By Gabriel Aikins
It takes a special collection of qualities for an artist to amass their stans. The music obviously has to be great, but it requires more: a business mind able to navigate the industry, a voice and the knowledge of how to use it, and perhaps most importantly, a willingness to give generously from their own life and experiences. Maisie Peters, the 21-year old British songwriter who has already captured the attention of both adoring fans and icons like Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran, checks all those boxes. As she nears the release of her debut album You Signed Up For This, on August 27, Peters is leading the next generation of stan-worthy stars.
Although You Signed Up For This may be her debut, Peters has already spent years honing her sound. “I've been co-writing since I was 15, I've been writing since I was 12,” she explains. EPs Dressed Too Nice for a Jacket and It’s Your Bed Babe, It’s Your Funeral — released in 2018 and 2019 respectively — established her delightful combination of danceable production and singer-songwriter sensibility, furthered by catchy recent tracks like the upbeat “Psycho” and wistful “John Hughes Movie.” At the same time, her inclusion on soundtracks like Birds of Prey brought her to the cultural forefront.
A dedication to being completely herself reflects in the wide range of sonic elements Peters employs on YSUFT. Tracks like “Psycho” rely on synth-heavy dance-pop production to provide energy and fun, while others like “Volcano” slow down and showcase a more intimate feel. “I want it to encapsulate everything that I love and everything that I've been making, and obviously I'm rooted in singer-songwriter, acoustic sort of folk-pop, but I also grew up on ABBA and Taylor [Swift] and Britney [Spears] and all of these people. I wanted that in there as well,” she says. (Peters is a massive Swiftie. She’s briefly distracted during the conversation by friends and fans flooding her phone with the news that Swift is teasing the re-recorded Red tracklist.)