On September 16, Maeta shared a photo from the Joe Budden Network set on X with a two-word caption: "long overdue." The episode, "Some Things Never Change (feat. Maeta)", first came out on September 17 for Patreon subscribers of The Joe Budden Podcast, one of the most-followed shows in hip-hop and R&B. Since September 25, the full video is free on YouTube, and it is also on our interview page. Maeta is on set for more than an hour. Here is what she talks about.
2024, the year everything changed
The hosts had been talking about When I Hear Your Name for more than a year. Maeta says it is still her favorite thing she has made, and she feels no pressure to top it. 2024 looked like a dream: the album, Roc Nation, opening for Chris Brown, then her own dates in Australia, London and Tokyo. On the flight home, her manager collapsed as the plane was landing and died shortly after. At the same time she was leaving Roc Nation, which, as she puts it, was moving toward distribution. Getting out took about a year and a half.
Independent, and done rushing
Maeta is now independent, working with Human Re Sources, the artist services company founded by J. Erving, and with a new manager. Dealing with legal matters on her own for the first time taught her who she could really count on, and how fragile life is.
The hard part now is choosing how to come back: lead with her strongest song, or rebuild momentum first. Industry veteran Troy Carter told her that one hit can change everything. She says she has made peace with the wait and puts her bond with fans ahead of industry approval, though she admits she is tired of teasing songs. On stage, she sometimes joins The Free Nationals, including in Korea, but she wants her own shows again, starting with a Blue Note in New York.
Her voice, her image, her writers
Signed at 18, a tomboy from Indiana, she remembers begging to sing while every choice went through a lot of people. She now wants her voice to shine more, without giving up what fans love. She is also unlearning an idea she was taught from the age of 15: that she had to lean on her sexuality to get ahead. She still writes with James Fauntleroy and with Absolutely, RAYE's younger sister, and wants to keep working with people who genuinely back her.
Three unreleased songs
Her next single will be "Decimate", a sex song she has been teasing for years. She also plays "Superstar" and "Hide", which nobody had heard before. The hosts hear an evolution: three different songs that would still sit on the same album, with "Hide" the most surprising of the three.
R&B, AI and the big questions
The conversation also covers male R&B today (her ideal artist would have Frank Ocean's artistry, with less of the shirtless-in-leather look), AI in music, a question she turns back on the hosts, and her philosophical side: a love of nature inherited from her landscaper father, a fear of eternity and a belief in reincarnation. Her audience, she says, mixes longtime R&B lovers in their forties with much younger fans.
A reunion
The visit feels like a reunion: Joe Budden was already among the voices praising her work in 2023, according to YouKnowIGotSoul, alongside Pharrell and Robin Thicke. The episode lands at a key moment, as Maeta hints at new music arriving this month.
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