María of the Marías questions if love is worth the pain on new solo project

“Hi, it’s Maria,” says María Zardoya softly in a voice note, her words carried over a gentle instrumental. “Welcome to Not for Radio, my alternate reality.”

Zardoya, best known as the frontwoman of the Marías, revealed her first solo project through a set of social media posts on Wednesday, also sharing the reflective audio note on Spotify under the label “Message 1” paired with the album title. “I wanted to take time on my own to understand what it feels like to love and to lose. And I keep returning to the same thought: Is love worth the pain?” she reflects. “There’s a particular kind of hurt that only love can bring, the emptiness when someone is gone, the memory of how their presence once filled your space so vividly, but now exists only in your mind. What do you think, is love worth the pain? I want to find out.”

In other posts, Zardoya uploaded a picture of herself wearing a white T-shirt with the words, “I made a solo project,” and another where she posed in a black shirt that displayed Not for Radio. Within her caption, she reassured her supporters that “the band will be here forever,” and added, “I love making music as the marías, and nothing will ever change that.”

Still, she explained that the wish to “challenge” herself pushed her “to create something that connected with me in another way.” Offering a glimpse into her artistic motivation, she wrote, “There are layers to each of us as people, and this is another one of mine, another flower in the garden.”

Her focus on growth appeared again in a separate Instagram clip shared on the new page tied to the project. The short video begins with a seed sprouting before cutting to Zardoya glowing in red light as she reaches skyward, while her voice recording plays in the background, this time with the addition of her words, “A seed has been planted.”

The Marías dropped their second studio record, Submarine, in 2024, which took them across North America for an extended run of shows. Their tour will officially wrap on Sept. 24 in Charlotte, North Carolina.