May 2
Maya at the Crystal Ballroom (Somerville, MA), 1 May 2026. Next to last stop on the Maitreya Corso tour ❤️
Source: Hsenderphoto Instagram
seen from Australia
seen from Dominican Republic
seen from Thailand
seen from Germany
seen from Netherlands
seen from Senegal
seen from Jordan
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Morocco
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Kenya
seen from Netherlands
seen from Kenya
seen from Russia
seen from Mexico
seen from Yemen
seen from Kenya
Maya at the Crystal Ballroom (Somerville, MA), 1 May 2026. Next to last stop on the Maitreya Corso tour ❤️
Source: Hsenderphoto Instagram
I decided to look at Maya's instagram and her music. She had her music partner on set in a lot of the BTS photos of ST5—that stood out to me.
Her album, called Chaos Angel in 2024, would've been written during pre-production and production of ST5. It's title is reminiscent of D&D's chaos (good, bad, and neutral), while Earth Angel is a title of song in Back To The Future, which the Duffers are inspired by.
These tracks/lyrics stood out that matched the show's themes/plot:
Black Ice 🌩️
"You become the angel in human form…It was snowing when we woke up... Wish I was someone, as we shall say, is "one with all." Usually what we mean by that, is that your energy field moves through energy very quickly. It processes the invisible as if it is being spoken out loud."
2. Dark 🧠
"You leave your body. Just one more ice cream scoop out of your brain. Pink matter, dark matter."
3. Wrong Again 🥤
"Twenty dollars in tokens to play an hour of Arctic Thunder. Commercial Coke bottle opens, give your ticket to the usher…Painted dragons on my plaster walls…Magic making my imagination real, I've forgotten how I feel."
4. Big Idea 💣
"I love TV sitcoms and soap operas cliffhanger, rerun courtroom dramas. All intelligence is artificial. We're just making love on a ballistic missile."
5. Hang In There 🗓️
"You're an original, he's a classic. A weapon of mass distraction. He's gonna get away with it, I know I've been there."
Her newest album Maitreya Corso comes out in May. It also has a few things inspired by the show, especially the track Lioness. This is what she said to Rolling Stone:
In that (suppression) Stone interview, she compared ST to Hunger Games as being anti-fascist "in its own way." During ST5 promo, she posted the teaser with this caption:
She correlates the radio station to the beginning of the end. Then she posted this interview on the Jimmy Fallon show:
She said, "Well, I'm just going to try to sneak one weird word under the radar," everyday she was on set, like someone trying to get across their message subliminally. If she does that through acting, she practices that trick in her music too. It's what her character did (in more ways than one).
She posted her original art work during this promo tour too. She says this about her art and music, "I feel that stealing is an artist’s greatest tool, like being a thought thief who runs around finding things that inspire you and make you want to make art."
The surrealist self-portrait features a checkered table against a red background, a spider, a red fox with fangs and a purple crystal shape on it's shirt, a red cloaked maiden that is reminiscent of Edvard Munch's The Scream, a feather-y purple creature clutching her head (that looks like a Who, from Horton Hears a Who!), and yellow alien-like creature with multiple, stringy eyes.
I see it being heavily inspired by the mindscape in ST, and possibly a doorway into her mindset. Each creature like the different phases in her acting processes. Some actors use "animal work" to get into character, like Noah choosing a gorilla. Robin was a spindly as spider, sly as a fox, and alien.
She loves foxes, or that is what is on her mind for the ST Letterboxd's Four Favorites:
Her latest instagram post announces the release of Bring Home My Man, which was liked by Vance, I mean, Joe Keery, aka DJO.
This is her original art work she uploaded with it:
A man and woman stand in front of an other-worldly portal, or an orb like IT in A Wrinkle In Time. The plant inside looks like rising vines, against a blue and red gradient. In my opinion, the plant's shape is a figure that looks like the Mind Flayer or Vecna. The lyrics speak of lovers, dreams, and time stopping.
She had uploaded her "Cutest Couple That Never Was" opinion on there, too. She chose Byler—Mike and Will.
She was quoted saying the show was something that everyone's "homophobic Uncle Rick" couldn't ignore (I can't find it on YT rn).
It strikes you as odd, even tone-deaf, given Will's coming out was ridiculed and straight-washed as he never said himself he was gay (but referred to as f*g, queer).
Maya is a supportive ally, she's acted in several queer roles, her father has too. It's fair to observe her as liberal-minded, and she has a safety net to afford being experimental in blending her roles and beliefs.
The ridicule the scene got, and the show's proportionate homophobic audience, was not something Maya's comment seemed to predict. Her character Robin, who did not end up on a date with her love interest, did not make waves. According to her Rolling Stone interview, she was also frustrated by a lack of authenticity on set and afraid of "losing touch"—as is often the case in meta, sci-fi narratives.
Meanwhile, "Rick" shows up a lot in the show, i.e. Refer Rick and the comic name the military guard was reading. Interesting connection, as the show's themes are about government oppression, and Rick is short for Richard Nixon—of watergate infamy (he had really weird views on homosexuality vs. policy btw). Go watch All the Presidents Men (1974) and Secret Honor (1984) if you're bored.
She's also being advise or rehearsed in what she says on camera, she has a team working on her promotional/brand material—that includes instagram to a larger extent, as she has a reach of millions. Which is now being used in the same way as WSQK, "sneaking in weird words under the radar."
Anyway, I'm a fan of her watercolor art now, and I hope she continues being experimental using chaos for good.
oh dream house you are so important to me
Reading byler fanfic and listening to maya hawkes new album is my vibe of the day
Maya Hawke on the Maitreya Corso tour at the Bluebird Theater in Denver, CO on 04/23/26 wearing the crown I gave her.
Made with love from an adventurous heart (and a little too much paper).
MAITREYA CORSO IS OUTTTTTT
omg it’s so good
last living lost cause OMG
Maya Hawke making a music video about shifting was not something I thought was gonna happen this year
maitreya corso is a work of art. i love you maya