Madison Beer walks up to an abandoned escape room in the desert. She grins with excitement and determination before putting herself in a self-imposed conundrum she must skillfully will herself out of. The 25-year-old singer’s new music video for “15 Minutes” is perhaps a larger metaphor for how she’s been feeling lately in her life and music career, eager to escape previously held limitations she put on herself.
“I feel like I'm always trying to free myself from things I might have done when I was younger,” she tells PAPER. “My last album was the beginning of shedding those limitations, and now I'm just trying to do that even more. So yeah, it does make me feel powerful.”
The new work feels that way, too. There’s an assurance in the recent songs, “Make You Mine” and “15 Minutes,” that strays away from Beer’s emotional album, 2023's Silence Between Songs. These new tracks are more dancey and direct. There’s a fire behind them, and it all stems from her obsession with spontaneity and not quite knowing what’s next.
We sit down with Madison right before she heads off on her Australia/Asia tour, and we discuss the state of female pop, being a gamer, and experimentation.
I saw that the “15 Minutes” BTS just came out, and in it you say that it’s already your favorite video you’ve done and you hadn’t even shot it yet. Why is that?
It was just a really fun, different video for me. It felt like a mixture of some of my other videos. It felt similar to “Spinnin” for me because it was a solo thing, but then it also felt a little bit more action-y, sort of like the video for my song, “Good in Goodbye.” So it was cool. It felt like this meeting of worlds, music video wise for me, so I was really excited to be shooting it.
Do you do escape rooms?
Yes, I love them. They're so fun. I've also always wanted to incorporate an escape room into something, and this just felt like the right thing.
I love this new era and the EDM electronic vibe. What kind of space would you say you’ve been in with these past few songs? What’s inspiring you generally?
It's been something that has always been inspiring and exciting to me. I've always loved dance, electronic music, or whatever genre you want to say it is. I just never really knew if it was something I could take a stab at. As artists, we sometimes, not even purposely, box ourselves in. And then we end up at a place where we're like, "Wait, why did I create this box around me when I could literally do whatever I want?" So I started to be like, let's just try it. With “Make You Mine,” I just had this idea and I got in the studio and was like, "Just trust me, let's try this." And people were super receptive to it. So we tried to do it again with “15 Minutes.” I really love both of these songs. I love the sound. I like making music that makes you want to move. It's obviously very different for me, from my last record. So I'm excited to see what else I make for this project.
Do you feel more power now in this stage of your career? In the sense that you can walk into the studio and be like, ‘This is what I want to do. Let’s experiment.’ Do you feel more control in that way?
Yeah, for sure, and I feel like it's also just a personal thing. I'm always trying to free myself from things I might have done when I was younger. I put these limitations on myself and told myself, "Oh yeah, you're a pop artist who can't do dance music or anything that seems house leaning, even though it's music you enjoy." And I started to shed those limitations during my last album because I was listening to a lot of Beach Boys and The Beatles. I had always told myself I could never even try to do something that was influenced by those sounds, and then I was just like, why not? My last album was the beginning of shedding those limitations, and now I'm just trying to do that even more. So, yeah, it does make me feel powerful for sure.
What are you currently listening to? Or who’s your current obsession?
I don't really listen to so much new music. I'm kind of always in a rabbit hole discovering more older music. I don't know why or what that is. That's not to say that I don't love newer stuff and newer artists, but the things I fixate on are older songs that I discover. And I'm like, Oh my God, I feel like I just discovered an ancient artifact or something. I’m trying to give a good example of newer artists. I listen to The Marías a lot. I've been on a Bee Gees rabbit hole, where I've just been discovering more Bee Gees songs and stuff. But, I mean, there's nothing specific. I just literally do what's recommended, and just keep listening to stuff.
Who was your favorite pop star as a kid? The one that really shaped you?
I really loved Britney Spears growing up. I was a huge, huge Britney fan, and she's had a lot of influence on me. Loved Ariana. I still do, but definitely, when I was first starting out, she was my idol. Lana Del Rey. So many people. I can't even begin. I find myself always being like, this person is speaking through me right now, because there are just so many different artists [I love]. But yeah, those are probably the main people.
What do you think about the state of female pop in 2024? This year has been a lot about the women and them sort of coming together, and it feels like more community vibes, which is refreshing. What are your thoughts on that?
