INTERVIEW: Madison Beer on her new music: "It is my story the way I want it to be told."
Image: Julian Burgueno
American singer-songwriter Madison Beer’s career started out the same way as many aspiring artists - uploading videos of her singing covers to YouTube. Unlike most though, Beer was spotted by Justin Bieber, who shared a video of her cover of Etta James’ ‘At Last’ on Twitter, overnight making her a viral sensation who was soon the proud holder of a record deal with a major international label - and all this aged just 14.
Beer started her career with carefree, breezy pop music but over the last few years her sound has matured into lushly produced, intricately created high art pop with relatable lyrics that explore not only Beer’s innermost emotions and struggles but also society as a whole. Last year’s ‘Dear Society’ is a brilliant dissection of our obsession with the internet in the guise of a love song - “You're bad for my health / I should probably get some help / I can't control myself, I'm addicted to the hell’ - while this year’s ‘Good In Goodbye’ is a moody look at a failing love with whipsmart lyrics that border on poetry “I would take a bullet for you just to prove my love / Only to find out you are the one holding the gun.” Beer’s remarkable talent - and her innate confidence in that talent - her ability to create standout pop music and her to-die-for vocals have already given her over 16 million streams a month on Spotify alone and it is clear she is a musical giant in the making.
Last month Beer released two singles, ‘Selfish’, a semi-acoustic ballad that manages to make the age old story of loving someone you shouldn’t fresh and moving, plus ‘Stained Glass’, a gorgeous, at times heartbreaking track with rich, multi-layered melodies and beats, in which Beer opens her heart to her struggles with self-confidence and life on the public eye. “You will never know what I been through / And you should be a little more gentle…My life's just a faded memory of one I can't have / And if you throw another stone…I just might break”. Both songs are from Beer’s upcoming debut album Life Support, due for release later this year, which promises to be one of 2020’s best. We recently caught up with Madison to talk more about her music and career.
Hey Madison, so great to speak with you. How are you going in this new world of isolation and quarantine?
It's been definitely weird. I think that I speak for everyone when I say that it's been super strange and new. This world's trying to do our best and stay safe and get things back to normal but also I feel like I'm just trying to make the best of it.
I wanted to start off by talking about the latest single you released, ‘Stained Glass’. It's such a beautifully simple but also incredibly complex and heartfelt ballad and really gets into your soul. How did this one come about, what was the main inspiration behind that song?
Thank you so much. That song came about actually a while ago. I was kind of going through a tough time with my career and I wanted to make some sort of metaphor for the lyrics about how I feel I am perceived and how I feel I am wrongfully perceived and about how I want to be perceived. That's a metaphor - stained glass - because I felt like I was being hated for the wrong reasons and I felt super alone. I just wanted to write a song explaining how my reality really is from my eyes.
When you're putting out a song like that into the public, I’m guessing it's a cathartic process for you. But is there ever a part of you that feels when you're releasing songs which are so personal that you're putting out too much about your personality into the public eye for everyone to analyse?
Yeah, it definitely sometimes feels like that. I mean my friends have done such an amazing job of making me feel so comfortable talking about anything and just having them receive it and understand me. So the nervousness is kind of fine but it is intrusive to have, you know, your traumas or your PTSD or your emotions on display for people to poke at and talk about and put up for interpretation and what not. It's not necessarily easy, but it's also I feel like helping more people. If it means me getting sensitive because someone said something it makes it more official because there might be thousands of people helped by it. You know what I mean?
Pop music is probably one of the universal things that connects people and it allows people from all over the world to connect with a common emotion. So I think getting that message out in your music is really important.
Yeah.
You've been obviously creating music for quite a while now, since you were a young girl. I want to know where did that pull to music come from, particularly when it comes to song writing and lyrics and creating your own music. How did that start for you?
My mum always jokes that I was born singing. It’s kind of always this thing that has been in me and something that I have just always loved to do. It's been part of me since I can remember. Music has always just been something that I feel really connected to and it's been my way to escape. It’s kind of like my own little world that I’ve created. So, I don't really know where it stems from. It's just something that I think I was born loving and I feel like it’s kind of in my blood at this point.
Were there any particular artists when you were growing up that you felt a pull towards when you were a kid?
I thought Alicia Keys was amazing. I thought that Etta James was amazing. There were a lot of women in music that I for sure looked up to. But finding my own path creatively - I feel like it's been my biggest inspiration.
Your whole story from starting in music until now is I guess almost a dream for a lot of people - you were spotted on YouTube, tweeted by Justin Bieber which got you your first record deal. This all happened to you during a stage in a young person's life which is always very difficult - adolescence. You touch on this in ‘Stained Glass’, but how much of that was a struggle for you, to be in the public eye and also having to deal with growing up at the same time?
