Actress and singer’s Chaos Angel album came out in May
With her eyes dramatically wide, as she’s hypnotized by flickering screens surrounding her, Maya Hawke gently sang, “I love TV sitcoms and soap operas/Cliffhanger, rerun courtroom dramas” — the opening lyrics of her new Chaos Angel single, “Big Idea” —on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday.
She quickly becomes comfortable with the visuals, though, and they amplify her lyrics, showing Shakespeare winking as she sings about making “your favorite person laugh” and a tank running over daisies as she sings the chorus, “You don’t believe in the big idea — Hey, what’s the big idea?” At the end, she’s smiling as the world burns.
Hawke released Chaos Angel a few weeks ago and has released videos for “Missing Out” and “Dark.” She also released “Hang in There” as a single and performed it on The Daily Show.
In May, Hawke, better known as an actress who has appeared in Stranger Things, told Rolling Stone about how she created Chaos Angel around the same time she was portraying author Flannery O’Connor in the biopic Wildcat. “I finished that album while I was making the movie,” she said. “Because as soon as it was over, I went to go record it. The title of the album comes from working on this movie. I was really inspired by Flannery and the idea that she was fighting against her guardian angel. I liked this idea, and it became a hidden meaning for me in the whole movie.”
She went on to say that reenacting O’Connor’s life story made her think about how people sometimes fight their instincts, such as leaving a party at the proper time. “That’s like a real-life version of fighting your guardian angel,” she said. “I wanted to make a record about that idea and the ways in which we resist our best selves. Kind of a plea to wanting to welcome your best self.”