INTERVIEW: Madison Beer releases third studio album 'locket': "The approach was very different this time. I felt a lot more self assured and I was feeling like I could do whatever I wanted."

Interview: Shalane Connors
Image: Morgan Maher

One of the most obvious phenomenon in pop music over the last decade is the rise, or reinvention, of the female singer-songwriter.

Flash back to the 1990s and early 2000s and ‘singer-songwriter’ was a dirty word, an unfair cliche of worthy but dreary folk-rock played on an acoustic guitar. But with the advent of Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams, Chappell Roan and more, the singer-songwriter has been reborn as a chart dominating force that is reshaping music and pop culture while still remaining creative, artistic and utterly compelling.

Although she has been in the public eye since 2012, American Madison Beer can be considered one of the most impressive artists in the new breed of singer-songwriters, and today reinforces that with the release of her third studio album locket.

Beginning her career as a teenage star after her cover of Etta James’ ‘At Last’ went viral when she was just 13, her career development has been impressive, with the release of 2023’s Silence Between Songs album perhaps a turning point in her artistry. Nominated for a Grammy Award, it is a masterful display of her talents as a songwriter and producer, expertly moving between light and shade, and brilliantly blurring the lines between genre to the extent you can never confidently place the music in any one box, discovering new levels on every listen.

Beer takes that musical diversity a step further with locket, exploring a new sound one minute before returning to the deep, and slightly otherworldly mellowness of Silence Between Songs the next. The first three singles from the album were a clear signal of what Beer was creating. ‘Make You Mine’, which earned Beer another Grammy nomination, is downbeat electronic dance song that teases with its beat, promising a full breakout but it remains coy right to the end, a reminder that holding back in a song can be just as effective as throwing everything into the mix.

It is second single ‘Yes Baby’ that delivers that dance floor satisfaction - a throbbing, hardcore electro dance track. it is the kind of song you would expect to hear at an all night rave, or perhaps while you are running on a treadmill in five inch heels as Beer does with a camp brilliance in the music video. It is a sonic Beer has never attempted before, yet  she pulls it off authentically and with panache.

Third single ‘Bittersweet’ combines the dance sounds of the first two singles with the more emotive storytelling and sober beats from Silence Between Songs, with Beer seeing the end of a relationship as painful but ultimately realising it is for the best: ‘I know I should be bitter, but baby right now I'm bittersweet’.

Thematically, the album has a central storyline of tracing a relationship from its beginning to its end, which starts with the second track ‘Yes Baby’, full of desire, lust and the initial rush of crushing on someone, to loosely concluding with the juddering electronica-trance of ’Complexity’: ‘How can I expect you to love me / When you don't even love yourself?’ Beer has said the songs are representative of memories of past events she keeps locked away in a metaphorical locket, hence the album’s name.

"After writing the album, it feels like each song lives within this metaphorical locket for safekeeping,” she said. “Each album feels like an era and once the albums are out in the world, the chapter for me, usually with what I wrote about, is closed."

‘Angel Wings’ brings a 1990s-2000s R&B-pop crossover mood, leading into the brooding ‘For The Night’, ostensibly a pop song but with flecks of country, jazz and soul scattered throughout. The lyrics has Beer yearning for intimacy but features darker moments as she feels this is the only thing that can save her. “I don't wanna be like this forever / Maybe you could put me back together.”

Latest single ‘Bad Enough’ also explores an complicated relationship, where Beer alludes to a problematic relationship but one where the pros outweigh the cons: ‘My friends say things I already know / But it's not bad enough to let my baby go.’ It has a twinkly, shimmering almost dreamlike sound that breaks out into a soaring chorus that is imbued with gorgeous, multiple melody lines built around just one word.

‘You’re Still Everything’ is a highlight on the album and sees Beer take another sonic left turn, with a sparse, ethereal, synthpop sound with a heartbreaking story of still pining for an ex who has already moved on: ‘How am I nothing to you while you're still еverything to me?’ Vocal distortions and the robotic, detached electronic soundscape make it infinitely more emotional than any full blooded, orchestral ballad treatment could.

The album ends on another vulnerable note, with ‘Nothing At All’. A gloriously bipolar track that starts off as a gentle ballad before morphing into a glitchy electropop track, Beer explores the anxiety that comes with success and dreaming big - does it actually make life worse? “I'm afraid of getting better / I'm afraid it gets too good…The higher you rise, the further that you fall / And soon, you're left with nothing at all,” she sings. In an album that charts the rise and fall of a relationship, it ends with an outlier that focuses purely on Beer herself.

Although she has received critical acclaim and streams in the billions, Beer has yet to achieve mainstream, big time chart success which, for an artist of her calibre, is one of the more perplexing aspects of the current pop scene. locket has seen her reach another career high point, and top 10 chart hits or not, it proves Beer can fairly stake a claim to be one of this generation’s most compelling artists. Shalane Connors recently sat down with her to talk all about the creation of locket.

Hey Madison! First of all, congratulations on your third studio album, locket. How does it feel arriving at this milestone in your career after having two albums, plus an EP, already out there? Does it feel any different, less exciting or less nerve wracking?
I’m so excited, I think it's so cool and awesome. If anything, this is the most excited I've been because it feels like there's no pressure on me, and I just get to release an album that I really love. So I'm super excited.