It's definitely a struggle. It's definitely a very weird way to grow up. I think that I was limited to the amount of mistakes I could make because every mistake I made was put on blast and shown to the world. So it was definitely really hard for me, especially as a kid to wrap my mind around why my friends would do something wrong and it would just be their parents that would be mad but when I did something wrong there were thousands of people who I never even met getting mad at me. It was definitely really hard. I think that it definitely limited some of my growth. It definitely put a lot of like messed up thoughts in my head. It hurt me in a lot of ways, but I wouldn't have changed anything because I feel I have come out of it so much stronger. I've been able to look at it from a different perspective and from a different set of eyes. Obviously I don't think that any kid should grow up in that way but I'm grateful for it because I think that I have the insight I need to be a good person.
You said that you wouldn't change anything and that all your friends had a “normal” as teenagers while you were getting global attention. Was there ever a moment where you thought ‘This isn't worth it, I wish I was just “normal”’?
Yeah, there's definitely been times where I've been I wish I could be normal and not have to deal with whatever I deal with. But I am grateful, nonetheless. I wouldn't want to change anything for the world. I'm super super grateful for the life I've been gifted and what not. I think it was definitely an unfair way to grow up. No one deserves to scrutinised being a kid.
As you said it's all worthwhile because you come out of it a better person and hopefully a much better artist in the long run. You have debut album Life Support coming soon, are you able to talk me through what we can expect to hear on the album and how it's all going?
We don't have a release date yet unfortunately, but it's been amazing, the album is done so that’s exciting What I can tell you is it is my story the way I want it to be told. I'm just really excited for people to hear my story through my eyes and through my lips. It's just exciting and I can't wait for it to come out. I’m very vulnerable. It’s a very honest and real album. I hope it is well perceived and I hope that people like it.
Over the course of your career you've done a lot of collaborations with lots of other artists which have always been brilliant alongside your solo work as well. What do you find is the main difference creatively for you when you are working on collabs as opposed to working by yourself?
I think that it's fun to do both. I love collaborating with people, I think it’s a fun thing to get together with other creative people in the room. It's just a really fun awesome experience. But I like working alone as well. I mean, the team that I’ve put together who did my album, it’s such a collaborative amazing experience. That’s one thing I think you should do, working and writing it should always be a collaborative thing, I think. I've seen a lot of people say that when they're in the room with a writer or another artist, they can't really speak up because they feel that their ideas aren't as valid but that's something I don't really deal with. I only work with people that I feel heard and seen. I’m super grateful because there's a lot of people who don't feel that way. So, I’m really glad that I'm able to find people who I feel, you know, heard and seen and loved even.
As an artist there's a whole gamut of creativity that you have to take on board as part of your career. There's song writing. There's recording in the studio. There's making music videos. There's performing live. Is there any one particular area of the creative process that you enjoy the most?
I think performing is probably my favourite part. I love to interact with my fans. To me, it's the most rewarding thing just being able to like see them, and meet them and sing with them and dance. It's such a blessing. I can't even explain the feeling.
I wanted to talk to you about gender equality in the music industry. There's been so much talk and debate over the last couple of years in the wake of the #metoo movement. I just wanted to ask your opinion or your thoughts on how you feel that gender equality and sexism is treated in the music industry?
I think it’s a lot. I definitely feel like I've felt it. I've seen it and it's a really tough thing. I could speak on it all day, but personally what I've seen, if there’s an opportunity, I’d feel like a man would probably get it over me. I feel like what I've seen is a lot of men don't get the same level of scrutiny or judgment or hate per se as women. It's tough. I don't know. I'm just grateful that I have a lot of females in my life and in the industry that I’ve seen been using their platforms and their voices to fight for equality. I think that is something that is hopefully on its way, it’s gotten a lot better. I just hope that as a society we can just continue to fight for it and make sure that everyone is seen and heard and respected at the same level.
Absolutely. Hopefully that day will come soon. For the rest of the year depending on what happens and if we're all allowed outside anytime soon, you've got your album coming out, but what else can we expect to see in 2020 from you?
I'm not sure. I mean this is such an uncertain time. But I would definitely say tour as soon as I can. More videos. More music. And just, you know, just trying to be as creative as I can. Who knows what ideas might come in quarantine. But definitely the album and just trying as much creative stuff as I can do.
‘Selfish’ and ‘Stained Glass’ are out now via Epic Records/Sony Music Entertainment Australia. You can download on iTunes and stream on Apple Music or Spotify.
To keep up with all things Madison Beer you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
