Maya Hawke's Debut Music Could Calm Even Stranger Things's Mind Flayer

It's no unconventional thing that a large percentage of the cast of Stranger Things are talented musicians, as eager to embrace a musical instrument as they're a trip to the Upside Down. Maya Hawke, who plays Robin Buckley on the show's third season, is the newest virtuoso and dropped two new singles, "To Love A Boy" and "Stay Open," on Friday that bring her into bold new territory. Her voice is so calm, so angelic, that it can quell the anger of even the mightiest denizen of the Upside Down.


To be fair, we should have seen this coming. In season 3 of Stranger Things, she sang "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" with Joe Keery's Steve Harrington and the hilarious efficiency hinted at some calming vocals that would be expressed in new ways in the future. That future arrived in a rural and sensual style with her two cute new tunes. "To Love A Boy" is soft and bare and moves like the ocean, which she references in the initial lines. Its use of percussion is fleeting, slow, and inviting. Following in a similar aesthetic is "Stay Open," which is driven by a gentle guitar and the pitter-patter of the best of snare drums, with her weightless voice floating just above the ground. She sings about a gentle, juvenile love, one of being immersed in a person's being wholeheartedly. Both are strikingly pretty hymns with heavenly qualities. It's the sort of music you'll hear while you're swaying in a gentle breeze while lounging in a hammock, with large trees covering your face. It's nap time.


Maya Hawke's joins the growing assortment of talented musicians who are exploring different realms like their show counterparts. Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike Wheeler, is the frontman of the alt-rock musical group Calpurnia. Gaten Matarazzo, who plays Dustin Henderson, plays in a musical group called Work In Progress that has collaborated with artists like Paramore and Kelly Clarkson, and Charlie Heaton, who acts as Jonathan Byers, used to play in the psychedelic musical group Half Loon.


Listen to Maya Hawke's debut singles up above.