; I feel like my fans know that and I know that and whenever I release one, there’s a new little planet we can all orbit for a while, and that makes me feel very happy and fulfilled!

What part of making music still excites you the most?

I think no matter how long I’ve been doing this, whenever I write a song I really unequivocally LOVE, it feels exactly as exciting it did the first time I did that, age 12. The bar has gotten higher maybe as I’ve gotten older, and sometimes I feel like I’m chasing a unicorn, but oh the joy when you actually catch one, it’s second to none.

Photographer: Vincenzo Dimino
Glam: Marla Vazquez
Styling: Stephanie Major
Styling Assistant: Rachel Olson
Photo Assistant: Ethan Johnson-May
Retouching: Justine Foord