Maya Delilah Finds Her Voice in “The Long Way Home”
2025-04-27/
Rising London artist Maya Delilah has just released her debut album, The Long Way Home — a vibrant, emotional journey that she proudly calls her life story. After being named a Spotify Artist to Watch in 2025, Maya is stepping into the spotlight with a sound that’s unmistakably her own: soulful, nostalgic, and refreshingly genre-bending.
A Brilliant Debut
Blending soul-pop with hints of country and blues, The Long Way Home feels like leafing through a diary of intimate, universal experiences. It’s a record fueled not by technical precision, but by raw feeling — something that Maya Delilah values deeply in her artistry. “I get so influenced by different genres, people, places, and experiences that it’s always felt hard for me to fit my music into a consistent sound or mood,” she explains. “It took me a long time — hence The Long Way Home — to realize that it’s a beautiful thing to explore so many different influences.”
The result is an album that feels both deeply personal and warmly familiar. Nostalgia threads through each track, as Maya invites listeners to reflect on cycles of love, trust, and growth. Depending on how you hear it, The Long Way Home can be about finding trust again — or losing it for good.
Driven by Emotions
Growing up in North London, Maya’s connection to music was emotional from the very beginning. She fondly recalls evenings spent at the Jazz Café with her dad, where she first discovered the magic of live music. Later, she learned to solo on the guitar at a local jazz bar, always playing by ear rather than following sheet music. Her writing process, too, is steeped in connection: she loves being surrounded by people when creating, letting songs unfold naturally without forcing them.
Learning guitar by ear helped me connect to the music much more! As soon as I started learning music that way it took away the academic side of it for me and brought in so much more passion. I just started learning songs I loved and got to know them so much better through it.
A Master of Guitar Solos
It’s this emotional authenticity that shines through her greatest strength: her guitar solos. Never one to use a pick, Maya Delilah relies on her long nails, crafting fluid, soulful solos that feel as instinctive as a heartbeat. Inspired by the likes of John Mayer, Derek Trucks, and Antonio Forcione, she’s developed a style that’s uniquely her own. On stage, she’s committed to recreating the album live, playing with the same musicians who helped her shape the record. The magic of her guitar solos, in particular, makes seeing her live an unforgettable experience.
The best possible thing I had said to me is that I inspired someone to play the guitar, and it happened a few times. Those are fan interactions that stick with me the most because that’s absolutely insane to me.
Overcoming Challenges and Learning Moments
But The Long Way Home wasn’t an easy journey. The hardest part, Maya admits, was letting go of the need for consistency. It took quite some courage to embrace the creative chaos and dive into different genres, yet that is what now makes her stand out much more and makes her work so unique.
Another important lesson she learned? Knowing when a song is finished. As a self-proclaimed perfectionist, Maya found it hard to recognize when the record was truly complete — until she wrote Did I Dream At All, the missing ballad that felt like the final puzzle piece.
“When I started, I thought I had to pick one sound and stick to it,” she says. “But that’s just not me. I get inspired by so many different genres, like a lot of creatives do — and I think that often gets suppressed. In the end, I decided not to force it. The album is a celebration of that.”
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, The Long Way Home feels exactly like what its title promises: a warm return to yourself. Maya hopes listeners will feel at home within the record, wrapped up in the same bittersweet nostalgia she experienced while creating it. Comforting, emotional, and fiercely honest, this debut marks only the beginning of Maya Delilah’s journey — and it’s one you won’t want to miss.
