You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishikesh Hirwe. The Marias is a band from Los Angeles made up of Maria Zardoya, Josh Conway, Jesse Perlman, and Edward James. They released their first EPs in 2017 and 2018, and their first album in 2021. But then, as you'll hear, there was a period of a lot of uncertainty around the band's future. Eventually, their second album, Submarine, came out in 2024, and it was incredibly successful. Stereogum called it one of the best albums of the year, and the band was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist. But all of that almost didn't happen. I talked to Maria about the making of their hit song, No One Noticed. The stories beginning, middle, and end all took place during different eras of the band's existence. In the middle section, when maybe they weren't going to even be a band anymore, Maria enlisted the help of Grammy-nominated producer Gianluca Bucciolati. And I spoke to Luca for this episode as well. Maybe I Lost my mind No one noticed No one noticed My name is Maria and I'm in a band called The Marias. Do you remember what was happening on the first day that you started thinking about this song? Yeah, it was 2020, peak pandemic. So we were just in our apartment writing songs. And when you say we, who's that? Josh and I. Josh and I lived together at the time. Josh is also the drummer of the Marias. And so we would just wake up and write songs, go to bed, write songs. You know, we couldn't do much else except for write songs and then just kind of spend time in nature and go on long walks. And so there was one morning I woke up and I just, it was just a beautiful morning. I had all the windows open. and I just grabbed my guitar and there's a chord progression that I just always find myself gravitating towards. What's that chord progression? I'll play it for you. I can write a hundred songs with this chord progression and I think I have. This is just kind of what I jam to, but... it. I think the first complete song that I ever wrote on guitar was a similar progression. So I think it's just something about it that speaks to me. So yeah, that morning I was in my bed and I was playing the chords and then the melody. just kind of came out and I was like, oh, there's something here. And so I just hit record on my phone. Had you and Josh been making music together for a long time before this moment? Yeah. So we started making music together in like 2015. and we were working on our debut album at this point. And he was teaching me production at the time. I really wanted to learn how to like make my own demos. And so we had two workstations set up in my living room. So it was like his workstation with like a giant desk and that's where we would record most of our things. And then in the corner of the room was like my little desk and like a little keyboard and my little laptop. And so after kind of jamming on the guitar and having kind of a structure for the song, I was like, okay, I think I'm ready to make my demo. Will you help me kind of put some of the foundational pieces together? So that's the loop that Josh made when he was teaching me production. The genius of Josh is like finding the right groove. and we call him like the heartbeat of the Marias because he's the drummer but he's the producer as well and he put that together so quickly in like 20 minutes. I had a lot of the words written and then when he passed me this track then more started coming out and so I came up with the pre-chorus. I'd kind of like it if you'd call me Cause I'm so over being lonely I just want to go back to the fact that this was during COVID times. Do you think that what you were feeling around that was playing into what you were writing? Definitely. I think, I mean, you can hear it in the lyrics. Please be my virtual connection, you know, because we were connecting virtually with everyone. And I'm so over being lonely. I kind of like it if you'd call me. It's like we're together feeling so connected in the virtual ways that we can connect. Everybody was Zooming. Everybody was doing their Instagram lives. Ways of connecting, but still feeling separate and still feeling alone. And that same day, I was just kind of feeling like, well, I just made this little demo that I really like. I'm just going to put it out. so I just like put it to a scene of Paris, Texas. I had just seen that movie like the night before and there was a scene of like the woman crying like behind the booth. I hear your voice all the time. Every man has your voice. It was like she was feeling lonely but still together because there was a wall between them and that kind of how I felt during the pandemic So yeah so I put the demo to that scene and then I put it out on Instagram and that was it Until it wasn't. With No One Noticed, it was kind of a more melancholic kind of sleeper song. and at the time we were getting a lot of pressure from our label to write more up-tempo. They're like tempo, tempo, tempo. We want to hear Maria's bangers. So I think that's why this demo was kind of ignored for so long. Fast forward a year later, Josh and I separated romantically and I was kind of at a crossroads of, okay, well, what do I do now with my life? And what do I do, you know, with music? I thought like the band was over. So I was just kind of trying to figure out how I wanted to go about, you know, music. And I remembered this song and I had a friend in the neighborhood who was a producer. My name is Gianluca Buccellati. And so I hit him up. I was like, hey, Luca, I'm really going through it right now, man. Like I have this song that I kind of want to work on right now. I need an outlet. I don't know what's going to happen with the band, but I still want to make music. Will you work on these songs with me? And