It's quite a heartfelt, personal album based on your lyrics. Do you ever feel too vulnerable putting yourself out there like that?
It can be, but I think I've done it enough years now that I've gotten used to it, and I'm not as scared to voice things and whatnot. At first maybe, especially becauseI've had public relationships, and people can speculate things. It can be scary, but at the end of the day this is what I do. I keep things private that I want to be private, I don't feel forced to talk about everything. It's a nice balance that I feel like I have now,

It's amazing how much you've really owned your career and your public image, especially because you're only you're 26. That confidence and straightforwardness and your drive, where do you think that comes from?
I don't know. I guess I've always had it a bit, but I think it comes from just growing up and maturing a little and feeling more confident in who I am and more sure of myself.

Did you come from a musical family?
Not particularly my parents would probably say differently, but they are both tone deaf! My dad kind of knows how to play the guitar, he could maybe play one or two songs, but other than that, no, not really. I just always loved music. I felt very connected to it, it’s my earliest memories. It’s just something I've always really loved.

When did you start songwriting?
I definitely was writing for fun as a kid, but I think in a serious way, probably not until I was a bit older, maybe around 16.

You produce all your own work. Have you always been on the producing side of your work as well?
No, not always. That's definitely more new and really fun.

That's really exciting, that's a whole other side of songwriting, the producing side of it.
Yeah, absolutely, and I really enjoy doing it. It's been a fun addition to my creative outlets.

Does it feel creative to you, or do you enjoy the more technical side of it?
It feels just as creative if. Singing will probably always be my number one, but it definitely feels just as creative and fun. There's so many layers and parts of music that people don't even think about, and it's been very cool for me to discover all of those.

That’s amazing. Did you have any standout women in the pop world who really influenced you when you were growing up?
I don’t know about anyone in particular, there's so many people that really heavily influenced me that I really, really love and look up to a tonne, but I'm not sure I can name one person. There's really a long, long list!

Your upcoming album locket goes on quite the journey, both from a songwriting perspective and from a producing perspective. Is there a particular track on the album that you think best reflects you as an artist or as a person?
I think they all do. I think the whole project as a whole is very, very representative of who I am and what I like. And I that's the coolest part, the whole project feels like me. There's not one song that doesn't feel 100% like me. The whole thing, every song feels very special. I can't really pick just one. It's a whole project, it's a whole body of work to me.

Do you think this album is a bit more varied in its ups and downs than your previous ones?
Yes, and I think also the approach was very different this time. I felt a lot more self assured and I was feeling like I could do whatever I wanted, and I wanted to prioritise feeling good about that.

That’s really cool. How old were you when you realised you could sing?
I think when I realised I knew I loved to sing was probably around four or five, but when I realised that maybe I wasn't horrible at it was probably around 10. I always knew I loved it, and I think that's the biggest thing. What's “good’ is kind of subjective, and I I've definitely gotten better, I hope, since I was 12, but I was just really into it, and I loved doing it so much.

Do you have a memory of you singing on stage for the first time?
I used to do this after school programme, I probably was four or five years old, and I would just sing little random songs. I remember that very vividly, weirdly enough, but my first real time is all kind of a blur.

Do you suffer from stage fright at all? Because you've done some massive global headline, sold out tours.
I definitely get nervous, but I get more nervous of if the show's gonna go perfectly, because I'm very particular about the show running well - the lights and the bells and whistles and all the tricks and stuff. I don't really get nervous about what I'm gonna do, because I know I'm gonna do my best.

Amazing. Do you have any pre show rituals?
Not really. Honestly, people get a little bit shocked at how chill I am before the shows. I am kind of just sitting around on my phone, in sweatpants, and then I'm like, ‘okay, I gotta get up and start getting ready now’. People are always kind of just like, ‘Girl, why are you not freaking out? You're about to go play for 5,000 people’. I'm like, yeah, it's okay. and then I just run out there, like it's whatever. But it’s taken years to get to that point

That's amazing. And actually, I'm not surprised, you seem very chill!
Maybe too chill!

Clearly not because you're getting the shit done. You're so prolific. You're doing it all, you're directing your own music videos as well as producing. I’m in awe that you can get so much done.
Thank you that’s very nice.

I’m going to wrap this up with a cute little question. Was there every any other career pathway for you, something else you were interested in doing?
There was a lot that I was interested in. Something creative, for sure, was always what I really wanted. But I also got my start so young that I never really had time to think about what else there was, you know?

I've always been into criminal investigation and stuff like that. I really like psychology, I love film, I love all that kind of stuff. But I don't know. Who knows where I would have ended up? I think I just started too early to have any idea what else there was out there.

Well, I think we're pretty glad that you chose music, or music chose you one of those two. Do you have any plans to come to Australia?
As of now, everything is still being worked out, but it's definitely always in the thought process, for sure. I had a really great time there last time.

Read our six page interview with Madison Beer in issue 15 of Women In Pop magazine.

locket is out now via Epic Records/Sing It Loud/Sony Music Australia. You can buy, download and stream here.
Follow Madison Beer on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.