Georgia Maq has unveiled a second glimpse into her forthcoming EP God’s Favourite with new single “Slightly Below the Middle”.
Co-produced by Maq and Daniel Fox (Ryan Beatty, Ian Sweet), the track blends mythology with memory, drawing on her childhood and questioning everything from morality to identity.
“This song is basically a conversation between me and whoever the boss of the Devil and God is,” Maq explains.
The track weaves in echoes of the Charlie Daniels Band’s “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” — a song Maq grew up hearing her father play. “I grew up listening to my dad play the fiddle part of ‘The Devil Went Down To Georgia’ and I always loved it because it says my name and I love hearing my name in a song,” she shares.
Where the original told a fiery tale of the Devil’s failed fiddle duel, Maq’s version expands that narrative into something far more contemplative and personal. As she sings: “The devil plays a fiddle / On a lawn chair in the yard / I asked him why he’s over / He said ‘well, since your father’s been gone / I went down to Georgia / Now I know it won’t be long / Until you’re singing / I know, I listen.’”
It’s a track that dives deep into complex emotional terrain, building on the themes introduced with her recent single “Pay Per View”. “Slightly Below the Middle” reckons with choice, perception and atonement, examining purity and deviance through a deeply personal lens. Backed by a hazy, emotive soundscape and tactile acoustic strums, Maq moves with assurance through shadow and light.
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“Every release gets me closer to self actualisation, and God’s Favourite is the next big step for me,” she says. “Every time I release music, I look back at my catalogue and feel an urgent sense of shame and embarrassment – I feel different about this one though. Daniel Fox was a huge part of this, he’s my collaborator and one of my best friends and we bring such different things into the songs and he’s really helped me find myself through the music.”
The EP reflects Maq’s recent move to Los Angeles and the strange kind of freedom that can come with becoming an “unknown” again. On God’s Favourite, she leans into a gentler sonic palette, one shaped by her environment and steeped in Americana and folk influences.
“I want to acknowledge that I stopped singing in an Australian accent,” she continues. “Honestly, it was never really natural for me in the first place, I started singing when I was a kid in an American accent because I was brought up on country and bluegrass music (dad) and Cold Chisel (mum) and I feel like I’ve come back to that. I think maybe this EP is me connecting to my mum also, it was unintentional but I think the songs are letters I’m sending to her back home.”
Georgia Maq’s “Slightly Below the Middle” is out now.
