Maia Jelavic is a Sydney-based musician, songwriter and visual artist whose work is driven by instinct, emotional clarity, and an unmistakable inner momentum. Her relationship with music began suddenly at fifteen, when she woke up one day with an overwhelming urge to play guitar. Within weeks she was singing and writing songs, and within months performing at open mics, propelled less by ambition than necessity. From the start, music arrived fully formed: urgent, emotionally direct, and impossible to ignore.

Over the following decade, Maia built a wide-ranging career as a performer, songwriter, and session musician across Australia and the United States. She's fronted multiple bands, toured extensively, and collaborated across genres on guitar, bass, and vocals. In Sydney, she has become a formidable presence in the music scene, cultivating a devoted underground following and a reputation for performances that can bring any room to a standstill. Whether performing solo or with her six-piece band, Maia commands attention through restraint as much as power. Her songwriting remains unmistakably her own, anchored by a voice that is distinct and fragile yet powerful, marked by extraordinary control and emotional immediacy.

After years of releasing music under previous monikers, Maia Jelavic now returns to her birth name, marking a conscious reclamation of identity and artistic truth. This clarity comes into focus on her debut album, Back Burner, which releases globally on February 24, 2026. The record unfolds as a coming-of-age document, tracing the emotional collisions of navigating one’s twenties.

Alongside her music, Maia is also an exhibiting visual artist working with paint and clay, creating all her own artwork for her music, often drawing from her paintings. She views this tactile practice as a grounding counterpoint to sound. Her work captures the quiet intensity of becoming, and the force of an artist in full flight.