{"id":2316318,"date":"2026-03-06T21:54:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T21:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2316318"},"modified":"2026-03-06T21:54:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T21:54:21","slug":"maria-isabel-talks-new-music-new-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/maria-isabel-talks-new-music-new-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Maria Isabel Talks New Music, New EP"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t<\/span>ar\u00eda Isabel is always on the go. Over the past year, the singer-songwriter has been living out of a suitcase, shuttling between New York and her home in Los Angeles, recording a new EP in Miami, and even visiting the Dominican Republic<\/a>, where she shot a recent video for her new single \u201cSuiza.\u201d<\/a> It may sound head-spinning but she thrives in constant motion.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t like being in one place for too long,\u201d Mar\u00eda Isabel<\/a> tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cThe second, every day starts to feel the same, I get really restless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWe are sitting in a booth at Cafe Chelsea on the first non-freezing day in late February. It\u2019s warm enough that Mar\u00eda has slipped off her light fluffy brown jacket and wears a simple white tank top, her gold hoops and matching gold nameplate necklace shining in the restaurant light. Her green eyes glimmer as she admits that she has to go home and pack later for another <\/em>flight back to L.A.; she is only home for a few days to pick up her dog Omarion. New York is where she grew up and it will always have her heart, but there is one thing in L.A. that she can\u2019t wait to get back to: her car.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI really love being in my car by myself,\u201d she says, adding. \u201cThat\u2019s when I mostly listen to music, including my music.\u201d Mar\u00eda remembers that special moment when she was finally able to play her collection of new songs while driving. \u201cIt was the first time I had given myself a second,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re in the dead of winter right now, but it feels quite summer-coded, so I\u2019m excited for it to just get warmer and to have it blasting.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tMar\u00eda shared the first taste of her new EP last year with singles \u201cSunset Tower\u201d<\/a> and \u201cBien Bien.\u201d<\/a> Now, the singer has released \u201cSuiza,\u201d a dembow-inflected track which highlights the project\u2019s confident, IDGAF tone and its Latin music influences. Along with the song, she delivers a bright music video, filmed in her homeland of the Dominican Republic. \u201cThe song just feels a little bigger than anything I\u2019ve made before,\u201d she says. \u201cShooting the song\u2019s video felt like living my pop star dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSuiza\u201d and the rest of the sultry R&B and reggaeton-inspired tracks, produced by Latin pop architect El Guincho<\/a>, who has worked with everyone from Rosal\u00eda, FKA Twigs, and Camila Cabello, mark somewhat of a departure for Mar\u00eda. Since 2020, the singer-songwriter built a steady following with her EPs, I Hope You\u2019re Very Unhappy Without Me <\/em>and 2021\u2019s Stuck in the Sky<\/em>, which were full of\u00a0 \u201csad girl R&B,\u201d as Mar\u00eda puts it. \u201cI definitely used to box myself in a little bit as an artist,\u201d she says. On those earlier projects, Mar\u00eda reflected on her mental health journey over simple, muted beats and delicate chords. \u201cI was very much a little bit lost in the world when all the first music was coming out and still figuring out what I wanted to say.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the five years since her last EP, Mar\u00eda\u2019s vision for her music has become clear. While her earlier work found the singer seamlessly moving between Spanglish, this new release is entirely in Spanish. \u201cI didn\u2019t go in with that intention,\u201d says Mar\u00eda, Instead, she \u201cleaned more heavily on the way I grew up to write this next project.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tBorn and raised in Queens, the singer would walk outside and hear a mix of Jay-Z, salsa, and bachata being played from bodegas. Her family didn\u2019t have a musical background; her father worked as computer technician and her mom was a patient services administrator at a hospital. Still, \u201cthey definitely helped shape it at home,\u201d she says. Her parents signed her up for vocal lessons and the church choir, and her mother bought her Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera concert DVDs. \u201cI would watch them so excessively that I would start to memorize the choreography on stage,\u201d Mar\u00eda says. For a school exercise that asked what kids wanted to be when they grew up, she vividly remembers her response: \u201cI drew a girl with a microphone and I was like, \u2018I\u2019m going to be a pop star.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tBefore she could make that happen, Mar\u00eda\u2019s parents insisted she get a college education. She chose to study English literature at New York University; halfway through her undergrad, she switched to Gallatin to study songwriting and music business. While there, she wrote her first songs and met the collaborators that would shape her initial projects. Though Mar\u00eda has spent most of her life dreaming of being a professional singer and musician, she doesn\u2019t take her reality for granted at all. \u201cAs a first-generation kid, I\u2019m really blessed to do what I do in the sense that I don\u2019t think my parents could have imagined my future turning out this way or seeing it for themselves,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n\tBeyond her New York City upbringing and Dominican background, Mar\u00eda\u2019s new EP was also inspired by the end of her longest relationship at this point in her life. \u201cThe relationship just got really heavy. As much as I loved that person, it was just at some point I was like, \u2018I\u2019m losing myself to be in this,\u2019\u201d she says. Still, Maria put off ending the relationship for some time. \u201cI just thought I was going to be so heartbroken.\u201d As soon as she made the difficult decision to end the relationship, something she says she \u201cdelayed,\u201d Mar\u00eda realized it was the best thing she could\u2019ve done. \u201cI felt lighter after and I was like, \u2018I am okay by myself,\u2019\u201d she recalls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s why her new EP isn\u2019t a collection of heartbreak songs, but self-assured tracks with biting lyrics that reflect her current adult chapter. On \u201cSuiza,\u201d for example, Mar\u00eda quips, \u201cMenos mal que no me case\u201d (\u201cThank goodness I didn\u2019t get married\u201d). \u201cI was dating for the first time as a full grown adult where I\u2019m settled and know what I want, what I don\u2019t want,\u201d she says. \u201cSo it was just way more fun and lighthearted,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

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