Madison Beer has spoken to NME about her new dance-pop era, giving us the lowdown on how she’s “listening and trusting” herself more when it comes to music, as well as her thoughts on living in “a parasocial time” – and how that relates to the recent conversation around Chappell Roan calling out her fans.
Hot off the heels of her 2023 sophomore album ‘Silence Between Songs’, Beer released two new singles this year – ‘Make You Mine’ and ‘15 Minutes’ – that dabble in dark, sultry dance-pop. The singer told NME that it’s a sound fans “could expect more of” in the future.
“I think I’ve always enjoyed that vibe, and I’ve always wanted to get into it,” she said. “I just didn’t know if I could make music like that because it felt like something out of my abilities. But then I was like, ‘Why do I feel that way? We could just try.’ And we leaned into it and we gave it a stab and people really liked it.”
Beer said that two albums in, she’s now actively “listening and trusting myself more”. “Sometimes when I make music, I wonder, ‘Is this catchy enough? Are people going to get it? Are people going to understand the references?’ I’m just trying to shed all of that away and just make music that I think is literally just good,” she told us.
As part of that process, the singer said that “setting boundaries and standing up for yourself when you can” is essential.
“Sometimes in this industry, a lot of people can feel taken advantage of or pushed really hard and things like that,” she continued. “I’ve been doing this for so long now that I don’t really have a problem saying no to things.”
Beer opened up about how “there is a lot of guilt put on you” when turning down opportunities she’s not comfortable with. “People are like, ‘Oh, someone else is going to take your place’, and like, it’s not a competition. Someone else can take my place. I’m always going to be me,” she said. “And I think that that’s been something that’s really helped my mental health because I don’t look at it as a competition.”
“Especially as young girls, we’re all taught you have to be the best, you have to be Number One, and I think that’s messed up,” she added. Recalling a time when she “used to be really hard on herself” earlier on in her career, Beer said that “a lot of people make it like if you’re not the biggest, you’re not successful, and I don’t think that’s true. That’s something that I have to remind myself of.”
The ‘Reckless’ singer then looked back on how fame and the social media landscape has changed since she started her career over a decade ago. “When I started making music, I was 12-years-old. There was no such thing as TikTok. There was no real Instagram craziness. Social media was brand-new,” she said, adding that now “we live in a parasocial time”.
When asked about this new ‘parasocial world’ of pop music and celebrity culture, Beer related that to Chappell Roan’s recent TikTok posts, where the ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ singer called out fans for “entitled” attitudes. On that, Beer said she thinks “a lot of people have taken what [Roan] said wrong.”
“How I took it was she was talking about the people who do things that are inherently wrong, like sit outside of her house or follow her home from an event,” said Beer. “You can’t do that to people, you have to allow people to be human. And I think we forget that people, like our favourite artists, are human beings at the end of the day.”
For Beer, that also circled back to the idea of setting boundaries as an artist. “I don’t think she’s ungrateful for her fans,” she said. “People have said, ‘You signed up for this. You have to deal with it now.’ And I think that’s not true. Just because she makes music and people might like it, it doesn’t mean that she signed up for that.”
She also noted how Roan has “got famous so fast” over the last few months, and how “people forget this is probably also overwhelming as fuck for her”. “She’s a person, and now suddenly she has the biggest crowd at Lollapalooza. And it might not always all be positive, even if it’s always what you dreamed of and always what you’ve wanted,” she said. “I think that we just have more empathy for people, and more love in our hearts.”
At the same time, Beer also expressed excitement for the “huge moment” Roan and fellow pop star Sabrina Carpenter have experienced in recent months, following years of hard-work and underlooked releases from both artists. “I’m proud to be a girl that is happy for other girls,” she said, commenting that it feels like “pop music is finally cool to listen to again”.
Ending on thoughts oF where she sees herself in this current wave of pop music, the singer said that she is satisfied with taking things at her own pace.
“I obviously hope to always grow and I hope my concerts always get bigger, but I’m OK with being more of the tortoise. It makes me proud,” she said. “And I feel like I have a really core, real fanbase that grows with me.”
At the same time, she also admitted that she doesn’t know if she could “deal with” that level of popularity.
“The amount of stuff that goes on when you are Number One – whatever that even means – is quite intense and I’m pretty happy with where I’m at.”
Madison Beer’s new singles ‘Make You Mine’ and ‘15 Minutes’ are out now on Spotify, Apple Music and more.