{"id":808665,"date":"2026-07-17T21:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T21:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/808665\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T21:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T21:14:10","slug":"ava-max-interview-pop-star-talks-world-cup-elevator-scare-abba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/808665\/","title":{"rendered":"Ava Max Interview: Pop Star Talks World Cup, Elevator Scare, ABBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t
\n\t\t\tA
\n\t\tva Max<\/a> likes to keep her fans fed. \u201cThey never go without me for a year,\u201d the 32-year-old pop singer says. She\u2019s right: Since releasing her third album, Don\u2019t Click Play<\/a>, last year, Max has dropped two singles \u2014 the Freddie Mercury-inspired \u201cKill It Queen<\/a>\u201d and \u201cOut of Your Mind<\/a>\u201d \u2014 plus \u201cFate<\/a>,\u201d with Alan Walker, and \u201cEnergy,\u201d a thrilling pop smash included on the Official FIFA<\/a> World Cup 2026 Album. \u201cI\u2019m always going to put out music, because I\u2019m crazy,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to hold onto it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAs she says this, Max is attending the opening night of FIFA House<\/a> in New York, celebrating World Cup Finals Week in collaboration with Rolling Stone, the Grammys, and Def Jam Recordings. (Besides Max,
FIFA House brings together FIFA legends, creators, industry leaders and other guests \u2014 as well as the World Cup trophy, which visitors get to glimpse.) Max spoke to Rolling Stone about who she\u2019s rooting for, a recent scare involving an elevator, and a productive year that\u2019s just getting started.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou just performed an awesome, stripped-down version of \u201cEnergy,\u201d your song that was included on the World Cup album. Tell me about making that one.\u00a0
I made that with a few of my friends, who I\u2019ve worked with on a couple albums. \u201cEnergy\u201d really came from a place of being in this industry for a while. I\u2019ve tried making it in this industry since I was 14 years old. I went to L.A. with my mom, my dad, and my brother. So the lyrics were easy to write, because I\u2019m in a place where I really don\u2019t care what anyone thinks about me. The internet is really fun if you read the comments [laughs].<\/p>\n

\n\tIt doesn\u2019t bother me, though. That\u2019s the thing. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s because I have Albanian blood and I grew up with my parents, always getting at me about every little thing, just to say what\u2019s on their mind. So the comments don\u2019t bother me. \u201cEnergy\u201d came from a place of not caring.<\/p>\n

\n\tYour family is here with you tonight, right?
Yes. My dad likes to travel with me sometimes.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tI love it. You worked with Bia<\/a> on \u201cEnergy.\u201d What was that collaboration like?\u00a0
Bia\u2019s great. I really wanted her on the song, so I reached out personally. I just didn\u2019t see anyone else on it. Everybody was recommending different people, and I\u2019m just like, \u201cFirst of all, I want a female on it.\u201d That was number one. And then Bia, I\u2019ve always been a fan, and that\u2019s it. I\u2019m just so grateful she said yes. She was, like, a one-take wonder. The second verse, she killed it in one take. It\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSince we\u2019re here at FIFA House, who have you been supporting during this World Cup?
[Laughs.] I feel like there\u2019s going to be backlash from this, but I\u2019m going to be honest. [Lionel] Messi over [Cristiano] Ronaldo. I\u2019m sorry. He\u2019s kind of a magician.<\/p>\n

\n\tHot take. You\u2019ve had a couple of other songs come out this year, including \u201cKill It Queen\u201d and \u201cOut of Your Mind.\u201d Why don\u2019t you tell me about this new era that you\u2019re building toward? Is there a new album coming out?\u00a0
I\u2019m working on a Christmas album right now, actually. I just wanted to put out [new music] in general, because I never leave my fans hanging. They never go without me for a year. I\u2019m always going to put out music, because I\u2019m crazy. I don\u2019t want to hold on to it.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou have the best fans, too.
Thank you. I don\u2019t feel good not putting out music. So I\u2019m always going to be putting out music, whether it\u2019s features or my new era. It started with \u201cKill It Queen.\u201d It kind of has a Queen\/ABBA-inspired sound. I haven\u2019t done that before. I\u2019ve never sang opera before. My mom sang opera growing up. So I was like, \u201cYou know what? Let\u2019s try it.\u201d She even sang on the track, so that was great. She had a lot of fun in the studio. We\u2019re trying to go a little bit more out there, avant-garde. But, yeah, making an album, who knows? Christmas album for sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAngie Martoccio interviews Ava Max at FIFA House<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGriffin Lotz for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat are your favorite ABBA and Queen songs?\u00a0
[Sings \u201cChiquitita, tell me what\u2019s wrong!\u201d] \u201cChiquitita,\u201d ABBA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s exactly how I sound when I sing it.\u00a0
I\u2019m so sorry, I can\u2019t pick one. It\u2019s not just one. Yeah, there\u2019s a lot of them. And then Queen, it\u2019s hard. That\u2019s another one, like ABBA, where you put on every song. But \u201cLove of My Life.\u201d Oh, when you sang it at Wembley<\/a> [in July 1986] stripped-down, that\u2019s forever ingrained in my memory. So Freddie Mercury, onstage at Wembley. All-time performance.<\/p>\n

