23-year-old New Yorker Madison Beer stopped by the 3Olympia Theatre last night to play a scorching hot set on her global tour. Hot Press chatted to pop’s latest princess about her latest album Life Support, bringing her loved ones on tour and giving Guinness another go…

Madison Beer is deep into Irish promo by the time I get to talk to her, but the LA-based artist is gearing up for her first Dublin show since March 2018 at the Academy Green Room.

“I’m always tired! I’m good though, don’t worry!” she tells me, noting how tour can take its toll. The singer-songwriter long awaited jaunt ends on April 28th in Oslo.

“I did Dublin on my last tour,” Madison tells me, recalling. “I love the Irish accent, so I’m excited to hear that again. I remember last time it was a really great crowd, probably no more than about 200 people. To be playing the 3Olympia Theatre is a big deal, I can’t wait.”

“It’s all been so amazing. The song ‘Dear Society’ didn’t make it on the album but it did make it on the setlist – the fans go pretty wild for that one. The highlight is Paris so far. The crowd were the loudest, but I’ve heard that Dublin goes hard! I always hold out time for touristy sites when I travel, I’m a very proud tourists.”

I did the compulsory thing of recommending the Guinness Storehouse before she plays Ulster Hall in Belfast.

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“I need to give Guinness another try. I had it when I was sixteen and was so grossed out by it,” the ‘Boyshit’ singer laughs. “It’s not even that I didn’t like it, I just think it’s an acquired taste that you need to build up to!”

When she had barely entered her teens, Beer signed a record deal after Justin Bieber shared a YouTube video of her singing a Bruno Mars mash-up to his Twitter followers (all 20 million of them). But by 16 she was dropped, before having the chance to release an album. In 2018 she independently released her EP As She Pleases, which garnered 700 million streams globally. A few huge collaborations later, and she had built up a phenomenally passionate fanbase and millions of social media followers.

Alongside her support act, rising star Leah Kate (whose punk-pop-driven fuck boy anthems have been doing the rounds on TikTok), Beer has been on a whirlwind few weeks around the continent. Consistently travelling on a hectic schedule presumably has its challenges.

“I miss the stability. I have my routine every single night and day, so not having that is a bit hard for me. I also sleep with two stuffed animals but I won’t travel with them because the risk of losing them is too high and scary. I miss my dog. I’m excited to go home and have familiarity. Tour can be a lot.”

“I’ve got my boyfriend with me,” she adds, smiling. “My best friend flew out for a couple of days too, and my dad was around. I definitely try to bring out whoever I can, whenever I can. Everything always feels a bit crazy but I’ve got people around me who keep me grounded. My best friend and my boyfriend do that the most out of everyone. It’s important to have people around you. Learning how to do it on my own has been the most important thing.”

Does her boyfriend have a favourite track on Life Support?

“He said he loves all of them but I’m going to answer for him and say ‘Effortlessly’,” Beer says after consulting the man himself. “There’s noises at the end of it and he makes the sound effects. It’s cute. I think ‘Sour Times’, too. That’s his favourite that I perform. When we first started dating, that’s the one he went for.”

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“We met through mutual friends,” Madison explains. “The universe brought us together in a weird way, though. We bumped into each other in a lot of weird places prior to dating. I’m a big believer in signs. When we met, I was really open to the idea and we connected really quickly. We’ve been together for nearly two years now.”

“There’s intricacies of the way we met that are really interesting, like places you’d never think you’d bump into that person – a music festival with thousands of people at it, for example. I feel like fate wanted us to at least meet, and then we decided we liked each other!”

Given how vulnerable Beer has been with her fans online, it must be difficult to try and protect her private life with the power of social media.

“People know who he is. They know my past relationships. They know my siblings. They know everything because of the age we live in,” the singer concedes, frankly. “I think the reason we don’t usually put each other up on Instagram is because I had a very public relationship and there comes a lot of unnecessary pressure with that.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a couple who posts a lot online about each other, but then if you go a week without posting them, everyone assumes you’ve broken up. There’s too much speculation and chatter around something that in my view should be sacred and private. Throughout our relationship, we’ve just had it be for us. We don’t feel pressure to show each other off all the time because we love each other in private and that’s all that really matters.”

“I don’t really let myself feel pressure to consistently be honest and share things, I just do as I please,” Beer adds. “My fans are really cool about that. I think I definitely get to stick to my boundaries a lot more on tour now as well.”

Madison’s debut album Life Support landed in February 2021 through Epic Records and Access Records, meaning that the subsequent tour has been a long time coming. Has she had any time to prepare her next album?

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“Right now, I’m pretty fixated on these shows but there definitely is new music on the horizon,” she grins. “I’m going to give my dog a big hug and a kiss when I get home as well, but seeing people connecting with the music is definitely what keeps me going the most. It’s awesome. I can’t describe how it feels, I’m just very lucky.”

Listen to Life Support below: