Former Exclaim! cover star Maya Hawke has made her first musical release since last year's MOSS, sharing a cover of the title track from Samia's 2023 LP, Honey.
Hawke's cover comes as part of Samia's Honey Reimagined singles series, which previously featured a rendition of "Charm You" by Blondshell. The singer-actor's take on the buoyant singalong from Samia's sophomore offering boils it down on an elemental level, tearing away all the expertly-crafted artifice to expose the profound emptiness.
"It's an amazing thing when a favourite person writes a favourite song," Hawke said in a statement. "I was honoured to be asked to cover 'Honey' and I wanted to bring out the sadness I felt behind the celebration. I loved working with Will Graefe as a producer. I've never recorded a song without him and experiencing him as a producer was even better."
Samia added, "When we were recording 'Honey' for the album we added this ironic depth by turning what was originally a painful song into a kind of campfire sing-along — big bouncy guitars, a happy melody, that endless refrain, so I was eager to hear what Maya would do with it. Surprisingly, she stripped all of the campfire away. In her version you can hear every bit of the desperation in how spare the production is. Exploring these new vantage points in my own work is exactly what draws me to the Reimagined concept."
Listen to Hawke's version of "Honey" below.
Hawke's cover comes as part of Samia's Honey Reimagined singles series, which previously featured a rendition of "Charm You" by Blondshell. The singer-actor's take on the buoyant singalong from Samia's sophomore offering boils it down on an elemental level, tearing away all the expertly-crafted artifice to expose the profound emptiness.
"It's an amazing thing when a favourite person writes a favourite song," Hawke said in a statement. "I was honoured to be asked to cover 'Honey' and I wanted to bring out the sadness I felt behind the celebration. I loved working with Will Graefe as a producer. I've never recorded a song without him and experiencing him as a producer was even better."
Samia added, "When we were recording 'Honey' for the album we added this ironic depth by turning what was originally a painful song into a kind of campfire sing-along — big bouncy guitars, a happy melody, that endless refrain, so I was eager to hear what Maya would do with it. Surprisingly, she stripped all of the campfire away. In her version you can hear every bit of the desperation in how spare the production is. Exploring these new vantage points in my own work is exactly what draws me to the Reimagined concept."
Listen to Hawke's version of "Honey" below.