From High School Heartbreak to Hard Boundaries: Inside Chloe Mayse’s EP, 'Dear Love...'

Chloe Mayse isn’t making indie pop for background noise. She’s writing from the kind of emotional place most artists spend years avoiding. The queer, alternative pop singer-songwriter from Toronto just released her debut EP Dear Love…, and it feels less like a polished “first project” and more like a personal reckoning set to melody. Recorded between Los Angeles and Toronto, the EP captures real-life experiences as they happened, without sanding down the edges. Love, heartbreak, mental health, family fractures, and self-discovery all collide here, and Chloe doesn’t pretend to have clean answers. She just tells the truth.

Her path into music already hinted at where she was headed. Early in her career, Chloe won a singing competition that put her on stage backing Tegan and Sara at the JUNO Awards, a moment that helped her envision herself not just as a singer, but as a queer artist with a future in music. A multi-instrumentalist who’s been singing since she was two, playing guitar since ten, and writing songs since fifteen, Chloe has always treated songwriting as more than a creative outlet. It’s been a way to understand herself, her queerness, and the world around her, while also advocating openly for mental health and the queer community in Toronto.

Dear Love… takes its name from Chloe’s writing process. Each song is written like a journal entry, addressed to love in all its forms, including self-love. The EP opens with “High School,” a track that captures the loneliness of being fifteen and trying to fit into the version of life you think you’re supposed to want. Parties, crushes, expectations, and the hope of first love all swirl together, but what lingers is isolation. Chloe writes about loving a girl who never truly saw her back the same way, wrapping heartbreak in youthful, live-show energy that feels both nostalgic and quietly painful.

On “Come Here With Me,” Chloe leans into the temptation of reopening a door that never fully closed. The song centers on reminiscing about a love that once felt safe, wondering if it could ever return to what it was. With lines that offer loyalty and reassurance, the track explores the hope that love doesn’t always end for good, even when it probably should. It’s about believing a second chance is possible, even when memory and reality don’t quite match.

“Mad In Love” shifts the tone into something more intense and consuming. The song lives in the space between devotion and emotional dependence, where love becomes the thing that keeps you grounded through mania, sadness, and uncertainty. Chloe sings about imagining a future that never arrived, holding onto someone who makes life feel bearable, and questioning what happens if they’re gone. It’s vulnerable in a way that doesn’t romanticize obsession, but doesn’t deny it either.

The aftermath hits on “Two Weeks,” a song that unfolds like a step-by-step guide to surviving a breakup. From sitting alone with old photos to calling friends, swiping for distraction, and trying to move forward before you’re ready, the track captures how hollow healing can feel when you’re forcing it. Chloe frames the song as an attempt at self-discovery, embracing solitude while admitting how lost she feels. Two weeks becomes both a time limit and a breaking point, marking the moment when being alone starts to hurt differently.

One of the EP’s most powerful moments arrives with “Dear Dad,” a song that confronts addiction and the damage it leaves behind. Chloe writes about the breakdown of a parental relationship, the exhaustion of broken trust, and the decision to walk away in order to survive. There’s no dramatic confrontation here, just the quiet realization that love can’t exist alongside addiction without consequences. It’s a boundary-setting song, rooted in grief, acceptance, and the creation of a new safe space.

The EP closes with “Horoscopes,” a reflective look at ambition, time, and uncertainty. Chloe questions whether the future she wants is already written or still within reach, balancing the reality of working a nine-to-five while dreaming of becoming an artist full-time. The song captures the anxiety of chasing purpose, the comfort of supportive relationships, and the human impulse to search for signs that everything will work out. Looking to the stars becomes a metaphor for hope, doubt, and the fear of running out of time.

Dear Love… doesn’t chase trends or tidy conclusions. It exists in the mess, offering connection instead of resolution. As Chloe shares, “I hope the audience listening to this EP album feels a connection to the songs I’ve written. I choose to share my songs with the world because I think people feel comforted when they can relate to others' life experiences.”

That honesty is what makes the EP land. Chloe Mayse isn’t trying to be perfect or aspirational. She’s being real, and right now, that’s exactly what indie pop needs.

You frame Dear Love… like a series of journal entries. Was there ever a moment you thought, “This is too personal to release,” and what made you push past that anyway?

There have been many times over the years when I questioned releasing certain songs, especially a song like "Dear Dad". I have questioned it not because I am afraid to show the vulnerable layers of myself, but more because I don't want the people I write about to feel hurt. I try to push past this fear by reminding myself of why I decided to share my music to the world in the first place. I share my songs because I want to connect with other people who can relate to the music and feel comfort in that.

Several songs wrestle with the idea that love can be both grounding and destructive. How do you know when love is helping you survive versus quietly holding you back?

This is a great question. During the times of my life that I wrote about, where I was in certain loving romantic relationships, I made the mistake of letting the relationships play out and didn't do any self-reflection until they each ended. I don't regret any relationship I have had, and I have learned so much about myself with each experience. What I have learned is that being in love with someone and having a relationship with them should not feel like it is your sole purpose in life. It is not anyone's responsibility to help you survive the game of life. If any type of relationship feels like it's holding you back or you need that person to stay alive, do some self-reflection exercises and therapy to question why you feel that way. I realized that it was very unhealthy to be thinking this way, and I had to do therapy for many years to develop my self-esteem.

“Dear Dad” is one of the most emotionally heavy tracks on the EP. What changed for you after writing that song? Did it bring closure, or just clarity?

Writing "Dear Dad" has been the hardest song I have written so far. I cried many times when I thought about what I wanted to say in the lyrics, and I have never played this song on stage because I don't know if I could sing it through without falling apart. I never felt closure after "Dear Dad" was made because this issue between my dad and I is ongoing and I have had to put up boundaries to protect my mental health. I wrote this song when I was very angry with both of my parents, and I have always struggled to have a relationship with my dad. This song allowed me to release some of my anger on the matter of addiction. Now, when I listen to "Dear Da,d" I feel grief and sadness that this is what ended up being the outcome, but I have accepted it. 

A lot of this project sits in the uncomfortable in-between: not healed, not broken, just trying. Do you think audiences are finally ready for that kind of honesty, or did you stop caring whether they were?

I think listeners always want to hear the honest truth in a song. I didn't ever think about whether they were ready for it or not. All of my music on this EP is written in the light of me trying to overcome a negative experience or feeling because all I can do is try. I have come a long way with working on myself and am very satisfied with the life I have now, but every day I still have to try and stay in a good headspace and be present.

You’re honest about the tension between chasing music full-time and living inside a nine-to-five world. What would “success” actually look like for you if no one else got to define it?

Success to me is having the opportunity to be a full-time music artist who gets to tour, write songs for other artists, and have my work in television and film projects. Success also includes having the people who mean the most to me along for the journey. I know I can't have everyone that I love on tour with me at all times, but having one or two people who know me best and can help keep me grounded and remind me to enjoy every part of the journey is important.