Los Angeles artist Ava Maybee has released her debut EP, Orange Drive. On it she traces the electric threads that connect people to each other, no matter how tangled they get. Whether she’s spiralling into the torture of a brand new crush or savoring the catharsis of a good clean split from an ex, Maybee thrives in chaotic vulnerability. “Orange Drive is extremely special to me because it’s my first project I’ve ever put out,” shares Maybee, “I wrote the EP about the ups and downs and ebbs and flows of the grief process of romantic and platonic break ups. I hope people can scream, cry, dance, and feel seen when they listen to Orange Drive!”
Immersed in music throughout her childhood – her father is Chad Smith, drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers – Maybee started writing songs at 16. “Growing up in L.A., I was always ‘the singer,’ and I also journaled constantly. But I never put two and two together until high school,” she says. “That’s when I started tapping into the artists I had surrounded myself with my entire life. My dad’s music was very inspirational to me, and my mom is a big Motown fan. I knew what I loved and hoped it could seep into my music.” Alongside the release Maybee has shared a video for “Colors (Recolored).”
On the heels of playing to a sold-out crowd at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom, Ava will embark on a run of headline tour dates around festival plays at Napa’s BottleRock, Milwaukee’s Summerfest, and the return of Warped Tour. The headline dates kick off May 24 in Seattle and conclude June 14 at The Roxy in Los Angeles.
Orange Drive came together in 2024 when Maybee started going into the studio every week with Jake Nuffer and Alex Agresti to write and record. “Our process was really spontaneous,” Maybee says. They ended up drafting most of the EP’s songs during warmups, when they felt no pressure to pen anything polished.
While writing, Maybee found herself looking back on the period when she was just entering her twenties and negotiating rapidly changing relationships. Many of Orange Drive‘s songs tackle the existential pain of losing friends, a rupture that can wrench apart your core self-understanding. “A romantic relationship not working out is not very rare. But with friendships, it’s like, oh, we are different as human beings,” Maybee says. “That’s so hard and so sad.”
Orange Drive crashes and burns with the quiet-loud dynamics of Blondshell and the scintillating haze of Tame Impala. “Colors (Recolored),” a re-recording of a 2021 single with more than 12 million plays on Spotify, grapples with the conflicting desires to stake a permanent claim in an ex’s life while also forgetting about them completely. “Call It What You Want” gleams under the burnt sugar of late ’90s radio pop, while on opener “Gold Star Sticker,” Maybee stretches across her full vocal range, screaming over the wreckage of a friendship.
In 2022, Maybee appeared on the 20th season of American Idol. Her eclectic song choices and expressive vocals earned her a spot in the top 10. Two years later, she received an invitation to perform at Lollapalooza. Festival-goers gathered hours before her set so they could watch her sing from the front row. In 2025, she’ll set out on her first headlining tour across the U.S., which will culminate with stops at Summerfest and Warped Tour this July.
With Orange Drive, Maybee beckons listeners to dive into their own complicated feelings — and celebrate whatever they might find in the eye of the churning storm. “I’m always drawn to songs about connections between human beings. That’s really what drives me,” Maybee says. “My biggest hope is for people to feel like they are reading my journal, because I think vulnerability is my strongest asset. I’m just really excited to open myself up, and I hope people can find solidarity in that.”
Tour Dates
May 24 – Napa, CA @ BottleRock Festival
May 28 – Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s
May 29 – Portland, OR @ Mission Theater
May 31 – Boise, ID @ The Shredder
June 2 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
June 4 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
June 6 – Colorado Springs, CO @ The Black Sheep
June 7 – Fort Collins, CO @ The Coast
June 9 – Albuquerque, NM @ Lunchpad
June 10 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
June 12 – San Diego, CA @ Voodoo Room, Hob
June 14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
June 19 – 21st – Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
July 26 – 27th – Long Beach, CA @ Warped Tour
Tracklist:
01 Gold Star Sticker
02 Pinch Myself
03 Colors Recolored
04 Call It What You Want
05 MEAN
06 Over Again
Connect with Ava Maybee:
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