Madison Beer sits down with Aaliyah Harry for an honest conversation about mental health, being a woman in the music industry and the pressure to reach perfection.
madison beer
Not many people can say they became a viral sensation at the tender age of 12-years-old. ‘I just got my braces off and was like I want to film a YouTube cover,’ Madison Beer tells me over a zoom call, donned in sweats. The video she recorded singing Etta James’ At Last caught the attention of Justin Bieber who praised her voice on Twitter. From that moment, Madison’s world completely changed. She reminisces on that life changing day, ‘What 12-year-old can even imagine that? It was pretty insane. A lot of it’s a blur, if I’m being honest.’ Madison reveals she still has a great relationship with Bieber today. ‘He’s been really supportive,’ she adds.
From the outside looking in – you could say Madison has it all. A successful music career, worldwide tours, 32 million Instagram followers and a legion of fans. But through her music, Madison shows vulnerability. Being thrust into the glaring spotlight before she was even a teenager had a lasting effect. She admits, ‘I got a lot of hate from social media really quickly and that experience still effects me. Being told from a really young age that everything you are and do is wrong in some way. It’s confusing and I’m still undoing a lot of that damage.’
She continues, ‘I wasn’t really fully grasping or comprehending the true levels of damage it was doing to my psyche and my overall well-being. It all caught up to me in 2018 and I had a lot of inner work to do. Although it was hard it’s shaped me as the individual I am today.’ In a rapidly growing digital world fuelled by social media, the pressure to reach perfection effects everyone – even Madison. ‘Regardless of how much I’ve grown, I think I’ll always feel a certain pressure. I tried to be somewhat of a role model for so long that I ended up not even allowing myself to make human errors – that’s unhealthy.’
When people ask what success is to me – I could say selling out a tour or a VMA nomination, but the true answer is when someone tells me that I’ve made them feel seen.
In 2020 the singer-songwriter bravely revealed that she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. She explains that she was compelled to share her diagnosis to the world for her younger self and to help others. ‘I went through a lot behind closed doors at a young age. Through opening up about my experiences, I’m doing something for other little girls out there who might feel as alone as I did growing up. I felt like I was crazy and so different from everyone else and that was the most isolating part of my lowest and darkest moments.’
‘When someone comes up to me and tells me that I’ve like made them feel seen and that they see me in return. Madison pauses, filled with emotion. ‘It could bring me to tears right now. Those are the moments I will cherish for the rest of my life.’ Even through a grainy zoom call, her raw emotion comes through.
Being a woman in the music industry has its own unique challenges. ‘The unfairness is still so apparent,’ Madison states. ‘The world is super fixated on women in the spotlight especially when it comes to body image – it’s really hard navigating it.’ Madison explains an incident that may seem small but can set a damaging precedent. ‘I was breaking out really bad and an aesthetician said, “You shouldn’t leave the house until your skin is perfect. Because you’re a celebrity and you have this image to uphold.” I was like, no, no no.’ She continued, ‘It can be so damaging on your mental health being told that it’s not okay to have a breakout, gain a little bit of weight, have stretch marks or cellulite. It’s safe to say I’ve never gotten a facial from that person again!’
Madison’s new single _[Showed Me {href=’https://youtu.be/khCziHJQSwg’ target=’blank’ rel=’noreferrer noopener’}) shows a sultry side to the popstar. ‘Writing and making the video for ‘Showed Me’ was a really unique experience,’ explains Madison. ‘This song samples The Turtles ‘You Showed Me.’ I’ve never used sampling or interpolation on a song before, but I’m always looking for new ways to experiment in the studio and pay homage to the classic sounds and melodies I loved growing up. This song is the perfect culmination of those things.’
We still live in a very misogynistic world. Especially with Roe v. Wade being overturned, it shows that there’s still a lot of work that we need to do.
Although the singer-songwriter still feels like she is working on herself every day – she is proud of the woman she is becoming. ‘For a long time, I compared myself to other artists who were on paper bigger than me. They were selling out arenas or getting number one hit records and I felt like a failure. Then kids would come up to me and say,” I hope to be like you one day,” and I’m looking at them and questioning why.’ She pauses,’ I think it all is perspective. My biggest gift to myself has been understanding that I have to allow myself to be proud of where I am. I can’t continue to compare myself. As long as I’m a happy person with a good heart – I will be okay in the long run.’
Before the call is over – there is something that must be cleared up. There is a rumour swirling round that Madison is related to Megan Fox. Whilst their resemblance is uncanny, what’s the truth? Madison says with a huge grin,’ I have zero relation to her. But it’s an honour to have that rumour about me!’