In today’s age of music, it is extremely difficult to be an independent artist. To really stand out as an independent artist without any special funding or backing, your art has to really resonate with people.
Madelline is finding immense success in her new song, Participation Trophies, amassing over 100k Spotify streams in the first week of its release, as well as 25k pre-saves and several additions to Spotify’s most coveted editorial playlists for the Pop genre. How does an independent artist gain such massive attention? Well- she RESONATES with people, HEAVILY.
In just 3 minutes and 22 seconds, the New York-based artist covers a wide range of topics that many of us can relate to: having problems stack up in our life, boundary problems with loved ones, facing the consequences of our mistakes, but at the same time finding acceptance and love for ourselves amidst all of these struggles.
“So what’s the problem if I suck at life?” she asks in the song’s chorus. This is a perfect example of the type of freedom that Madelline’s music really pushes forward to the listener. One of my favorite parts about her music has always been that she is just trying to be herself- her personality truly shines through her music and helps foster that sense of self-comfort in the listener. Honestly, every time that I have visited this song since its release, I have played it on repeat because of how good it feels to listen to. The replay value is incredible and it feels like I had a little mental cleanse by the end of it.
Besides the song being amazing, Madelline executed a flawless rollout for the single as well. She was committed to regularly posting relatable snippets of the song to TikTok for months leading up to the songs release, to the point that most of her fans knew all of the words to the chorus and were just waiting for the song to finally be released. The song also reached a totally new audience- if you look at Madelline’s TikTok you will notice that the demographic of her fans vary all over. There are teenagers, there are 40-year-old men, there are fellow girls getting their shit together, there are rappers that think she’s hard. Like I said at the start of this article- her music RESONATES.
For anyone who has been following Madelline to this point, it is no surprise that she is finding such success. Last year she released an awesomely chaotic five-song EP in ‘NOISE COMPLAINT‘ which was accompanied by some amazing visuals for daffodils, kill u in my dreams, and opinions . I recommend that you especially click on that link for the daffodils music video- it is one of the best representations of Madelline’s creativity and vision being seen through by herself and others who believe in her vision as well. Regularly Madelline is able to have so many people happy to help her execute these really intricate and carefully curated visuals.
While most artists may be complacent and enjoy the success of an independent song being received so well, but instead Madelline is recording in LA as she finishes up her next project. If this song is at all indicative of the type of project we will be getting, then Madelline is going to be a superstar sooner than later.
Go follow Madelline on Instagram, TikTok , Spotify , Apple Music , and Youtube to keep up with all of her latest content. And if you have yet to stream Participation Trophies, stream it below!
Great article! Madelline is sick!