INTERVIEW: Madison Beer releases second album 'Silence Between Songs': “I'm trying to be honest and showcase who I really am. With this album you will definitely get to know me very intimately."
Interview: Jett Tattersall
Madison Beer first shot to fame aged just 13 and over the past decade and established herself as one of her generation’s greatest pop stars,.
Today she releases her second studio album Silence Between Songs and with its 1960s-inspired, almost otherworldly sound, showcases her growing confidence and remarkable talent not only as an artist but as both a songwriter and producer. Beer commenced creating the album almost immediately after her debut album Life Support was released in 2021 with all fourteen tracks co-written and co-produced by her.
Beer took inspiration from some of her favourite artists, including Lana Del Rey, The Beatles, The Beach Boys and Tame Impala. Their influence is clear on the album’s soundscape without it taking away any of Beer’s uniqueness. In many ways the album is like taking a sonic tour through much of the last century of music – a hint of the 1930s here, a touch of the 1970s there – encased in the production values of now. It lends the album a veneer of timelessness: listening to it is almost akin to removing yourself from time altogether. There is familiarity alongside constant unfamiliarity, which gives the album a brilliant otherworldliness that is summed up perfectly in the music video – co-directed by Beer – for opening track ‘Spinnin’, in which she finds herself completely alone in a world that seems to have just stopped.
Lyrically, the album explores the emotions of falling in and out of love, as well as her relationship with her family. Third single ‘Showed Me (How I Fell in Love With You)’, which samples the 1968 hit ‘You Showed Me’ by The Turtles, has a languorous, organic, 1960s sound complete with hypnotic vocals and instrumentation. Beer sings of falling in love with someone to the point of obsession – “It makes me wanna cry whenever you’re away” – but also of realising the relationship is one sided – “I will be your fool, I come back every time”.
Fourth single and album standout ‘Home to Another One’ looks at the end of a relationship but with a mixture of pain and acceptance. “I know what I should say / ‘I don’t think of you’, but I do” she sings, before acknowledging that life, and love, go on: “It’s okay, boy, you’re not the only one / Another year, we’re still here.” Sonically it is gorgeously hypnotic, with an complex and clever production, giving the song all the feel of an electronic dance-pop song without any of the obvious elements of that genre.
The soaring, cinematic ‘Nothing Matters but You’ opens with lush strings and looks at the power and healing kind of love that comes when you find someone you can love and trust to the extent all the pain you have been holding in can be released . “I don’t know how I survived before I met you,” she sings. “Hold me while I cry”. ‘17’, with its 1930s, jazzy feel, leans into the pain Beer felt growing up. Looking back at her younger self, she sings, “I cried for help but no one’s ever listening … / I hope she knows I would never blame her.”
Beer wrote several songs about her family and the way that family changed when her parents divorced when she was young. Her relationship with her brother is behind the song ‘Ryder’, a beautiful, emotional ballad that begins with just guitars before swelling with strings, keyboards and vocals into a giant heart of a track. “Cracks in the windows / Castles in pillows and all of the places I built us to hide / … Just two kids caught in the crossfire. Her relationship with her is then examined in the track ‘At Your Worst’. Another moving, semi-acoustic song - and brutally honest - it details how her father leaving the family affected her life and touches on his self-destructive behaviour. “I taught myself to cry on cue / I close my eyes and think of you / It’s not that hard for me to do ’cause everything leads back to you.”
Silence Between Songs is an acknowledgement of all that Beer has been through, without ever leaning into self-pity. is a remarkable album of depth and integrity that showcases just how strong an artist Beer is and exactly what she is capable of. A strong contender for one of the best albums of 2023. We recently sat down with Beer to chat all about the creation of the album.
Hi Madison! Congratulations on Silence Between Songs, it is a wonderful album. I'm not hearing any silence though, because the whole album plays out like effortlessly song after song, like pages in a book.
Thank you. It's funny, we actually were going to add long silences at the end of each song, but we thought people would just press skip and then I guess that does something to the streams. If people click Skip it doesn't count as a stream or something. So we were advised to not do that! I'm glad that you feel like the silence has been filled with music because that's the point.
It opens with the very tipsy 'Spinnin' and I love what you've done with the song lyrically, production, melody and that kind of disjointed confusion. That same theme and sonic palette flows throughout the whole album. Was that kind of displacement one of your inspirations sonically?
I kind of always love these haunting, weird, intricate melodies. That is honestly like a common thread, that sort of energy throughout the whole thing. I'm glad that you picked up on that because that is an inspiration.
With regards to going into this album, you have always been very hands on with your music. But were you even more so fuelled by the success and confidence of previous work to just know exactly what you wanted?
I guess in some ways, that's just been the theme of the past few years - taking the steering wheel back and really sitting in the driver's seat and being like, I have every right to want to call the shots, I want to execute this and produce this as well as I can. In every single thing that comes out to do with me, I want to have my hands on and be a part of it. It's been a very exciting experience to have just more and more involvement in every single aspect of my career. It's obviously my career at the end of the day, and I want to be proud of every single thing that comes out. And I really am.
You mentioned to us when we spoke last time that finding your own path creatively has always been your biggest inspiration. Has that been the case with going into Silence Between Songs?
I would say so. I've tried to be true, and I've tried to just always be proud and that's definitely accurate. I feel like I've done a good job with that.
We spoke to you around 'Stained Glass' and you were saying you wrote that song because you were getting hated on for the wrong reasons and you were feeling alone and you wanted a song that explained the reality from your eyes. I'm getting the sense of that as well with Silence Between Songs, just this veneer of a pop star taken off to see the artists within, but maybe I’m projecting a little here!
No, you're not projecting you're right on the money. The past few years of my life specifically, I've been very much trying to just be honest and showcase really who I am, behind all the other things that people might know me from. If you've listened to this album, you will definitely get to know me very intimately. So you're absolutely correct.
You're no stranger to exposure, you put it on display with your autobiography The Half of It. Were some of those songs on this album possibly confronting to put out there?
You know, not really. I try to be very patient with myself and not put things out until I feel really ready to. For example, I've wanted to write a song about my brother and our experience as siblings and what we've gone through for a very long time. But it's only been recently until I wrote the song that is called 'Ryder', that I've been able to actually articulate them properly. So I just try to be patient and not rush into things. If I feel like I'm ready to open up and talk about things and speak my truth, then I don't really have any fear in that.
You have been a beacon of feminist power for young generation of girls, it's really great, what you've been doing and what you've been calling out on behaviour, particularly in regards to press and comments. I want to know, what inspired that in you, have there been certain women in your life that have just don't put up with any shit?
First of all I appreciate you saying that so much. I am still very young, but growing up for sure my mom is such a strong, strong woman who's been through so much and she's always just been kind and gracious and lovely and just amazing. She's been such a role model to me. But honestly, I try to give credit to myself wherever I feel that it's due and a lot of my ability to put my foot down and set those boundaries, defend myself, that has come from my own personal experiences.
Stay tuned, more Women In Pop & Madison Beer coming soon….
‘Silence Between Songs’ is out now via Sony Music. You can buy and stream here.
To keep up with all things Madison Beer you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter.
