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Former Gymnast McKayla Maroney Is Now A Singer

by Joseph D. Lyons

If you grow up from the age of two dreaming of being an Olympic gold medalist, and then beyond all odds you achieve your goal, what comes next? For many, it's a difficult choice, but for McKayla Maroney, the choice was simple. She had another passion growing up which took the back burner while she focused on her gymnastics: music. And now, with the 2012 London Games behind her, she has been able to focus enough on it to prepare a single. So when will Maroney release her first single? "Ghost," as her breakout track is titled, will drop September 8.

That's after the Olympics closing ceremony on August 21, so you will have something to look forward to after the the last hurrah in Rio. In an interview with Yahoo! Beauty, Maroney explained how she got from the balance beam to the recording studio. It does not sound like it was an easy decision.

The change of plan came about after she was injured repeatedly. Doctors told her that she may never be able to wear high heels again, let alone flip, jump, and land in Olympic events, after she broke her toe in 2012. She persevered after surgery, though, and went on tour with teammates until her tibia snapped. She bounced back from that, too, even going on to win the World Championship on vault in 2013. But then she had to have knee surgery in 2014, and when she tried to resume training in 2015, she lost the motivation.

But it was not easy to move on, as she explained to Yahoo! Beauty:

Gymnastics was the first love of my life. It was like breaking up with a boyfriend in the end that I’ve been with since I was 2 years old. I did it until I was almost 19, so for me to let go of it, obviously my identity was totally caught up in gymnastics, and it was really hard for me to kind of let go. But the cool thing about moving forward is now I’m getting into music and I’ve kind of fell in love with a new thing.

She kept the music dreams a secret — even from her one million Instagram followers — until just three weeks ago. She explained why things were so quiet, especially when she has been vocal about her acting gigs like the one on The Heart of Dixie: "You can’t just put a song out; it has to be perfect."

And what will her sound be like? She told Us that her "genre is vulnerable pop because it’s all melody and lyrically driven and heart driven." She likes to sing about love the most, she told the magazine. She also told the magazine that she didn't really have time to date while training for the Olympics, and that she's now single. That leaves for quite the romantic learning curve and emotions that can turn Taylor-Swift-like hits on romance.