By Paula Martín González
“I guess I’ll get on a plane, fly to your city”, No One Noticed
That quiet realization mirrors María Zardoya’s journey, leaving her home in Puerto Rico and flying to Los Angeles to chase her dream and pursue musical opportunities. Their lyrics rarely shout; they linger.
Now, as one of the nominees for Best New Artist at the 2026 Grammys, it’s remarkable to consider how they’ve reached millions without losing their intimacy.
There is something almost strange about feeling a personal connection to an artist whose music is streamed by millions. The Marías are anything but invisible. With nearly 36 million monthly listeners on Spotify, their sound is everywhere, yet they still feel close.
One of their biggest hits, No One Noticed, alone has surpassed 900 million streams, quietly embedding itself into the background of people’s lives looping through headphones or soundtracking late nights.
The Marías leave room for the listener’s interpretation, for our own memories to slip in. Even with a Best New Artist nomination at the Grammys, their music remains dreamy, melancholic and enveloped in an atmosphere that resists urgency.
The intimacy deepened with Submarine, an album shaped by personal transition and quiet aftermath. The record doesn’t explain heartbreak; it lives inside it. Sometimes the most painful moments are invisible, the ones no one noticed until they were already over.
Sensitivity still has a place on the biggest stages, and The Marías opening for artists like Billie Eilish on select dates of the Hit Me Hard and Soft tour showed us that softness and intimacy don’t have to disappear just because the audience grows.
The Grammys often frame Best New Artist as an arrival point. For The Marías, it feels more like a moment of recognition, a pause, not for something new but to regard what has been quietly unfolding through the years. In a music industry, obsessed with immediacy, they’ve built a career around patience, atmosphere, and emotional honesty.