he was like, yeah, come over, like come over right now. So she just came over and we made a few songs. And then one day she brought in the beginning stages of what became No One Noticed. So we took the track that Josh had created with the drum loop and the guitars. And I was like, look, I kind of have a vision for this song, but let's like be in the moment and hash it out together. Luca's superpower is that he's so gentle in his approach and so like you can just spill to him. And like, he's just open ears, open arms, open heart. It was very free flowing in terms of, hey, Luca, I have this idea. Oh, let's try it. Yeah, so that was an idea that I had. And I was just throwing it out. I was like, Luca, what if we did this line on piano? Just like, it feels very kind of like fairy-like. We had these layers. A lot of what I do with producing is these hidden kind of sounds that fill up the space, but you don't really know they're there, but they're doing something. And so that's Luca playing that acoustic guitar. He really wanted me to record that acoustic guitar part, and I think we tried it, and I think I fought him on it, and I was like, please, you just do it. I'm good enough to write music on instruments, but when it comes to recording them, I'm like, let me leave it to the pros. And then you hear the acoustic guitar sort of like soloed at the end, and it kind of brings you back to the inception of the song, which is really nice. The story of No One Noticed continues after this. so how did things change lyrically between the original 2020 version and then was it you said it was a year later when you went to yeah a year later so did you feel like it was changing at that moment because of where you were in your life from this sort of like covid loneliness song to like a breakup loneliness song definitely no one tried to read my eyes no one but you wish it weren't true. That was new. No one tried to read my eyes No one but you Wish it weren't true And then the bridge was written as like a more yearning relationship romantic part. I came up with it in a bathroom break. I went to the bathroom and then just started like, come on, don't leave me. It can't be that easy, babe. And then I walked out of the bathroom and I was like, Luca, what about this? I don't know where we should put it, but I kind of like it. And I really like the lyrics that I'm singing. And Sue's like, let's just record it and then figure out where we want to put it later. Easy, baby, if you believe me, I guess I'll get on a plane, fly to your city, excited to see your face. Hold me, console me, then I'll leave without a trace. And so we recorded it and it ended up being kind of its own little part that worked so seamlessly with the rest of the song. Come on, don't leave me. It can't be that easy, baby. If you believe me, I guess I'll get on a plane. Fly to your city, excited to see your face. Hold me, console me, and then I'll leave without a trace. What was your process for recording your vocals? I just sang into like an SM7B with like Luca's special sauce in terms of vocal production. He's worked with Arlo Parks, who has a very breathy voice, and Big Pig, who also has this really beautiful, breathy voice. And so he, I think, vocally was able to bring out some really special things. Just stacking left, right, and center. No one tried to read my eyes. No one but you. It was very in the moment. Like, if the first take sounded great, he's like, that sounds great. Let's move on. She just an unbelievable vocalist unbelievable voice It so pure and nostalgic sounding It like a one thing So I think what resonated with me was just the excitement of working with a voice like that Take our time. That's Jesse, Jesse Pearlman. we all Jesse, Josh, Eddie and I all in the band during this time didn't know if the band was going to exist so when I asked Jesse to come play on this song kudos to him for being brave enough to be like well I don't know what's happening with the Marias I don't know what this song is going to be used for but Maria really wants me to play guitar on this song so I'm going to do it so yeah he came over and Luke and I just kind of let him do his thing we let him listen to the song and play whatever spoke to him that's a pedal that he has I love that sound so much and that's very quintessential Maria's he uses that pedal a lot in our songs and in the live performances as well it just gives like this really dreamy kind of underwater quality to the chords and to what he's playing. And then I had this melody I came up with as a synth line when Luke and I were working. and then when Jesse came in we were like let's see what this line would sound like on guitar instead of synth and the tone was just so beautiful that we looked at each other and were like, yes, this line has to be on this guitar. It like jumped out at you and really tugged at your heartstrings. I feel like the emotion that it gives is longing. And then I was like, okay, well, what do we do now with this song? But then the Marias did not break up. Well, can we pause for one second? So how did you go from not knowing what the future of the band was going to be to deciding that you are in fact going to keep going? The label sent us to band therapy. I'm giving you so much information. The four of us went to band therapy and then Josh and I went to therapy together. And then we all did individual therapy. and yeah I think that honestly is what helped us the most and then coming to the conclusion that we all love each other and respect each other and have such a strong foundation and such a strong friendship but also this music that we've created together is really special and we're not going to let something come in the way of the music which is so much bigger than a relationship or a romance or