Opportunity wasn’t calling maryjo’s name. Instead, it landed on her doorstep and befriended her. The rising singer from Cleveland was born into a musical family, and has had longtime dreams of becoming a singer. Even though she found herself keeping it all under wraps for a large portion of her life, partially due to stage fright, the desire to entertain and inspire others never died.
Things began to change when maryjo started posting videos of herself singing online, and eventually caught the attention of American Idol producers. It turned out to be quite the experience for her, and performing for the entire nation was just the push maryjo needed to kick off her music career. Her latest summer single “Don’t Call Me” is out now, and sends a warning to anyone who finds the name calling game entertaining. Feel free to come up with a thesaurus full of names for maryjo, but don’t even think about picking up the phone and calling her!
I got to chat with maryjo about her journey so far, and about how “Don’t Call Me” came together. Read below!
To start things off, I learned when you were younger, you had some pretty hardcore stage fright. Is that true?
Oh yeah, that’s bigtime true. I could sing in front of my family up until I was maybe 7 years old, and then when I moved, I just completely couldn’t. I was really private about it. All of my family is musical too, so it’s kind of weird.
Oh my goodness! They knew you wanted to pursue music though, right?
I don’t think so, because when I was in first grade I told everyone I wanted to become a real estate agent. But for my birthday, I’d ask for a piano and guitar. They knew I liked music, but I don’t think they knew how much I liked it because I kept it so private and hidden.
So it was kind of like Hannah Montana in a way? You have this version of you that everyone sees, and they’re like, “Hey! It’s maryjo!” Internally, you’re a rockstar who loves music.
That’s it. That’s exactly it.
When was that moment when you were like, “It’s time to start conquering this and breaking out of my shell!” I want to know what was going through your mind at that time.
I figured they wouldn’t see my stuff I posted on Twitter or TikTok. I showed it to my friends first and they were like, “Oh my gosh, post it!” I started posting it on Twitter, and my parents never saw it. My mom never saw it. I didn’t really care so much if my sister saw it, but she didn’t really go on Twitter so it’s fine. On TikTok, all of my friends were doing the dances during Covid. I’d feel so left out, because they’d be doing the renegade and I didn’t know how to do it. I downloaded it, and posted the videos that were on Twitter. They did well, so I was like, “It’s time to start this thing and try to get out of my shell.”
You know what? It’s okay, because I still don’t know how to do the renegade. I literally don’t.
It’s okay, neither do I!
I was on TikTok this morning watching all of these videos of people dancing and was like… I’m gonna leave this to y’all. I can’t do this.
I can’t figure it out. It takes too long.
It does. But you transitioned from this state to being on American Idol so fast, and that’s something that is honestly really incredible.
Thank you! That was terrifying.
I bet – especially during Covid! How did that play out?
I had videos that were doing well, and all the shows reached out. AGT, Idol, The Four, all of them… The Voice too. I was like, “Nah. I can’t do it. I’m sorry.” I was just too scared. At the same time, I started working with my managers. They said since it’s Covid, it’s a good idea to do Idol if you want to because there’s going to be so many more viewers since there’s no live music. Everyone will just be watching the shows. They were right, but in my head, it was like oh my gosh. There’s more viewers that are going to be watching me. I have to sing live, and I’ve never done that before. So yeah, that’s kind of how that happened. I would say it’s like if some little baby birds had a mom, and the mom just pushed two babies out of the nest.
What was one of the biggest things you learned through that whole experience?
Probably just how important it is to sing in front of people! It’s a whole different vibe than singing in your bathroom. Also thinking of how that impacts other people listening to you live – it’s more of a connection. I think just, doing the dang thing. I think the biggest thing I learned is you can’t just do this in your bathroom. Doing this live is a completely different experience for both you and the people listening.
Over the years, you’ve really been working on developing your sound. The best way for me to describe it to people would be “the vocals are taking center stage.” How would you personally describe your own sound?
I would say I just try to tell a story and have emotion in it so that they can feel the story. It’s not just lyrics to make a song that sounds decent.
Well, “Don’t Call Me” is out now, and again I’m LOVING it. I want to know all the tea on how this song came together, what was your thought process as you were writing it, all that good stuff.
I was with Logan Maggio, Beau Bailey and Knox Morris. I’ve been saying this thing (as a pickup line) where I’m like, “I’m maryjo but you can call me tonight!” We decided to twist that into a song called “Don’t Call Me” where we’re just roasting them because they’re toxic. I was like yes, but can we make it into a summer bop? By the time this would’ve been released, it would be the summer, and I really wanted to start getting into more upbeat tempo song. I didn’t want to just perform sad songs live.
That’s literally how it came about – with a pickup line and deciding to make it into a summer bop! Every line just came after another. We used to have the word narcissist in there, but we changed it to arsonist. I thought that was fun, because that’s not in a lot of songs.
That’s true.
True dat.
I also heard, for this song you were thinking about a breakup and the five stages of grief. How did all of that tie together with this song?
All of my friends are in relationships, so they’re all breaking up with people at different times. The biggest one I thought would be fun to write about is anger.
It’s like the emotions personified. Right now I’m thinking of the movie Inside Out, and all the emotions put together like little balls. Let’s see which one rolls out first!
Hahaha, that’s awesome.
So I wanna talk about your inspirations. What’s something that’s inspiring you right now to keep going?
I think it’s just the reactions… actually, it’s all the songs and the sessions. Every time I’ve done a session, it’s with a group I really like and I go, “Oh my gosh. I want to go back in and make a better song.” It’s just the chase of constantly wanting to get better.
What’s one thing you’d say you’ve improved upon over the past few years that many people might not assume?
I would say stage prescience maybe? I still post a lot of videos of me in the bathroom… not many live performances because we’re just starting to do those. Now if they saw videos of my live performances, they’d know.
Hey – I love surprises!
They love a great plot twist.
Definitely. Who were some of your biggest musical inspirations when you were younger?
Kelly Clarkson, I love her. It was mainly Kelly Clarkson. I listened to Britney Spears, but I didn’t take that into my artistry. I listened to a lot of… I want to say this was 5 or 7 years ago so I wasn’t super young, but Ed Sheeran. I listened to a lot of him too… and Michael Bublé. I haven’t said these yet on any interviews, but now I’m thinking about who I listened to when I was young. It was really Kelly Clarkson on repeat. There was also Vanessa Carlton… she was the GOAT.
Those are singers where… okay it really makes sense when I said that you put your vocals center stage. I think they all put their vocals center stage too.
I think they do, too. When I see their performances, I can tell people are so invested in their voice and the story. It’s not just all about the glam shabam. (I’ve never said that before in my life.)
Our time together is almost over, but I want to know one thing you really hope listeners will take from “Don’t Call Me.”
Probably that you’re still awesome, even though people call you crazy. I think a lot of people in toxic relationships know there’s a lot of name calling, so I’m hoping they know they’re not the only ones being name called.
Totally. I’d also throw in there, it’s okay to just block people’s numbers. Protect your peace honey!
Like the debt collector…
The debt collector is blocked, automatically. He does not exist in my realm. I choose to not bring that energy into my life.
Stream “Don’t Call Me” below, and keep up with maryjo on Instagram and TikTok!
