Max’s latest single ‘Missed Calls’ featuring Hayley Kiyoko is a peppy, pleasing tune about regrets and lovesickness in the contemporary age.

Max has steadily produced some wonderful music over the years whereas Hayley Kiyoko is one of the finest up and coming pop stars of her generation. Both of them have an enticing yet expressive quality to their sound, so the result of their collaboration is more than what many would anticipate. The track is wistful, relatable, yet the mood never gets too mournful. The indie vibes are strong; the minimal instrumentation and the feather-light vocals keep the mood by and large airy but there is a current of heartache that simmers below the surface. 

As the synth chords get sharper over the course of the composition, the lyrics being weighing down on the listener. The song delves into missed opportunities and the bleakness that takes hold following a nasty break-up; a theme as old as time. But Max and Hayley keep the words very familiar with the use of current technological references. From phrases like ‘I got your number’ and ‘ been scrollin' through these photos of us’, the song approaches heartbreak through a modern lens. Social media has become a powerful medium for romantic relationships in this day and age, so it’s only appropriate that our current artists incorporate those sentiments into their compositions.

The song is part of Max’s latest album ‘Colour Vision’, which is set to be released this year. It will be his third studio album, but the singer has kept himself busy through a number of other projects. He actually has a considerable list of acting credits, so this is definitely a man of many talents. Hayley Kiyoko herself isn’t stranger to acting roles, which is why both of them have been able to lend a pure visual edge to the proceedings. 

Speaking on his inspiration for the album, Max said;

It felt like I was reborn, and that’s the theme of the entire album–finding the colour in your life and shunning the negatives and really diving into what positive things you may have overlooked before”

  Pop 

Author: Shaoni Das

Shaoni Das is a writer/editor currently based in Edmonton, Canada. She remains eager to inspect how the changing culture of music impacts upon the greater world.