a breakup. I think we have something special. Like, let's keep it. Let's work to keep it. And we worked really, really hard to get to that place. You know, Josh and I came back together and started working past the romantic relationship and into a really beautiful friendship. And we were working through some songs. And we were working through this song in particular. Josh still had ideas, like, post Luke and I's session in terms of, like, arrangement. He's like, let's cut this part out here. It's a little bit too long. Let's go straight into this part. So he had his producer hat on at the beginning and then at the end as well. And then after Josh made his final touches on the production, I had shared it with the label, along with a couple of other slower songs that we were working on. And, you know, they kind of were like, these are nice, but let's see what else you got that's a little bit more tempo. and I remember kind of just having like a sour feeling about it because I'm like this song like I like this song I love this song and I'm also very impatient when it comes to writing and releasing I mean the day that I wrote the demo I put it out on Instagram so I was like okay well if the label is not going to let us put it out I'm just going to leak it on my own and so I put it up on our website led our fans to the site and they downloaded it put it up on YouTube and then it started sort of circulating on TikTok and it started really making its rounds and people were really gravitating towards the song. And then that's why we decided to put it on submarine. You kind of forced the label's hand. We did. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's kind of amazing how this is our biggest song on submarine and it's not your typical uptempo sort of banger. And so that made me really happy because we know the vision of our band and we know the vision of our music and what we want to put out and what music we want to represent us. And so at the end of the day, let's just try to do our thing, even if we have to fight for it. I just remember them telling me, oh, we're thinking of putting this song on the album. Oh, yeah, great. Awesome. And then, oh, yeah, we think we're going to make it a single. Oh yeah, cool. Yeah, that's exciting. And then I just periodically get texts from Maria being like, Luca, it's streaming a million times a day. Oh. And then they started playing it live and I'd just occasionally just be getting videos from her of thousands of people screaming the lyrics to this song. I wondering how the four of you feel about this song given how it kind of went through these different stages of your relationship really Different kinds of relationships, you know, way of music making, way of living together and all that stuff. This song kind of has existed through all those stages. Yeah. Yeah, it did go through the process of Maria's and then Not Maria's and then Maria's, which was the process that we went through as a band. It wasn't an easy time for them and any record that I've made that actually means something the person that I've been working with is usually going through something tremendous I mean, it kind of warms my heart in thinking about that because we did break up as a band and as romantic partners but then we came back together as a band stronger than ever And, you know, so I think this song is an honest reflection of that process. And so it being the biggest song, I'm like, wait, that's really beautiful and kind of poetic. And now here's No One Noticed by the Marias in its entirety. Maybe I lost my mind No one noticed No one noticed It's getting old, kinda like it if you'd call me all alone Cause I'm so over being lonely I may have lost any of her true connection I have lost any of her obsession Time to be على the right now We could make you create a new expression Theathan process is designed to bring tw personajes No one tried to read my eyes No one but you Wish it weren't true Maybe I'd kinda like it Call me It's not right Cause I'm so over being lonely Make you mine Need a virtual connection Take off Be my video obsession Come on, don't leave me It can't be that easy, babe If you believe me I guess I'll get on a plane Fly to your city Excited to see your face Hold me, console me, and then I'll leave without a trace Come on, don't leave me, it can't be that easy, babe If you believe me, I guess I'll get on a plane Fly to your city, excited to see your face Hold me, console me, then I'll leave without a trace Come on, don't leave me, it can't be that easy, babe If you believe me, I guess I'll get on a plane Fly to your city, excited to see your face Hold me, console me, and then I'll leave Without a dress, come on, don't leave me It can't be that easy If you believe me, I guess I'll get on a plane Fly to your city, excited to see your face Consume me, consume me, and then I leave without a trace I'm gonna let you know Thank you. To learn more, visit songexploder.net. You'll find links to buy or stream No One Noticed, and you can watch the music video. This episode was produced by me, Craig Ely, Mary Dolan, and Kathleen Smith, with production assistance from Tiger Biscop. The episode artwork is by Carlos Lerma, and I made the show's theme music and logo. Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent, listener-supported, artist-owned podcasts. You can learn more about our shows at radiotopia.fm. If you'd like to hear more from me, I write a newsletter where I write about the making of some of these episodes. And I write about music and film and the creative process in general. You can find a link to the newsletter on the Song Exploder website. You can also get a Song Exploder shirt at songexploder.net slash shirt. I'm Rishi Keish here away. Thanks for listening. Radiotopia from PRX
