Ria has described herself as a teenager who spent hours in her bedroom writing songs and teaching herself how to play guitar while rarely sharing them with anyone else.
Two years later, Mae was chosen as a finalist in the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest, causing her to cancel her show at the Halifax Pop Explosion.
[3] In 2011, Mae self-released her debut album Under Your Skin, recorded with Mir members Asif and Shehab Illyas at The Shire Studios in Halifax.
[4] Mae met the Illyas brothers while acting in Rohan Fernando's feature-length independent film, Snow, in which she played an itinerant singer.
[4] In March 2012, the song "Under Your Skin" was chosen as a finalist in the Radio Star National Talent Search at Canadian Music Week.
Mae wrote "Thoughts On Fire" the day she signed with Sony Music Entertainment Canada: "Despite being told 'no' for over a year, I just never stopped believing," she said.
[15] It would later be acknowledged as a rare example of a positive lesbian relationship in a music video that didn't "exist solely for the titillation of straight men.
"[16] The singer told The Canadian Press that she struggled with playing an alternate version of her sexuality in a music video, concerned it might pigeonhole her career.