Yeah, I agree. I love to see women in music succeed. It's so awesome. The only thing that bothers me, to be honest, about all of it, whether it's Chappell or Sabrina or Charli, is people being like, "Oh my God, this new artist and this person that just came out of nowhere." These girls have been working, literally, for 10 plus years, most of them. So I just think it’s a little bit funny when people are like, "Oh, this person just dropped out of the sky." I'm like, no they didn't. They’ve literally been working for so long. It's important that we note that and credit it, because it sets really unrealistic expectations. There's such an influx of people wanting to be artists these days, obviously, and wanting to pursue the creative arts, which is amazing. I experienced this when I started too, but I really don't love when people would always be like, "Oh, Justin Bieber was an overnight sensation." Or this person was an overnight sensation. Terms like that were always coined and said to me as a young artist, and then I would end up feeling like a failure for not being successful after two years of being signed when in reality, sure, there's probably been a couple people that are technically overnight successes. But for a lot of people, it takes a really long time. It's so cool seeing these girls show that their hard work pays off. They should be credited for their hard work and not just be called overnight successes, you know?
It's so cool and exciting that it seems like culture is in a place where we're all very receptive to women, and we want women to win, and especially in music, we want to hear what they have to say. That's just so exciting. Obviously as a female musician as well, it's really cool, because I feel like for a long time, I don't know, even back to Marina and Lana. They were really competing with a lot of men. It was very male-dominated, and that was who was taking up a lot of space, which was also great. There's a lot of male artists that I love. But, yeah, it's definitely very cool to see the girls be recognized and praised right now. It's really exciting and very hopeful.
I love that you mentioned Marina. That’s my mother.
No, literally. That’s mom.
But yeah, the Charli-ification of this summer has been insane. I feel like there will be an NYU course being taught about Brat in a year or two.
Literally, actually. But, people don't even fucking know that she's been making music for so long. I saw someone on TikTok the other day that was like, ‘Oh my God, this new artist Charli XCX. How did y'all not put me on sooner?’ or something. And I was like, new artist? Girl. I don't know. I get defensive because I feel like it’s almost disrespectful. Maybe she's a new artist to you, but these people have been working for so fucking long. Charli specifically has been working for so long, curating and perfecting this sound. They deserve credit for the years and years of working and not having the number one hits, because that's the shit that really shapes you.
Do you have any niche hobbies or obsessions that your fans would be surprised to know about?
Surprised, I don’t know, because I've been Twitch streaming lately. But I play video games. I play Fortnite. I play Dress to Impress on Roblox. I don't know if there's anything they don't really know about, to be honest with you.
You’re an open book.
I really am an open book. Like, I'm being so for real. I tell them everything. I mean, to be honest, I was playing Fortnite for a long time before I outed myself to the world. And so maybe that's probably the best answer, because I did keep that a secret for a while, because I knew that the second I told them they'd be like ‘Stream it! We want to watch you!’ and I was too nervous because I always thought I was bad, but now I'm just publicly bad, so it's great.
You’re definitely a PAPER Magazine favorite, and a personal favorite. I’ve been listening to you since the “Dead” era.
Oh my God, shut up. Thank you. You’re an OG.
What can you tell us about this new era? What's it gonna be like?
The second I get home from Australia, what I'm really gonna dive in and work on is my next album. And the thing that is the coolest and the most exciting is, I don't know where it's gonna go. Like, I have no idea. And if you would have asked me a year ago if I would have made a song like “Make You Mine,” I would have been like, "Probably not." So I'm really just excited to go into the studio with no boundaries, no limitations, and just make whatever is cool, and whatever feels right. I had a meeting with my producer two days ago, and we were talking about how we really want to go into this with no limitations and no expectations. Because we went into my last album really, like, bullet point. Like, we needed to accomplish this, this and this. These are the stories I want to tell. These are things I want to talk about, which is great, and It's important to have a map. But I just feel like with this album, I really wanted to go in and see what flows out of me. So that's what's exciting me the most. I definitely would expect something very different, though. Silence Between Songs was my emotional storytelling album, and now I'm feeling free and able to just make whatever, even if it's not too deep. But I'm sure I'll still find a way to slip a ballad or two in there. We'll see.
Well, “Baby” was one of my most played songs of 2020. Just saying.
What a bop. I’ll try to deliver more like that for you. I got you.
Photography: Christina Bryson
