Athena Maria and the Spark of Irresistible Desire

Athena Maria steps into the song much like most people step into a memory, very much aware of the pain that the sensation might cause but powerless against the allure. Her new track Lemon Juice is a perfect exemplification of this conflict with a spark that is magnetically alluring. It bursts forth with crunching guitars and a playful pop attitude, which is characteristic of the sassy bite of Remi Wolf and the sunny, charismatic Harry Styles. Right from the onset of the kick of the beat, the track is evidence of a rush that is emblematic of a reckless impulse but is utterly unavoidable nonetheless.

Lemon Juice inhabits that all-too-familiar emotional space where trouble and desire are swapping roles. The song takes apart the pleasure of chasing a person you know is going to mess up your life, and the production reflects that mood with biting guitars and a hook that lives to blow minds. This is a song about the power of rash decisions because they are vibrant with potential, not despite their lack of wisdom. The energy here is high, sometimes a little off-color, and always designed for repeat business. But in the glittering surface is an artist who has a history before this song ever got written.

Music, to Athena, was never something she pursued. It simply was a part of her life before she even grasped the meaning of it. Her family loves to tell the story of how she could sing before she could speak, and although it sounds like something from a legend, listening to the way her voice just flows makes sense of it all. Her family is not particularly musical, yet Athena had the urge to sing and to write music.

The world went quiet during the pandemic, and although many girls her age had disappeared into gaming and streaming marathons, Athena turned inward and wrote. One night, late into the evening, she wrote the final lyrics of “Ribbons in Her Hair,” a song about unrequited love, born from the pain of watching a crush pick another girl to be with. When she played it for her family, they cried. She saw possibility in their tears—not for fame or spectacle, but for the recognition that what she was doing had the power to move others. This fueled her passion, and she continued to write. She continued to hone. She continued to prove to herself that each successive song could reach deeper and speak louder.

Her list of influences has broadened with the passing of time. She discovers new genres in love the way an artist discovers new pigments, and whatever she is listening to, her music just absorbs naturally. Sometimes she is swimming in the glittering pop scene, other times she floats into fusion jazz with a French twist. Currently, she is besotted with the introverted intimacy of Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake, artists who know how to convey emotion with refreshing simplicity. Their styles are bound to creep into her next few songs. But her original influences are still the artists who helped define her aesthetics, from the colorful arrogance of Remi Wolf to the easy charm of Harry Styles and the heartfelt sincerity of Gracie Abrams. Athena writes about life, weaving scenes and feelings directly into her songs. Sometimes her thoughts come from unexpected sources, even from moments of pop culture that once existed in only fandom circles. She looks at every experience as fodder, not to capitalize on it, but to comprehend it. There is a sense of curiosity about the heart and its contradictions in her songs.