Despite being most famous for his song “Freakin’ Out On The Interstate,” featured on his Carnival EP in 2018, a staple of indie fans, Maroney has a full catalog for fans, new and old, to discover at the concert. 

For those who are unfamiliar with Maroney, his music may be comparable to bigger names. Off his Ultrapure album, the song “Detenator” has a guitar style similar to musician Dominic Fike and employs elongated vocals that Fike frequents, such as those in his latest single “White Keys.” While the same album’s titular song has a mellow guitar and intimate vocals similar to the elements used by musician Role Model in his slower songs. 

Although the information might be brand new to campus, members of the Spring Concert Committee have known the headliner since before winter break. All four organizations send representatives to this committee to begin planning the event at the start of the school year during weekly meetings. 

News of the headliner opens new doors for the committee, specifically for the marketing subcommittee and its chair, RHA Chief Publicity Officer and journalism senior Mikia Lawrence. Also on the committee last year, Lawrence noted that because negotiations and contracts were signed earlier this year, they were able to plan more pop-ups and had more time to order merch and advertise with the artist’s name. 

“From the day we announced the artist to the day of the concert, we have just under a month which is really exciting,” Lawrence said. “I think last year, we only had a couple weeks where we were marketing with the actual artists' names, so I think just the timeline went better this year. That was really one of our biggest goals was to be able to really advertise and hone in on things before.”

Impact 89FM’s station manager and journalism senior Faith Flickinger described Maroney’s alternative and indie sound as representative of something the station would play. 

“When we initially started conversations, we more thought about genres and what people are really listening to right now,” Flickinger said. “It was super fun because we all got to contribute our music opinion with our program director, Maggie (Helfin), who decides what goes on air for us. She has a very good idea of what people are listening to, as well as what's fresh. Because when we do pick a headliner, it has to be someone who's on the cusp of breaking through is kind of the idea.”

While the two openers for the event have not yet been announced, students can expect to see both a national opener and one local to the Michigan area. 

“I think it's a cool thing that we actually bring a local artist, [that] will bring people together that you wouldn't expect,” UAB music coordinator and journalism senior Meg Vandermark said. “I think the biggest thing is just putting out in the memorable experience, putting out something that's special to the school. I want [students] to have an experience that they can look back on and continuously go to. It should be something where they go to the spring concert, if they're interested in music, every year of their college career because it's something unique. As a big school, we're not very limited in that sense, and we're actually able to provide that audience if possible.”