Hailing from Indianapolis and now making waves in Los Angeles, R&B artist Maeta charted an atypical path to fame. Her 2019 debut EP, "Do Not Disturb," was the culmination of various tracks and covers she shared on SoundCloud. Maeta's mesmerizing vocals, especially in songs like "Babygirl" and "You Lie," captured Roc Nation's attention, leading to her signing with them.

Subsequently, she launched a widely acclaimed EP, "Habits," under the label, which boasted collaborations with artists like Buddy and Beam. The EP echoed themes of love, personal growth, and self-discovery, profoundly resonating with her audience. With her debut album "When I Hear Your Name", released the previous June, Maeta further showcased her lyrical depth and versatility.

Whether it’s the dance feel of the Kaytranada-produced track “Questions” or the soulful single “Through The Night” featuring Free Nationals, Maeta has proven to be one of the genre’s most intriguing new stars.

Taking some time to speak with BET.com, Maeta discusses her headlining her own tour, working with Pharrell, putting together When I Hear Your Name and more.

BET.com: You’re going on tour this year in August and October. What’s the best thing about engaging fans with new music?

Maeta: This is my first tour by myself. I opened for H.E.R. and Jasmine Sullivan so I kind of understand the tour life. For my own tour, I don’t know what to expect. I haven’t really performed these songs live that much yet in front of an audience. I just went home for a few days and I performed a couple songs and I had people singing the words and I was in shock. Usually, I’m the opener so people don’t know who I am. Now, I get to perform for people who actually came there for me and know my music. I’m nervous and I don’t know what to expect or how that’s going to feel. I’m just taking it as it comes.

BET.com: So I saw the Instagram photo you took with Pharrell. Can you recall the biggest takeaway from that experience?

Maeta: I keep telling people how shocked I was at how much of my opinion he wanted. It’s Pharrell, you don’t think he’s going to be open to criticism but he kept asking my opinion and I was scared to tell him anything. I would just say the biggest thing I took away was from his openness to collaboration and how he did not care if I told him I didn’t like something. At one point, it was almost like he wanted me to say it was trash, but I’m not going to say that to him. It was amazing. I remember at one point he was complimenting me and he called me his inspiration and I went to his bathroom and just cried for a second. I just needed that little moment by myself. It was amazing and I can’t wait to do more work with him as we’re supposed to do more in the future.

BET.com: As an R&B and Soul artist from Indianapolis, how has the creative process evolved as your notoriety gets bigger in Los Angeles?

Maeta: When I first got signed, I came here and I was in sessions for four months straight every single day alongside weekends. I loved it so much and I’ve just kind of built a community of people that I love to work with. I know the people that I work the best with. It’s like a few writers, a few producers that I want to just keep working with forever like Ambré and The Orphanage. Slowly, I’ve been adding a lot of people like Ty Dolla $ign on my project which was random. Everything kind of just happens naturally when it comes to collaborators. SZA wrote “Anybody” which I had for four years when I first got signed.

BET.com: You listen to an album like When I Hear Your Name and the list of top-tier songwriters is stacked from SZA to The Dream. How were you able to take from various songwriting styles to make a cohesive project that hit the right emotional beats?

Maeta: It was a long time coming. We worked on it for a few years and I recorded a hundred songs for it. We have so many extras but I was going through some stuff or whatever. It all kind of just made sense to tell a story. I like the way the songs flow. I like how they’re all kind of different. Nothing sounds the same on the project. I feel like every song has its own genre. I like the uniqueness and difference and it’s kind of all over the place. I think at the end of the day it tells one story and all the songs blend well together. I spent years working on it.

When getting those 100 songs down, I fought with my team a lot. I think one good thing is that creatively and musically, me and my A&R don’t allow a lot of opinions. We took the project around, we had so many meetings playing for people, getting everybody’s opinion and kind of just taking notes and adjusting. We knew what we wanted and were confident in it. I cried so many times over certain songs. My A&R was pushing me so hard when it came to vocals and singing out. I’m so stubborn and I love to fight people but I thrush him.

I like how weird and different it is. If every song sounded similar, I would just hate it and it would just get old. I still listen to it, even when I’m driving. I really enjoy it. Sometimes I’ve put music out and it’s like once it’s out, I never listen to it again. Not that it’s bad, but I’m just so passionate about this one that I’m still listening to it years after making some of these songs.

BET.com: Ambre is the sole female feature on When I Hear Your Name and she’s also your Roc Nation label mate. What makes her such a special individual in the current R&B space in your opinion?

Maeta: I’ve known her for years. She and I got signed around the same time. We’ve always had that relationship and we work really well together. I think her writing is so clever and cool and just different. She produces a lot too. She just has an interesting perspective and she’s from New Orleans. She’s just a really interesting person. I think that her ideas are just different from anything I’ve heard and she’s just so cool and weird, but in a good way.

BET.com: What would you say is your biggest pet peeve in regard to R&B music today?

Maeta: My biggest pet peeve with R&B music is the word vibe. Vibe or vibey is the most overused word of all time. That’s probably my biggest pet peeve. I think I’m just kind of over vibey R&B where it’s a cool spacious beat and whispery singing over it. I think I’m so over that. Everything was so ‘cool’ at one point and I think now we’re kind of getting back to real emotion and rawness and just feeling.

A lot of people just wanted to seem cool. Nobody was singing about love. It was all toxic. Even the word toxic. And I have a song called “Toxic,” so I can’t even talk but everybody just wants to talk about toxic stuff. I just feel like right now, we’re in a place where real love is coming back. Even Coco Jones' “ICU,” that’s a love song. I think people are embracing love a little bit more now as they should over this whole toxic stuff.

I love to tell everybody my business. I've had to die that down a lot since becoming a real artist with tell everybody anything about me. But musically, I don't care. I am singing about stuff that I'm really going through, and what was so heavy on me. I think that it helps people to just hear that somebody else is going through the same stuff and it's just relatable. I think people are drawn to realness, even though that sounds so corny.