\n\tI watch that on YouTube every other year just to refresh.\u00a0
You can\u2019t not cry watching it.<\/p>\n

\n\tI know you have a Christmas film coming as well. Will this be your debut film?\u00a0
Yes, it\u2019s my debut Netflix film. So this came out of nowhere, first of all. I didn\u2019t audition for this. They called me and said, \u201cHey, you look like you can play a pop star.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cYou know what? I think I can, but it is acting. Let\u2019s see.\u201d So I went, filmed it. It went amazing. And Netflix is incredible to work with, the whole team. And it\u2019s also a Christmas movie.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo I have a Christmas Netflix movie, and a Christmas album coming out with a ton of features. I am very, very excited about it.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat sounds so amazing. I cannot wait to watch it. What would you say is the craziest thing that\u2019s happened to you lately?
The craziest thing? I got stuck in an elevator in Miami at the Edition [hotel]. That was great.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat sounds terrifying.
That was really crazy and scary. I fell down five floors.<\/p>\n

\n\tOh, my God.\u00a0
Didn\u2019t think I would sing ever again, but we survived. Elevators are actually pretty terrifying. And you find that out the hard way when you\u2019re stuck in it and you fall down five floors. I had my little coffee. I just left the beach. Had my hat on. Having a great chill day on a Miami vacation, and then boom, my hat flies, my coffee goes all over me. And I\u2019m just like, \u201cAm I in a nightmare?\u201d But you don\u2019t really realize in the moment how crazy it is until after, because in the moment you\u2019re just trying to live.<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, we just rode an elevator together, so it\u2019s another example of you persevering.
Every time I get on an elevator now, I have a problem. I\u2019m just like, \u201cWhat is this? Let me just take stairs,\u201d which I did yesterday. It was like 10 floors.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMax at FIFA House<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGriffin Lotz for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve got three albums under your belt. Where would you say is the most unexpected place you\u2019ve ever heard some of your songs?
Oh, my God. Unexpected? I really need to think about this. I hear it at restaurants or department stores, at the mall, the gym a lot. I might have to pass on this question because it\u2019s honestly always at the most commercial places.<\/p>\n

\n\tDo people ever know it\u2019s you, and your song is playing and you\u2019re standing there?
No, and I have to leave immediately. It\u2019s actually really weird! I\u2019m just like, \u201cUhhhh,\u201d and walk away.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat would you say is the first song you truly loved growing up?
A lot of Mariah Carey. I had one uncle who loved Mariah Carey, and then I had one uncle who would argue that Shania Twain was better. So they would constantly make me listen to their entire catalog. And I was just like, \u201cYou guys, they\u2019re both great.\u201d So they were just like tearing me apart about who was better. Yeah, I love both of them. \u201cAlways Be My Baby,\u201d Mariah Carey, we can say really shaped my childhood.<\/p>\n

\n\tJust to wrap this up, a hard question: Argentina or Spain?
Oh, my God, you\u2019re really trying to create enemies here! This is tough. You can\u2019t win. Damned if you do, damned if you don\u2019t. That\u2019s how I feel right now with this question. I\u2019m going to say leave it up to the gods!<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMax at FIFA House<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGriffin Lotz for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A va Max likes to keep her fans fed. \u201cThey never go without me for a year,\u201d the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[81251,283859,31281,49,48,75,3274,341],"class_list":["post-808665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-2026-fifa-world-cup","tag-ava-max","tag-bia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-fifa","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}