Madison Beer Is Ready For Her Comeup

We all know what it’s like to be a teenager in love, and Madison Beer is making us relive it all. On her debut EP, As She Pleases, the singer reminisces about the turmoils and butterflies that come with young love, while also staking her claim as a young, independent artist. Now, she's taking on the music industry exactly as she pleases, leaving no room for error about how she will take the world by storm and make it her own.

Beer, at the casual age of 19, has become proudly independent, already owning her business and making us fall in love all over again, but this time with her mesmerizing voice. On the day of her sold out headline show in New York, the singer/songwriter is giving V insight on what it’s like to be on her first headlining tour, how she makes music, and what her fans mean to her.

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Your incredible debut EP As She Pleases is finally out, and the title sounds to me like you’re on a mission. Tell me about it.

Yeah, that’s exactly what it means. I wanted to convey the message of how I do what I want and how I run my own business, and I’m a woman in charge. I want all of my fans to know that that’s possible, and feel empowered when they listen to my music.

When writing music, do you tend to write primarily about your own like or what you observe around you?

A little bit of both. Of course I write from experience but I also do write from things that have happened in the world.

Was there ever a particular song that was extremely difficult to write or extremely easy and organic to write because of what you had experienced or observed?

Yeah. The song "Tyler Durden" is about the movie Fight Club, so obviously it's not a personal experience, but I love that song. It's my favorite song. A song that was easy for me to write was probably "Teenager in Love", because it was me writing it when I was sort of falling in love, which is cute. It was easy for me to write something like that; falling in love is one of the things where you can be very descriptive lyric-wise, so for me it was just really easy to just sit down and have that be the quick song I think I’ve ever written in my life.

Music marks a moment. A song like "Teenager in Love", there that chance that teenagers, or anyone for that matter, fell in love & they have this sound as a soundtrack to staple this moment. A memory like that lasts forever, and you're going to be apart of their lives forever. 

Aww, thanks.

With that in mind, what is the music making process like for you?

It's fun! Its super simple and easy. I try to keep it as stress-free as possible. I hate nothing more than feeling rushed to write a song, or feeling like I have to write a song. I just want to be able to sit down and write from my heart, and really speak from the truth because I’ve had times where people told me I have to write a song, and that’s when the stuff I don’t like comes out. I try to have it be an environment that’s fun and where any idea is welcome. I write with my friend and keep it a fun environment. I found that’s the best way to do it.

Music is really powerful, it heals people, and staples a memory. What does that feel like? What does making music mean to you?

It’s a blessing and I feel so lucky to be able to get on stage, sing and dance, see my fans, and do what I love every single night. I’m not kidding you, being on tour has been one of the most fulfilling honors of my life. I could literally cry just talking about it. It makes me so happy to finally be able to do what I love on stage. I’ve been singing in my room since I was born. I’m sued to that shit at this point, that doesn’t phase me or excite me or anything. It’s the fact that people line up to come to my shows, they come to meet me, they come to see me sing, and I’ll see tweets about it. That's just so fulfilling. It feels amazing and I’m so blessed to have such an amazing fanbase. I take my craft really seriously. I hope when people come to my shows—I know this might sound weird—but I hope people underestimate me and what they’re about to see and then end up being blown away by it all, because that’s what the response has been and it's exciting. It feels so good.

I love that. How has the crowd been reacting to the new music?

They love it! It’s the best feeling in the world. I sing a few covers on stage. Every time I sing "Breathe", which is one of the covers I do, I pretty much cry every time because the lyrics to that song, even though it's not my song, are just so real to my life, because there’s so many times I feel like I don’t belong on stage or I shouldn't doing this. Then I have moments when I get up there and I’m like, "No, this is what I was born to do". It really empowers me. I look out into the audience and see so many people singing along and loving me, and it just feels so good. Nothing's better.

It’s shocking to hear that at times you don’t feel that you belong on stage. Why so?

I’m human and I get insecure at times. It’s just something that comes with being in the public, I guess. I just doubt myself sometimes, for whatever reason, but my fans just reinstill the fact that I’m meant to be doing what I’m doing, and it feels really good.

You’re not only doing music, but you’re also into fashion. You have a collaboration with Missguided. Can you tell me how that came about and what inspiration you had behind it.

I wanted something that was affordable, and something that looked like it was to be worn at night, during the day, or with any type of look, because that’s very me. I literally wear a different vibe every single day. My style is kind of all over the place, so I wanted something that people could switch up and wear however they might want to. And its dope that I have the title of my EP in there.

Who would be your dream person to wear these clothes?

Rihanna.

How did I know you were going to say that?

Right! It’s not a surprising answer.

If that is your dream person to wear your clothes, who would your dream collaboration, musically, be with?

I don’t want to say Rihanna again… but Rihanna [laughs].  A lot of people. I love music for what it is, so anyone that I could just vibe with and be creative with, I would just love to do something with.

Has there been a big inspiration with a particular artist, with their music or the way they present themselves, or anything like that, that has influenced you?

Yeah, a lot of different people. But mainly I love '50s music and I love older music, so it's stuff like that I love.

Fast forward to now, do you think social media has impacted the way people perceive the music industry and artists?

Yes, of course.

Tell me about your take on social media. I see you & I have the same phone case, from Urban Sophistication, that says “Social media seriously harms your mental health”.

Yes! Best phone case.

Is that how you really feel about social media? Do you feel like it has more of a negative impact?

Not 100%, but in a lot of ways I do feel like it's true. I feel like social media could be very detrimental and extremely harming if you don’t know how to use it correctly, and if you don’t know how to distance yourself from it. Too many people think that that is the real world and think that’s all there is, and that’s where I think it can get really ugly really quick. Being able to separate reality from social media is an important factor of using it. I believe kids shouldn’t aspire to look like Instagram models. They should aspire to do good in the world, be themselves, and spread positivity. I feel like the focus is just "Oh I want to have a million followers," or "Oh my god, I want to look like her." No, just focus on your life.

Is there a particular message you highlight when you’re on tour and performing in front of your fans?

Yeah. Being confident and being a badass woman. I think that’s important and I want my fans to feel empowered, 24/7.

And what about the guys in the audience?

Same exact thing. I want them to feel empowered and confident within themselves and I also want them to see that women are badasses.

If there was one secret you had, that you were ready to give away to your fans, what would it be? It doesn’t have to be anything serious, just something that your fans don’t already know about you.

I sleep with two stuffed animals every night.

What are they?

A unicorn, and a bunny rabbit [laughs].

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