The most you can ask of a summer is that it’ll last all summer long. And that’s enough for Canary Islands, Spain-based Daria Maxima on “Forever for Now,” her rousing breakout single that celebrates the fizzy impermanence of a warm-weather romance—while leaving the door open to something more lasting, just as this surefire dancefloor smash hints at a long and illustrious career for the wunderkind behind the mic.
All of that training and experience has allowed her to emerge as an artist who already sounds mature beyond her years—especially when it comes to her supple yet authoritative vocal delivery, which is firmly in the tradition of musical giants like Whitney Houston and Christina Aguilera. Maxima’s innate talents are brought out even further by her collaboration with hitmaking superstar producer Adam H (Ray J, Ne-Yo, Elise Estrada, Sarah Geronimo, Loverboy, Def Leppard), who discovered her through the Vocal Star program and has since helped her craft a sound that blends the infectious energy of pop with the soulful depth of classics. He also co-wrote “Forever for Now” with her, with an extra assist from Don Wolf, Oksana Davidenko, and Orlando Calzada (Destiny’s Child, TLC, One Direction) as the mix engineer.
Calling us to immediate attention with its pounding beat and infectious melody, the song finds our heroine beguiled by a new crush while trying not to mislead him that it’s anything more. Or is that her own heart she’s trying to convince?
It’s not like I’m head over heels
But I dig that smile
Aint like I’m catchin’ the Feels
Cause that ain’t my style
Don’t get your head super twisted
Don’t believe these eyes
They might be spillin’ my secrets
Damn them butterflies
The playful ambivalence deepens as the chorus breaks like a wave of giddy possibility:
And I know you might think I’m fallin’ for you
But it aint love
It’s just somethin’ I’m goin’ through
But never say never, ever
Cause maybe I’m down
To love you forever and ever
“The song is not about forever,” Maxima clarifies. “It’s not about commitment, expectations, family planning … nothing heavy. It’s about living for the moment—carpe diem!— and enjoying this new nerve-tickling sensation. Because really, the future is unwritten and there’s always a chance this Forever for Now might turn into Forever.”
But wait a minute. Wasn’t she just saying …
“No matter how much you resist something and fight against it, at the end of the day it’s you heart that chooses what happens next,” she explains. “So you just need to be open and listen to it, in spite of what your head, common sense or logic might be telling you. Quoting Antoine de Saint-Exupery: ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.’”
That’s a pretty weighty reference for such a young artist, but Maxima has had a head start on a lot of stuff. A singer since age 4, she started playing piano at 6 and writing her own songs at 10. In the process, she also mastered several instruments, including piano and guitar, and honed her knowledge of music theory at Adeje Music School, coordinated by the prestigious Tenerife Conservatory on her home turf of Spain’s Canary Islands.
Even though Maxima continues to work from the shores of Tenerife while Adam H hunkers down in his mega studio in Vancouver, the vast distance between them didn’t stop them from making what very well could be the single of the summer. And in two different versions!
Thanks to the miracle of conferencing technologies like Zoom and Sessionwire, they were able to produce not just “Forever for Now” but its Spanish-language counterpart, “Tú y Yo al Final,” both of which are being released simultaneously as a package drop. It helped immeasurably that Maxima is fluent in both Spanish, English, Russian and German.
Yes, add yet another asset to the skill set that’s about to endear her to the world. Because this fully formed triple threat of talent, vision and unbridled moxie is going to be with us for a while. Maybe even—dare we say it—forever.
