Desire and indifference collide in Maisyn’s debut single “Cool Girl”

As an LA-based artist, Maisyn isn’t too far from Hollywood fakeness. But fake emotions from fake lovers aren’t strictly the domain of the silver screen. Her debut single, “Cool Grl”, walks that border between desire and indifference in a relationship.

Her loveless lover only wants a physical relationship. But for Maisyn, she wants it all—her desires “bleed like watercolors,” obscuring any distinction between physical or emotional.

In her own words, she feared that “wanting to be wanted might turn me into a cliché.” But her honesty is anything but. Beautiful similes and vulnerable statements float across hopeful, almost aspirational synth chords. Each musical piece tells a complex story.

When she reaches into her head voice, she drops all barriers and reveals her heart. When she grounds her lyrics in her chest voice, action follows. And when she switches within a phrase, her conflict escalates.

Her vocal control and musicality elevate a simple song of desire to an empathetic narrative. During the guitar solo, she quietly doubles each riff, literally diminishing her role in that moment to the backup her character feels.

As the song ends, the optimistic harmonies fall away. With a final, conspiratorial line, she ends her debut: a sobering statement abandoning all pretense of nonchalance.

Stream “Cool Grl” below.

Ben McCoy

Ben is an advertising Madman who spends his days with words and music. When he’s not writing for his supper, he’s eating it at some of NYC’s most interesting restaurants.