The “Stranger Things” Stars Are Back Behind The Mic
It’s been nearly three summers since we last saw the cast of Strangers Things, Netflix’s critically acclaimed sci-fi drama, onscreen, but that doesn’t mean we were left without any new content. When not shooting a new season, some of the cast members funneled their creative energy into making music, and have earned their stars for it too. Joe Keery, who plays Steve Harrington, Maya Hawke, who plays Robin Buckley, and Finn Wolfhard,who plays Mike Wheeler, have all been essential players in the music scene, each one carrying a distinct artist identity and excelling in their respective genres.
MAYA HAWKE
Singer-songwriter Maya Hawke is a force to be reckoned with in the indie-folk world. Born and raised in New York City and the daughter of household names Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, Hawke has been surrounded by all things art from a young age. It was only natural when she decided to turn to instruments and songwriting as a means to channel self-expression. In 2020, Hawke released her debut album Blush, a sincere and soulful project that served as her breakthrough as a musician. It became clear Hawke’s evocative storytelling skills and exploratory-driven sound was the perfect concoction for an emerging artist who has a lot ahead of her. She took it a step further with her next album Moss, another collection of tracks that cling to what she knows best– diaristic, relatable lyricism. The project was produced by Christian Lee Hutson and Jonathan Low who hold credits for albums like Punisher and Folklore. Now, Hawke returns before the release of Stranger Things season 5 with her most recent release, Chaos Angel and its sister EP Clipped Wings, where Hawke’s signature rasp and soft-spoken wit weave in and out of her acoustic arrangements. She brought “Missing Out” from the album onto The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, a song that tackles her experience with fame, fortune, and the drawbacks of her upbringing. As a musician, Hawke is in bloom and carries herself with poise and sureness in her sonic thumbprint.
JOE KEERY
While you may know Joe Keery as the well-loved Steve Harrington on Stranger Things, the alternative indie artist Djo is Keery’s stage name for his musical alter-ego. Over the past year, Keery’s dreamy-synth song “End of Beginning" off his 2022 album DECIDE has gained a resurgence through social media, hitting Billboard’s Top 100 Chart at No. 11. With flavors of psych-pop and rock in his discography, Keery has made live appearances at top music festivals including Coachella and Laneway, as well as a TV performance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. His most recent album, The Crux, released this April and has revealed a side of Keery that feels his most authentic and raw. Its tracks ooze with a magnetizing confidence that can only come from all of the skills he’s garnered since his first album, and the experiences of love and loss he’s gained as a human being going through the motions. The whole project is stamped with his Djo DNA from top to bottom, starting from the production quality using self-played instruments to each track’s original lyrics co-written with Adam Thein. My favorite track has been “Charlie’s Garden,” a sweet, Beatles-esque tune about Charlie Heaton, who plays Jonathan Byers, in the show.
FINN WOLFHARD
If hearing the names Calpurnia or The Aubreys spurs any ounce of nostalgia, you’ll know that Finn Wolfhard has been a rockstar from the very beginning. The actor known as Mike Wheeler in the series has returned to the music scene with a solo project this time. While he was a part of a few large musical groups in the past, he’s taken control of his sound with a debut album titled Happy Birthday. “I started realizing a general theme in a lot of the other songs involving my identity, anxieties, nostalgia, childhood and loneliness,” he shared in an article with Rolling Stone Magazine. With Stranger Things coming to an end, Wolfhard is turning a new leaf in his creative journey, shifting back to a medium he’s always found solace in. In 2022, he gave himself a goal to write 50 songs by the end of the year, and a handful of these made it into this upcoming project. Its first single, “Choose The Latter,” is a sneak peek into the sound that made the cut, and it bleeds with vivid imagery and indie-rock energy. Wolfhard’s album, which is set to release on June 6, will be accompanied by a seven-date tour across the U.S.
We’re excited to see where this new chapter leads for each of our favorite Stranger Things cast members, and we’ll be the first to sit in the front row at their next live show. Be sure to tune into the fifth and final season of the series, which will be available for streaming on Netflix this summer. In the meantime, you can find Maya, Joe, and Finn’s music on all of your favorite streaming platforms.
