Heather Mae is a musical innovator who uses her music for good. Her songs are celebrations of healing and recovery, touching listeners with every note. 2025 marks a massive year for the Nashville based artist as she has just shared her double album release. The albums entitled kiss & tell and WHAT THEY HID FROM ME, are musical collections that Heather dedicates to "survivors, outsiders and seekers of radical joy". WHAT THEY HID FROM ME is an album of alternative songs filled with genres of indie rock, folk, Americana and gritty pop, while kiss & tell is more commercial highlighting pop and electronic-drenched bangers. Each album is powerful and worth a listen in its own right.
Earmilk chats with Heather Mae all about her two albums, touring, influences and more. The result is not only a powerful conversation but also a fun read.
Hi Heather, thanks for chatting with us. First of all, congratulations on the new double album release kiss & tell and WHAT THEY HID FROM ME. Why did you choose to release both albums at once?
Despite existing in two different sonic universes—one rooted in Americana Indie Alternative, the other in Pop—these records are two halves of the same story. WHAT THEY HID FROM ME is the reckoning, burning it all down and confronting trauma; kiss & tell is the reclamation, stepping into pleasure and refusing to apologize for taking up space. They belong together, which is why they have to be released on the same day. Also? I refuse to let capitalism dictate my creativity. Artists shouldn’t be forced into neat little boxes just because it makes marketing easier. I’m not here to serve a playlist algorithm—I’m here to make good music that leaves a positive impact on this world.
What does the new music mean to you?
Career wise, these albums are the most me I’ve ever sounded. They are loud and soft, furious and tender, unfiltered and intentional. They are the full spectrum of my musicality. Their topics are deeply personal, exposing some of my realest fears and vulnerabilities. These albums are a roadmap of my becoming. Personally? They're a real life example of my resilience. These records were supposed to drop in 2023 but a divorce and grief and mental illness…it took me out at my knees. I halted everything. Two years later, I'm stronger, I'm still alive, and I'm finally ready to release them.
What is your favorite song off of each album and why?
From WHAT THEY HID FROM ME, it’s "What I Know Now". It’s a song about survival—about how I was raped at 18 years old and how, for years, I didn’t have the language to call it what it was. Writing it was like opening a locked door inside myself. I was at a music conference, and between panels, I went back to my hotel room, picked up my guitar, and immediately heard the first line: “18 years old in the back of a bar.” I immediately felt this knee-jerk reaction: "No, we don’t write about 18." But then, something deeper—something that didn’t feel entirely my own—said, "It’s time." Two hours later, the song was done. I knew, even then, that it wasn’t written just for me. It was for the other survivors who have carried their own silence, believing it was theirs to bear alone. This song is my way of saying: You are not alone. You were never alone.
From kiss & tell, it’s "Kissing Girls". I grew up in the evangelical purity movement, where Queerness wasn’t just a sin—it wasn’t even an option. My first crush was on a girl. My first kiss was with a girl. But because of the world I was raised in, I told myself it didn’t count. That’s what compulsory heterosexuality does to you. It rewrites your own story. "Kissing Girls" is me undoing that erasure, rewriting my history in full color.
You are a genre-defying rebel. You must have varied musical influences. What are they, and have they influenced your new music?
I’ve always been drawn to music that makes me feel something, no matter the genre. Etta James, Elton John, Janet Jackson, Ingrid Michaelson, Fleet Foxes—these artists shaped me in different ways, and somehow, that all comes together in my music. I was an emo kid in high school, screaming along to Jimmy Eat World, The Fratellis, and Dashboard Confessional, so making a record with ZDAN let me lean all the way into my sad mad, grrl rock, gritty indie-alternative side with WHAT THEY HID FROM ME. kiss & tell is where my love of pop got to shine—it’s equal parts Maggie Rogers, Chappell Roan, and something uniquely me.
You write music for the outsiders, the survivors, and the seekers of radical joy. What do you hope listeners take away from both WHAT THEY HID FROM ME and kiss & tell?
That healing isn’t linear. That you are allowed to be angry, and you are allowed to be joyful. That both can exist at the same time. I want these albums to make people feel seen—in their grief, in their rage, in their pleasure, in their queerness. That’s the goal. That’s the whole point.
Both new albums were created entirely by women and nonbinary music makers. How was the vibe in the studio because of this, and did it differ from previous collaborative processes?
It was electric. There’s a difference when you walk into a room and no one is trying to make you prove you belong there. The energy is collaborative instead of competitive. I co-produced kiss & tell with Lollies, and it was the most creatively unhinged I’ve ever been. When you’re not asking a man if it’s “okay” to chase the perfect 808 or rework a guitar pass 20 times, you push boundaries. You get weird. You take risks. And that’s when the best art happens.
You tour quite a lot. What is something random on your rider?
I have a section at the very bottom of my rider that says "Optional Fun Perks: Framed picture of Sarah Paulson. Inflatable cow balloon. Gay stuff." So far, two venues have nailed the assignment.
Tell our readers a funny or memorable moment from a recent show.
Two days after the election, I was scheduled to perform in Missouri…I almost canceled when the election was called. The weight of everything happening in the world made it hard to imagine stepping on stage and just playing a set. But instead of canceling, I decided to pivot. I transformed the event into a spontaneous choir concert, chant workshop, and peer-to-peer support group. What was originally going to be just me on stage became an entire room of people singing together—lifting our voices in collective healing, processing our grief, and reminding each other that we are not alone. It was one of the most important and moving performances I’ve ever been part of, and it reinforced why I do this work: to create spaces where people can find resilience, even in the hardest moments.
If you could create your own PRIDE festival, what three talents besides yourself would you want to perform with and why?
Chappell Roan – She is the moment. Pop music needs more unhinged queer joy.
Allison Russell – She is pure magic and one of my biggest inspirations.
Flamy Grant – Because queer folk music needs more drag queens, period.
Finally, what is next for Heather Mae?
Touring. Screaming these songs at the top of my lungs with the people who need them most. Creating space for queer joy, queer grief, queer healing—because we deserve all of it. My Nashville album release party is on March 18th at DRKMTTR and I'm pretty stoked about that, too. It's my first time debuting my band!!
Connect with Heather Mae: INSTAGRAM
