Pasta shirts, 4 Fingers cravings, and a song she once couldn’t stand.

At 16, Mariae Cassandra has been collecting moments since she was eight years old, and now she’s turning them into songs that feel like little stories. Fresh off some of her biggest stages yet, she's in Singapore for Music Matters 2026, and we caught up with her On the Guestlist to talk growing up online, the songs that shaped her, and what’s next. She also has very strong feeligs about thrifting.

Scroll down to read the full interview.

Mariae Cassandra by Yasmin Affandy (@yyayayyasmin)

You’ve gone from playing some of your biggest stages yet to now bringing your music to Singapore. When you look at the version of yourself who was first posting songs online, what do you think she’d make of where you are now?

When I look at the version of myself who first started posting songs, I think she’d freak OUT. I mean, as someone who’s doing her best to stay in the moment, I’m STILL freaking out over shows, conversations, and opportunites I’ve been very blessed to experience. But I actually was terrified of posting myself singing online. Until one day I decided that I truly am hungry for it and I believed that it was possible for me to get to where I am right now. If it wasn’t for social media, I wouldn’t be vulnerable with my art.

You’re still so early in your career, but you’ve already experienced festivals, support slots, your own headline shows and now international opportunities. Is there anything about the reality of being a working artist that has surprised you — either in a good way or a completely unexpected way?

The reality of being a young female working artist has many layers. There’s many nights of pouring your emotions onto paper and through the guitar, and then there’s nights where you get a bit annoyed for not being able to jot down ideas into your journal. Maybe even for several weeks. There’s really busy seasons - where it’s constant travel, socialisation, performing, and missing home. But on the flipside I get to meet incredible new people and artists, learn more about the world and myself, write more, and express my art more freely. There’s also really quiet seasons - something I’ve been understanding for the first time in my career. It consists of me staying at home, or hanging around my support village, trying out new things and seeing what I really like. And to add, I’ve been focusing a lot more on my mental health recently and working my way through it. It’s definitely a journey.

There’s a really strong sense of youth and nostalgia running through your music, but you’re obviously growing and changing with every new chapter. What are you finding yourself drawn to creatively now that you weren’t a year or two ago?

Right now, I’m actually really intriguied with the ‘pop’ genre rather than the heavier ‘indie-rock’ genre I was trying to convey in the past projects. I just don’t think I’m a mad person anymore. Maybe a bit more melancholy, but I find that I wrote heavier stuff because I was just mad at a lot of things. But I don’t think I’ll stop making angsty music. I think I just want to try to write about something that has no underlying theme of doubt - at least one song in my life.

You originally wrote Splinters when you were 16, but came back to it two years later and rewrote parts of it from the perspective of who you’d become. What was it like listening back to something you’d written at 16 and realising you had a completely different relationship with it?

It was definitely shocking to me that people really wanted me to revisit my song ‘Splinters’ cause in all honesty, I did NOT like that song after I walked out of the writing session. I didn’t want to admit it for 2 years, but I didn’t like it because it was so real. It felt so sad and self deprecating, and I didn’t like that it reflected the part of myself I didn’t like. But one day, my manager sent me the demo saying that I should make it the next single. I gave it a shot, and played it on my guitar, changing a lot of the lyrics to be more coinciding with my beliefs and values that I attained within those 2 years. I think Splinters is perfect.

Did rewriting it feel more like changing the song, or changing the way you understood yourself?

Rewriting it made me realise that I can’t run away from the parts of me I don’t like, because it IS me. I have to understand that the ugly side of me isn’t a burden, but a visual of my growth.

A lot of your songs feel like little stories — there’s usually a very specific person, moment or detail at the centre of them. Do you find yourself collecting those little moments in your head before they eventually become songs?

I am definitely a collector of things. I love scrapbooking and owning as much physical memorabilia as I can. I’ve had a huge fear of losing my memory since I was really young, so I have been journalling since I was 8 years old. I like to go through old entries, or even photos and really try and sink into that moment before or while writing a song.

I was listening to your music on shuffle while getting ready for this interview, and when The Pasta Song came on, I immediately saved it to my liked songs. I definitely wasn’t expecting a song with that title to hit me quite like that — there’s so much longing and tenderness underneath it. What was going through your head when you wrote it, and how did pasta become the centre of that story?

Funnily enough, ‘The Pasta Song’ was a challenge from my friends. I owned this shirt that kind of looked like bowtie pasta, and they dared me to write a song about pasta. I knew that I wanted it to not ACTUALLY be about pasta and wanted to take it seriously. I thought, ‘why wouldn’t I have fun and ask my fans for help?’. I went on Instagram live and wrote the song with my fans helping out with lyrics. I think I still have the voice memo. I like to say it’s a love song, but the more I look back at it, it was just a song about how I’m afraid of real love.

Are there any songs or artists you find yourself coming back to when you’re in the process of making music? Maybe something you put on when you’re stuck, need inspiration, or just want to get yourself into a certain headspace?

I always find my way back to Beabadoobee, Florence Road, Phoebe Bridgers, Lizzy McAlpine or NIKI. Sometimes I just need to submerge myself in music.

You’re in Singapore for Music Matters — what are you hoping to take away from being here, both as a performer and as someone experiencing a new music community? Is there anything you’re particularly excited to discover while you’re here?

I’m hoping to just learn more about the music community here and explore at an age where I can actually remember things.

Okay, important question — what are you most excited to eat, see or do while you’re in Singapore?

I actually make it a thing where I thrift in every country I go to, and if there’s a Brandy Melville, you will see me there. BUT, I do remember I loved ‘4 Fingers’ and I’m just so excited to eat that again after 4 years.