The Story Behind Ava Max’s Iconic Asymmetrical Haircut: "This Feels Like Me"
Ava Max's signature lopsided haircut happened by total accident.
From her signature hairstyle to hit songs that dominate the charts, Ava Max is a certified trendsetter who's all about embracing your individuality. Indeed, the 31-year-old pop star, who's taking the stage at NBC's Macy's 4th of July Fireworks special, created her own haircut dubbed the "Max Cut" when she started rocking a lopsided do years ago.
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But how exactly did the hairstyle come to be? Read on to find out what the "Sweet but Psycho" singer has shared about her look, including the day she decided to chop off one side of her hair.
Ava Max's asymmetrical haircut (the "Max Cut") happened by accident
The story behind how Max's iconic haircut — short on one side, longer on the other — started with the "Kings & Queens" singer doing a little multitasking.
"It's hilarious because I, on accident, cut my hair like this," the pop star said during a 2019 interview with Capital FM. "I was baking cookies and I was coloring a bunch of wigs and then my hair. And then I finally cut my hair one side and then the cookies were burning ... I could smell it burning, so I had to walk downstairs with one side cut without cutting the other side."
While the cookies burnt to a crisp, Max walked away from the moment with a hairstyle that she loved. "I start walking upstairs and I pass a mirror and I'm like, 'Oh, this feels like me,'" she said. "I'm not kidding you, it was like a lightbulb ... I love it like this. And then I started going out places and people were giving me weird looks and I was like, 'This is perfect, this is the perfect message. Do what you want, don't care what anyone else thinks.'"
In a 2020 interview with E! News, Max said she remembered thinking, "I literally look sweet but psycho." That description, of course, turned out to be one of her biggest hits to date. (Released in 2020, Max's pop song "Sweet but Psycho" has over 1 billion streams on Spotify.)
Since then, the haircut has taken on a life of its own. "They call it the 'Max Cut' and now I've started calling it the 'Max Cut,'" she told Capital FM, referring to her fans.
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Ava Max says her lopsided haircut makes her feel like herself
Max took a hiatus from her asymmetrical hairstyle amid the release of her 2023 Diamonds & Dancefloors album because, as she told People, she "let the comments get to me."
"I changed who I was for other people," she told the magazine. "I took away the Max Cut essentially because people in the industry didn't like it. People I was working with didn't like it, and I was just like, 'You know what? I'm just going to get rid of it if it's that bad.' Then, I realized that it was 1% of the population that didn't like it, and I loved it. I was like, 'Wait. The masses love it, and it doesn't make any sense for me to get rid of something when I feel so strongly about it.'"
In April 2025, Max brought back her signature cut, chopping off one side of her hair on stage at Coachella and fans were obsessed. "Yes Max Cut is back," one fan commented on a video of the moment, while another said, "OMG ICONIC."
"I love my lopsided hair. I felt like I wasn't myself without it, and I found that out after I cut it at Coachella because I feel more like myself now," she told People. "I love it. It fits me. I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon."
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Watch Ava Max take the stage at NBC's Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks special
Max, along with Jonas Brothers, Eric Church, Lenny Kravitz, Keke Palmer, and Trisha Yearwood will all perform during the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks special on NBC.
Catch all the action when the two-hour special airs live on NBC and Peacock at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, July 4, 2025.
