As a singer-songwriter now going by the name Mayhrenate, Maryam Hassan plays one of the movie’s star students, Tamika, a shy girl who is first put in charge of the band’s transportation squad. Her job is to make her fourth-grade class the best at Battle of the Bands. After singing a few Aretha Franklin verses to Black’s shocked replacement, she is then put in charge of lead and backup vocals and given “The Great Gig in the Sky” to study. During the big competition, she gets to sing her own song. Before School of Rock, Maryam Hassan had never been in an acting role.
Even though she didn’t continue her acting career after the show, she still wonders at the “extraordinary” experience almost twenty years later. As of January 27, Maryam Hassan’s new EP Plush came out. She was kind enough to take a call from Vulture and be our latest Role Call subject.
Her smooth vocals, heavenly chords, and catchy tunes give off an undeniable “feel-good” vibe. She released an R&B single called “Baby It’s You” in October 2020 and another single called “Takeout” in December 2020, which was added to Apple Music’s “New In R&B” playlist. Most recently, in January 2021, she released an EP called “Plush,” which was on Apple Music’s new R&B releases and peaked at #23 on the iTunes chart. She wants to put out new songs in the next few months and return to acting in the spring or summer of 2021.
Did you want to get into the movie business? Asked from Maryam Hassan?
She Answered! The job was for kids in middle school, but I wasn’t actively looking for acting work. When I was really young, I would always sing and be a part of them. In 2002, a camp friend of my brother was at a bar in New York City where there was an open call sheet for actors. It was her family who called and said, “Hey, there’s a movie casting notice for someone just like Maryam.” A flyer in a bar is how I really learned about it. I said yes when my parents asked me to go to an audition. That was when I was nine years old. Whatever you want!
