mxmtoon (/ɛm.ɛks.ɛmˈtuːn/, em-ex-em-TOON), also known as Maia, is a pseudonymous singer-songwriter, social media personality and YouTuber from Oakland, California, known for singing and playing the ukulele. Her 2018 self-released EP, plum blossom, recorded in her parents' guest bedroom, has been streamed over 100 million times. Her 2019 international tour has nearly sold out, and her debut album the masquerade was released in September 2019.
Maia was born on July 9, 2000, to Chinese-American immigrant parents, and grew up in Oakland, California. Maia became interested in music from a young age. Her brother took violin lessons, and in first grade, Maia joined him. A few years later, she began playing classical cello and trumpet. In fifth grade, she auditioned for her school rock band. Expecting to audition for cello, she was asked to sing Oasis's Wonderwall, and ended up joining as a vocalist. In sixth grade, she began playing guitar, learning in part from her father. Maia started her YouTube channel and began playing the ukulele in middle school. She wrote her first song at age 13.
Recording with GarageBand in her parents' guest bedroom, creating percussion tracks with hair straighteners, Maia began self-releasing songs on YouTube as "mxmtoon" in 2017. After initially attempting to write comedy songs, she began writing songs that embodied her emotions such as "feelings are fatal". Her 2017 lo-fi collaboration with Japanese singer-songwriter peachy!, "Falling for U", reached nearly 40 million streams on Spotify by June 2019. Maia began secretly releasing music to the public, but was later compelled to tell her friends and family after experiencing viral success online. In 2018, Maia released her debut EP, plum blossom, which was reviewed by Earmilk,i-D and Hypebeast, and gained more than 100 million streams on Spotify by August 2019. The EP's single "i feel like chet" is a tribute to one of her favourite jazz musicians, Chet Baker.
After high school, Maia took a "gap year" by postponing college to focus on her music. She was planning to study architecture after graduating high school, until her music went viral in April 2018. In November 2018, she announced her "plum blossom tour". Her first tour, it was initially scheduled for five US shows with fellow Californian singer-songwriter khai dreams in March 2019, which sold out and was extended to include additional concerts in North America and Europe, including opening appearances for bedroom pop YouTuber Cavetown in the United Kingdom.
Maia's debut studio album the masquerade was released on September 17, 2019. The album features "prom dress", a "light and peachy tune" described as "relatable, infectious hook-led pop that speaks to millennials". The single is inspired by experiences from her own big night and deals with social anxiety and the problems that come with being a teen in modern society. The song has been streamed over eight million times on Spotify and has been used in 100,000 videos on TikTok. Maia's back catalogue of songs have also received tens of millions of online streams.
Prior to the release of the masquerade, Spotify announced the release of 21 Days, a music podcast that follows Maia while she works on the album in New York City.Liz Gateley of Spotify praised Maia's online following as well as her social presence, stating that "She obviously has lots of followers already, but that's not enough. The person had to be the right human too, and we felt she had both." The podcast is an eight-episode audio diary that includes interviews with family, friends and collaborators, including Cavetown.
Joshua Bote of Paste described the ten-track album as "comforting twee-pop that wrings out genuine pathos from mxmtoon’s internet celebrity". Matt Yuyitung of Exclaim! wrote "[Maia] brings her wry sense of humour and diary-entry lyricism to her debut record, recalling the lo-fi relatability of Frankie Cosmos."
Maia has been credited with having an "endearingly intimate presence". The singer-songwriter's music has been described as "warm folk-pop tunes with acoustic ornamentations", "one part acoustic-pop a-la Kina Grannis, mixed with sharp lyricism and avant-garde, off-kilter melodics akin to Fiona Apple or PJ Harvey", that explores "themes such as the trials of love, being a burden to those close to you, and connecting with your family's heritage" and "encapsulates many of the values her fellow Gen Zers possess".
Joshua Bote of Paste described Maia as "really, really good at the internet". Maia makes comedy videos on the video sharing platform, TikTok, where she has amassed almost 1 million followers and 29 million likes as of September 2019. Her music has been streamed over 150 million times across all online platforms collectively. As of August 2019, her YouTube channel has over 23 million total video views and 410,000 subscribers.
Maia identifies as "a young bisexual woman of color from a family of immigrants" and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she writes, records and produces her own music from the guest room of her parents' home. The name "mxmtoon" is derived from Maia's initials, MXMT. She uses the pseudonym Maia and does not disclose her full name for privacy reasons. Maia owns a cat and likes to wear mom jeans.
As lead artist
As featured artist
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