Loyal support: Madison Beer releases Life Support (below) via Epic on February 26
Madison Beer reveals why her debut album, Life Support, marks the start of a new chapter...
The album’s been ready for a while, you must be excited that it’s almost here…
“It feels like I’ve been waiting a very long time. The album was supposed to come out last March, and the pandemic delayed it quite a bit. We had no idea whether it would go away, so we thought it was appropriate to push it back. We pushed it and pushed it until it got to the point a few months ago where I said, ‘This is not going to dictate when I drop my album and I just want it out already’. I made the executive decision to drop it, there was no reason to hold onto it anymore.”
Your fans and the industry have waited a long time for it, too… “I’m very, very grateful. My fans have stuck with me through a lot. I’ve felt things like, ‘How could they still be fans of mine when I’ve made them wait for my music for so long?’ I wanted to give them a big album. I’ve definitely been through the ringer. I was signed when I was 12 and dropped by the time I was 16. But I feel at peace now. It’s been a long time, literally 10 years of my life. It’s been crazy.”
The record is 17 songs long and lyrically very candid, what’s the story behind it?
“At the time, which feels like forever ago, I was going through a break-up and a really rough time mentally. I realised it was a bit shallow to reduce myself, my existence and my art to a break-up album, I felt like I had a lot more to talk about and I also didn’t want to give my ex that much credit, you know? So I decided I just wanted to talk about real things. There are a lot of songs about my mental health and things I’ve gone through, I was pretty suicidal, actually, and making this album was really the only thing that kept me going. I wanted to get that point across as well as I could. I’m really proud of it, I’m really proud of where I am now. It’s definitely a period piece in my life that I already feel so far removed from, so it’s going to feel really good to get it out there and feel like I can close a chapter.”
“I’m really proud of my
album and where I’m at” Madison Beer
You co-produced many of the tracks, do you have a favourite? “A song called Effortlessly holds a close place to my heart. It comes from when I was self-harming and was in a really bad place. It gives my depiction of how that felt and what it was like, it’s an honest articulation of my struggles and what I was going through. I hope more people can start talking about these things.” If you have been affected by any of the issues raised here, you can call Samaritans for free on 116 123.
Polydor co-president Tom March on the major’s big plans for Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over The Country Club…
“Lana is really in an unbelievable place creatively. I’m delighted to say the new album is spectacular and the response from her fans to the launch has been phenomenal. The video for Chemtrails… is a classic Lana visual, and consumption on that song overall globally has been the biggest for any Lana launch in some years. In addition, we have double the number of UK album pre-orders than we had at the same stage
musicweek.com
on the last campaign, with more D2C activations still to come. One of the most interesting things about Lana that you don’t normally see with artists is that, even though this is her seventh studio album and she’s been active nearly 10 years, her biggest audience on streaming is still 15-22-year-olds. With every album, she brings in new young fans and that’s something we’re really aiming to lean into with the marketing.”
Music Week | 21
WORDS: Ben Homewood PHOTO: Bethany Vargas
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