“I don’t even know who I am yet”: Musician Madison Beer shares her advice to her 16-year-old self

“I know who I am and no one can tell me differently.”

Madison Beer is a name that needs no introduction. A platinum-selling artist with an audience of 65 million across all her social media, she’s undoubtedly a sensation. But there’s more than meets the eye (or the rumours), and Madison is here to tell us all about it in her second album Silence Between Songs.

A deeply intimate exploration into Madison’s inner world, her pop-forward ballads detail growing up since her debut album, Life Support, and finally writing the perfect song for her brother Ryder.

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I had the honour of joining the radiant Madison for a lowkey Zoom call to discuss the highly anticipated release. We talk about how it feels to be in a better place, both personally and creatively, and how Tumblr, Lana Del Rey and nature have been some of her biggest inspirations behind the album.

Do you remember the moment that sparked the idea for this album?

I remember seeing something on Tumblr years and years ago that was like a poem about how when music stops, it can just take so long for the next song to start. That’s when you miss somebody or think of somebody the most, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s so cool, it’s about the silence between songs’. I remember saying that and being like, that’s a cool title for something. That’s one of the oldest songs on the album… I knew pretty early that was the title.

You’ve said that it’s the moments of pause where you’ve felt the most growth. Can you tell us about a moment from your personal life where this rings true?

I definitely feel like there were so many moments where I was just running to distractions or places that I didn’t have to think or face some ugly truths. It just caught up to me. It all just got to a point where I couldn’t run anymore. So I decided to turn around and be like, let’s figure this out and turn [off] the noise and just be able to comprehend some of these things that have happened in my life. I’m very happy that I did so because it turned out to be the right decision.

Silence Between Songs is about you discovering different pieces of yourself. What parts are you most proud to share?

The song about my brother definitely took me the longest amount of time. There were so many things I’ve always wanted to say in a song to Ryder, but I didn’t know how. So I’m very happy with how it turned out and I’m happy that I waited because I’d given a go at some songs about him in the past, but they just were never right. I’m really glad that I waited until it was, and I’m very proud of that song.

How do you know when a song is ready? 

You’re asking the wrong person. I’m never satisfied and I’m always like, this could be changed or this could be changed. Even still to this day, there are things that I would change, but that’s just how I am and it’s how I’ve always been. I just have to get it out there in the moments that I do love it, which is now. 

How is Silence Between Songs different from Life Support? What influenced your sound this time around? 

It’s different in every way. I think I’ve just grown up a lot since I made that album, and I think that I’ve learned what I want to really talk about. There are songs that have touched me and resonated with me so much that I want to make people feel that way when I make music.

There are so many influences I can name… maybe the Beach Boys, The Beatles and Lana Del Rey. I just wanted to make music that I felt good about right now. I feel like it’s a really accurate depiction of the time in my life that I wrote these songs.

‘Yesterday’ by The Beatles has been a huge inspiration in making this album, can you tell more about that?

‘Yesterday’ really inspired ‘Spinnin’ a lot. It was the structure of the song that really spoke to me. I thought it was really interesting how they kind of just didn’t have a chorus. It was like the whole song was the chorus, and then it just was this endless loop… versus the traditional way that we make music now.

But I really liked that and I thought it’d be really cool to see if we could accomplish something that had the same structure to it. I think we did a great job at it and… we made ‘Spinnin’ in its honour.

Can you tell us what inspired the aesthetic of your official album cover art? What was the shoot like?

That’s a still from the music video, funny enough. But I had that vibe in a photo saved for the past three-plus years. There’s a whole folder I have of inspo and it’s like a girl swimming in a lake with lily pads in it. There’s another one of a girl walking through a field, and then there’s another one of a girl laying in a tree kind of situation. 

I just felt like this album had to be somewhere that was not a set. I felt very connected to nature in a lot of ways in the last two years, so I wanted that to be what you saw when you were listening to it. The second I got sent that still, I was like, this is the album artwork for sure… I just had that real moment of freedom running through [the cornfield], and it was so nice.

What song on the track are you most excited for people to hear?

Probably the one about my brother because it’s the one that I’m the most proud of. He was very emotional about it. He was very touched that I felt like writing about him, so it was well received when I played it for him.

If you could tell your 16-year-old self anything, what would it be?

Probably to slow down a little bit and not be in a rush to grow up. That would probably be my only piece of advice.

You’ve been on this incredible journey to find authenticity. How has the process of making this album influenced that?

It’s very important. I feel like there’s been so many directions and places I could go with this album, with this music, and I’ve just not wanted to do that because I’ve been like, this doesn’t feel right to me, and it doesn’t feel true to me. I always feel like it’s important to stay true to yourself because this album is going to outlive me, and I definitely want something that I’m proud of out there.

It’s easy for people to tell us who to be and even easier to be misunderstood. How have you learnt to rise above this?

At this point, I know who I am and I don’t let people take that away from me. I think while I was getting older, it was very difficult to hear people say such negative things about me and then be like, ‘Is that who I am?’ Because I don’t even know who I am yet. So it was very confusing growing up, but now I’m at a point where I know who I am and no one can tell me differently.

What are your hopes and dreams after the album’s release?

To go on tour. I hope people come and I hope they love it, and [I want] to continue to just make music that I’m proud of. Honestly, that’s the goal… I would like to come to Australia a lot too.

To listen to Madison’s new album, head here.