Stevie Nicks Recast: How MAY-A Turned ‘Edge of Seventeen’ Into a Grunge Reboot
stevie nicks found an unexpected interpreter this month when Australian singer-songwriter MAY-A delivered a distortion-heavy reimagining of “Edge of Seventeen” on triple j’s Like a Version. The 24-year-old from Sydney stripped away the original’s iconic riff, rebuilt the arrangement around raw vocals and then pushed the piece into a heavier, guitar-driven second half — a choice that reframed the song’s themes of loss and grief in a contemporary, grunge-inflected register.
Why Stevie Nicks Still Resonates: Background and Context
MAY-A’s selection of “Edge of Seventeen, ” originally released in 1981, was deliberate: she said she wanted to cover something connected to Nicks because of the way Nicks writes about loss. The Like a Version appearance formed part of triple j’s expanded March slate, which doubled the station’s weekly output to include both Friday and Tuesday sessions throughout the month. The cover had been teased earlier in the week when the triple j team shared a School of Rock scene on Instagram Stories, setting expectations for a reinterpretation rather than a straight reprise.
Deep Analysis: What MAY-A Rebuilt
The performance unfolded in two clear movements. MAY-A and her live band began with a restrained, vocally led arrangement that foregrounded tenderness and a raspy edge in her delivery. Midway through, the band shifted into a distortion-led second half that added guitar and bass solos, converting the track into something more overtly rock. Guitarist and collaborator Chloe Dadd was central to that transformation; MAY-A said that Dadd “sort of built out the tracks, ” reflecting extended experimentation in rehearsal.
This structural choice did more than change instrumentation. By removing the song’s signature riff and re-establishing its melodic core, MAY-A created space for different emotional textures. The restraint at the start reframed the lyrics’ intimacy, while the heavier sections amplified a sense of rupture and release. That duality — tenderness turning into abrasive energy — mapped onto MAY-A’s own account of how the song speaks to writing about grief and loss, and it allowed her to balance vulnerability with a more confrontational rock posture.
Voices and Reach: Expert Perspectives and Regional Impact
MAY-A (Maya Cumming, Australian singer-songwriter) explained that the choice was shaped by an admiration for Nicks’ approach to grief: “I haven’t seen someone write about grief and loss in such a powerful and strong way, ” she said, calling that quality “unique and inspiring. ” Her collaborator Chloe Dadd (guitarist and collaborator) described the arrangement as the product of trying the song in many different ways in rehearsal: “When we started playing around with the idea of this song, we just played it in so many different ways, ” she said, adding that Dadd built out the eventual tracks.
The Like a Version set also included MAY-A’s own material: she performed “Last Man on Earth” from her debut album Goodbye (If You Call That Gone), which was released on February 20. The appearance thus functioned as both tribute and platform, juxtaposing a historic composition with new work. Looking outward, the cover and the accompanying performances precede a national tour: MAY-A’s Goodbye (If You Call That Gone) tour is scheduled to start at The Princess Theatre in Brisbane, with further dates planned in Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle and Adelaide. The choice to pair a classic cover with album tracks frames MAY-A’s emerging rock persona for audiences across those markets.
MAY-A has spoken about her own trajectory into rock, naming influences such as Sonic Youth, Bikini Kill, Paramore, Hole and Evanescence, and acknowledging a shift from earlier pop roots. That personal history helps explain why she chose a song tied to stevie nicks: the emotional directness of the source material offered a bridge between her influences and her present artistic identity.
As the cover circulates, the broader question is whether this kind of reworking changes how contemporary audiences approach legacy material. MAY-A’s version foregrounds reinterpretation over replication, demonstrating how a well-known song can be a site for creative risk rather than preservation.
Will this grunge-tinged reboot inspire other young artists to reframe classic songs in similarly radical ways, and what will that mean for how stevie nicks’ catalog is heard by new listeners?
