{"id":223202,"date":"2026-04-08T10:22:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223202\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T10:22:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:22:06","slug":"usf-bullstock-opener-maris-talks-backstory-songwriting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223202\/","title":{"rendered":"USF Bullstock opener MARIS talks backstory, songwriting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>MARIS, a Los Angeles-based pop star, will open for The Driver Era alongside two student bands and Sydney Ross Mitchell on Friday night. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE\/BRIAN POPOWITZ<\/p>\n

Although singer-songwriter MARIS never attended college herself, she is on a College Tour<\/a> to experience what college life is like \u2014 making a round to USF this Friday through the university\u2019s Bullstock Music Festival.<\/p>\n

MARIS said she is \u201csuper stoked\u201d to watch and dance to the two student bands<\/a>, Sydney Ross Mitchell<\/a> and The Driver Era<\/a> this Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love just meeting new people,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I think that\u2019s probably the part I\u2019m most excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n

MARIS, born Maris Maddux-Ward, is a 26-year-old Los Angeles-based pop-rock artist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, her roots and fame stem from her childhood \u2014 especially through mixtapes her sister made for her in their family home in Missoula, Montana.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like music has always been like a friend to me,\u201d she said. \u201cSo when I was figuring out what I wanted to do with my life, I couldn\u2019t really think of anything else, because the only thing I ever wanted to do is make music and listen to music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since starting her music career about a decade ago, MARIS has released 21 singles and two EPs \u2014 with another EP and a nationwide tour coming in fall 2026.<\/p>\n

Still, MARIS\u2019s rise to fame was kick-started by a 2017 video of her singing<\/a> Frank Sinatra\u2019s \u201cFly Me to the Moon\u201d into a Kikkoman soy sauce bottle on X, which earned more than four million views.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat did crazy numbers, and it was back when going viral was, I guess, kind of more rare because not as many people were posting themselves,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it really translated to people hearing my voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: USF\u2019s guest speaker series books Brittany Broski for USF Week<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

MARIS said she started her music career around that same time, through SoundCloud<\/a> covers and hand-burned CDs while she was still in high school.<\/p>\n

Later that year, MARIS moved to New York to start singing and performing in shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s actually part of why I\u2019m on a college tour for this run,\u201d she said. \u201cI never went to college, but I always kind of wanted the college experience, so this is my opportunity to get to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

MARIS said her latest single \u2014 \u201cMissing Me<\/a>\u201d \u2014 was released April 3 and is about coping with the jealousy of seeing a former friend start hanging out with new people as they move on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like my favorite songs that I\u2019ve written, and the ones that feel the most kind of powerful to me, are the ones that I wrote because I had nowhere else to process what I was feeling and what I was going through,\u201d MARIS said.<\/p>\n

MARIS said she loves making her own music and drawing inspiration from other artists, such as One Direction, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. She also loves collaborating with other artists, writers and producers to make music.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to have my ideas and my sonic library of what I grew up listening to and what I am trying to say, combined with somebody else\u2019s history of what they love about music, I just think that\u2019s when the magic really happens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

MARIS said she believes the writing and creative process of making music \u2014 from developing a sound to adding lyrics to articulate a concept \u2014 takes time and life experience to improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery part is different, but every part is expressive,\u201d MARIS said. \u201cAnd I think the part that feels the most innate to me that I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever be able to stop doing is writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: OPINION: USF and Tampa music scenes need more female representation<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

MARIS said she started painting a stream of silver glitter stars across her left eye and forehead in high school.<\/p>\n

Over time, that glitter turned into eyeliner that would smear while she played punk rock gigs in New York bars, evolving her brand and look into something more graphic and memorable for her audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m actually pretty shy and introverted, but when I\u2019m stepping on the stage, I want to be somebody that draws joy and confidence out of other people,\u201d MARIS said.<\/p>\n

To overcome this introversion while performing, MARIS began to embody the star as a stage persona, which made her more comfortable on stage and when interacting with her fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the star feels like an identifiable way to be like, \u2018Well, this is a person that is lovely and wonderful and joyful,\u2019\u201d MARIS said. \u201cAnd now when I get to see it on other people, it just fills me with delight and glee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: USF Battle of the Bands names two Bullstock openers<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Camryn Frost, a senior integrated public relations and advertising major, said she has been a fan of MARIS since March 2025, when she met the artist at an indie pop concert by Maude Latour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went for the main act, but was instantly in love with her free spirit and engaging performance,\u201d Frost said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Frost said her favorite MARIS song is \u201cMary + I<\/a>,\u201d which was released as a single in May 2025, because of its dance, note changes and energetic backtracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince I\u2019ve started listening to MARIS, I\u2019ve watched her become more comfortable in herself and her expression,\u201d Frost said.<\/p>\n

Frost added that she plans to see MARIS at Bullstock this Friday, where she hopes to hear new songs and make the most out of her last Bullstock concert as a USF student.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is such a positive and fun presence,\u201d Frost said. \u201cYou won\u2019t regret seeing her set.\u201d<\/p>\n

MARIS said her work focuses on building community and celebrating togetherness, rather than division and partisanship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just really want to create a space where people can just get to know each other, have fun and release their worries and their cares for a night and just party,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After her Bullstock performance, MARIS will perform in Gainesville, Florida, on April 11, followed by Tallahassee on April 12, before continuing north for her tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MARIS, a Los Angeles-based pop star, will open for The Driver Era alongside two student bands and Sydney…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-223202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}