Rising 19-year old singer-songwriter mxmtoon (Maia) gets personal with fans as she releases three new singles as a part of her new album, the masquerade. With songs like “prom dress,” “high & dry” and “seasonal depression,” fans get in touch with the Oakland artist’s personal feelings. Mxmtoon fans, including myself, were thrilled to hear her new songs and the Sept. 17 release date for her debut album.

Her first single off the album, “prom dress,” is a song about a panic attack she had after eating a Double-Double In-N-Out burger and not being able to fit into her prom dress. She then tweeted to her followers on Twitter, “crying in a prom dress, what a mood/ wait I’m gonna write a song about that don’t u dare steal it.” She released the song a year later after the tweet.

With lyrics such as “I guess I maybe had a couple expectations/ Thought I’d get to them, but no I didn’t,” Maia talks about all the expectations she had for high school that weren’t met in her four years. Many high school teens can relate to this lyric because expectations aren’t exactly what happens in reality. Out of the three songs, this is my favorite, as it is something people can have a connection with.

“high & dry,” the second song off the debut album, is described as “rhyming diary entries” by the Maia. The song explains a situation where Maia was with a toxic friend and reached her breaking point, warning them to stop messing with her.

The soft ukulele shows contrast with the unapologetic lyrics. She sings, “You hurt me with your words/ Called me a friend and play pretend/ But you’ve got it all backwards.” Maia had given a chance to this person but is now done with their games. This song relates to many people on a personal level because they have dealt with toxic friendships and the problems that come with those relationships.

“high & dry” clearly depicts what it means to be in a toxic friendship and how much of a toll it can have on a person’s view of themselves and their environment. The song’s lyrics give a much deeper insight to what Maia was going through.

The third single off the sophomore project is called “seasonal depression.” This song explains the difficulties that comes with having Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Although this disorder is common, it’s hard to diagnose because it is a specific type of depression that occurs during a set time period in the year. The cause of seasonal depression is unknown but scientists think it could be related to the brain’s hormonal changes.

The song describes how it feels to have seasonal depression by having lyrics such as, “Seasonal depression’s got me sleeping off the days/ And I’ve wasted all my time feeling grey.” This shows that seasonal depression could be linked to a disruption in a person’s sleep cycle.

“seasonal depression” is the most personal songs out of these three releases. We get a glimpse into an extremely personal part of Maia’s brain and what goes on when she’s hit with seasonal depression. This could be a tough topic for people to talk about and the fact that she sings about it so openly is very inspiring.

During the creation of the masquerade, mxmtoon enlisted the help of fellow singer-songwriter, Cavetown, to help with producing the album. Both artists have had “songs from your bedroom” type of vibes integrated into their music. Cavetown is also an artist that anyone who enjoys mxmtoon’s music, would like his as well.

With the August release of these three singles, Maia announced that the full album would be released Sept. 17 with 20 new songs, including the three singles that were already released.