LA-based songwriter Ava Maybee’s newly announced debut EP Orange Drive may only be made up of six songs, but within its brief runtime lies all the joy and heartbreak that comes with the new beginnings and abrupt endings of all types of relationships, romantic or otherwise. Cloaked in the feel-good textures of glistening synth-pop, these tracks chart the emotional gamut of our social journey as human beings as Maybee learns to find comfort both in connection with friends and lovers and in separation from those with whom she finds she isn’t compatible.
Today we’re getting the EP’s opening track and latest single (following the previously released “Pinch Myself,” “Call It What You Want,” and “Over Again”), “Gold Star Sticker,” which opens the proceedings with a defiant musical tone and the emotional equivalent to a tough friend breakup. “‘Gold Star Sticker’ is a song I wrote about toxic friendships and the lengths you go to just to gain someone’s approval who doesn’t even deserve it,” Maybee shares of the single, which mirrors the anxieties she underwent in the situation the song was based on. “I think people underestimate the effects from a friendship breakup way more than from a romantic relationship.”
Check out the single below, and pre-order Orange Drive ahead of its May 16 release here. Maybee will also be playing BottleRock, Warped Tour, and Milwaukee’s Summerfest over the summer in between tour dates—find tickets to all of her upcoming performances here.
