This week Maria has published two music-related posts on Instagram:

First this one - on Wednesday: instagram.com/p/BSx4cgaBuhF/?taken-by=mariamena_official.

And today a clip from one of her new songs: instagram.com/p/BS3iX0eh1yc/?taken-by=mariamena_official.

I've saved various things from last year that Maria has shared about her songwriting process:

"I need more words that rhyme with "borders" and i need ir to not be put in a sentence that sounds like a bad adult movie!!! M

@mariamena_no hoarders, hors d'oeuvres, mortars, courters, more turds

@Madsgburheim challenge accepted. Neste plate skal ha ordet hors d'oeuvres (syyyykt ord!!) i seg. 2018.. Look out!"

(April 1 2016, twitter.com/mariamena_no/status/715955217683124224)

"! I'm in a nostaglic R&B music listening-phase and it seems to be working in my favor cus i WROTE A SONG IN MY SLEEP AGAIN!!! Woop woop!!! subconscious somgwriting is my fave! i'm celebrating with some Craig David" (October 6 2016, instagram.com/p/BLNgPtFhHnW/?taken-by=mariamena_official)

It will be exciting to follow Maria's process towards the release of a new album! This year Maria will play concerts in April, then some summer concerts, and several concerts in November and December. You can read more about the concerts in the topic UPCOMING CONCERTS.

It seems likely that 2018 is the earliest that we can expect to hear new material from Maria.

I think many people were surprised when Maria released an album in December 2015 - December is usually a tough month to release new albums because of all the Christmas music that people spend their time listening to.

But it will definitely be interesting to find out which direction the sound and the lyrics are taking this time!

Yesterday Maria posted this photo: instagram.com/p/BXnpcOQhgDH/?taken-by=mariamena_official on Instagram. The caption is "Work." She replied to @hmoller "New album and tour in 2018", after @hmoller asked whether the tour dates on Maria's website are old. The tour dates that are listed on Maria's website are from last year.

So, we have one more confirmation for a new album to be released in 2018 - that is something to look forward to!

Maria posted this photo from a studio on her Instagram account today: "Chapter 8, page 1." - the link is: instagram.com/p/BX22fUjByrZ/?taken-by=mariamena_official.

It's a good thing that you pay attention to the Instagram stories, Matze! Myself I rarely watch the "Mena-TV".

At yesterday's concert at Paradiso, Amsterdam, Maria performed a new song called "The Silence". You can hear a snippet here, filmed by @calinnero, if you'd like: instagram.com/p/BcnzS80gWQg/?taken-by=calinnero.

I believe the song that Maria shared a snippet from in this clip is also "The Silence": instagram.com/p/BS3iX0eh1yc/?taken-by=mariamena_official

Maria had a chat with the newspaper VG last night at the Elle Norway magazine party. She talked a bit about her new album. She said that she planned to release her new album next year. She is currently writing, and have written some nice songs but they are coming at a slower pace. Link to the article where you can read what Maria said: vg.no/rampelys/i/8wKy1r/maria-…-presse-etter-elle-festen. Oh well, so it's not going to be an album release in 2018. Creativity isn't something that you can force.

Today Maria posted on Instagram Stories that «I'm beginning to feel really good about myself.» and «I'm working on putting the recipe on that onto the next record» (these are my translations from Norwegian).