Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Shockey
Hi Maria, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Absolutely! Looking back over my childhood I can see this thread of songwriting woven all the way through my story. I always say I was a writer first- I was known as a kid for disappearing to a quiet room with a journal and a glitter pen, processing my experiences, observations, and creating imaginary worlds on paper. Combine that with a karaoke machine for my 8th or 9th birthday and a couple on-stage roles in school and church plays, you could say the rest was history! The rest of my childhood was filled by dance classes, theatre productions, film/TV auditions, and vocal lessons.
Growing up also came with its challenges for me in my personal/family life, and I reflect with immense gratitude for the role that writing and music played in helping me to navigate those painful experiences. Writing allowed me a space to feel heard, music gave me hope and truth to hold onto, performing gave me confidence, boldness and determination. I was only about 11 years old when I knew I was destined for a career using my words, voice, and stories to help others have that same hope that music had given me.
The summer before I started high school I began to teach myself guitar, and it was from that point that songwriting really took the front seat and I started seeking out what a professional career would look like. At 19 years old, I moved from my hometown in suburban Maryland to Nashville, TN to attend Belmont University. Coming up on nearly 10 years here, it has absolutely become my home.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Despite my love for the city of Nashville and the music itself, the industry can be a bit of a beast. I’ve often heard Nashville called a “10-year-town” and separately that your 20s are your “formative years”, so naturally it’s been anything but a smooth road navigating my 20s here.
Professionally, the biggest challenges for me have been the lack of a blueprint or roadmap to follow, the rate at which industry standards change, the fear of failure, and comparison. The good and bad news is that no two roads here are the same.
If you’ve heard any horror stories, I can confirm they’re probably true. I’ve had huge disappointments while simultaneously watching friends soar. I’ve had the meetings where someone told me to lose weight, change my hair, stop writing ‘sad’ songs. I’ve had people look me in the eyes and say I’ll never make it. I’ve had contracts broken, law suits threatened, collaborators betray me, friends move on. I’ve made huge mistakes, signed things I shouldn’t have, compromised my integrity, let people down, wasted money I’ll never get back. I’ve played shows to empty rooms. Put all of my hope and faith into something that totally falls through. Gotten into rooms just to later be kicked out.
Personally, I’ve spent a large chunk of time processing through grief from my childhood, doing the work to be healthier as I grow up. It’s not only made my relationships and overall health better, but it’s greatly informed and impacted the music I write. Someone wise told me several years ago that I couldn’t get up on a platform and preach a message of healing and hope when I was still drowning in my own grief. My own personal healing in the last few years especially has entirely changed the way I approach this whole music thing.
Call it maturity, my pre frontal cortex fully developing as I come up on my 30’s, the nature of this town taking people 10 years to truly hit their stride, but I feel 360* different than the kid who packed up a hand-me-down car and drove herself to a city with nothing but a song in her broken little heart and a pipe dream.
I’ve felt lost in some way pretty much every step of the way, and in a lot of ways I still do. Nothing about this industry is linear, what works today might not– probably won’t– work tomorrow. At some point, you have to push past that fear of the unknown and give it your best shot today, and again tomorrow, and again and again until you start making some ground.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Yes! I’m a pop songwriter, artist, and all-around storyteller. My goal is that being honest and sharing my stories with you will encourage, inspire, and empower you to find your voice as well, to face whatever’s in front of you with hope, and to know you’re not alone.
My particular style of music is a lyrically focused and emotive commercial pop. I hate to put myself in a box and have tracks ranging from piano ballads, to empowering breakup bops comparable to Tate McCrae or Olivia Rodrigo, or even darker introspective tracks that explore heavier topics, such as my most recent track ‘golden child.” Regardless of the mood, it all generally falls under an umbrella of a commercial pop singer/songwriter, as the vast majority of my songs were initially written solo with just my guitar or piano.
My current / upcoming project is probably the body of work I’m the most proud of so far in my career, as it reflects the emotional work I’ve done these last few years, reaches new depths of vulnerability, and covers topics of my own trauma that has been equally challenging and rewarding to begin to share with the world.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I’ll be VERY curious to see where the music industry ends up a few years from now! We’ve seen such a massive change the last 4-5 years with the rise of social media like TikTok– artists having direct access to their fanbase has democratized the industry and allowed artists to do the thing without a label or management team in their corner. It’s also curved the other way, where labels are rarely signing and developing new talent anymore, something I think the general public has begun to miss. We saw all these social media stars burn hot and burn out quickly, causing labels to slow down signings in some cases. Seeing how oversaturated social media has gotten and the public’s recent pull towards more ‘celebrity’ status artists like Sabrina Carpenter, I can only predict the pendulum is swinging back in that direction. it will be interesting to see what this means for the average indie artist like myself.
I expect we’ll see indie artists playing to smaller camps made up of “superfans” and running their own careers autonomously. And for labels, I’m honestly hoping we see a pivot back towards signing raw talent early, and developing these stars before elevating them too high. I also hope that causes a shift towards healthier rhythms for our artists- not only have we seen too many talented rising stars recently completely collapse under the pressure of gaining too much fame too fast, but we have long seen artists burn themselves into the ground with the demand for more and more tours, shows, songs, etc. until they’ve completely compromised their health. From Chappel Roan to Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber, I want to see an industry that honors the artists that made them by setting them up for longer term success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mariashockey.squarespace.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariashockey/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrFNBHQCIL4IcqnI25Akqbw
- Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/maria-shockey/1144427790
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1PMyd7oGcPMuJppXFlzFAF
