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10 Questions with ... Maddie & Tae
July 29, 2018
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
First stepping into the Country music scene in 2015 with a #1 smash, "Girl In A Country Song," Maddie & Tae have spent the past couple years growing both personally and professionally. Since All Access spoke to them last, the duo toured the country, underwent a label change, took time away from the spotlight, dove into the fashion world, and much more. Now, with the release of their latest single, "Friends Don't," Maddie & Tae are ready to show off to their friends at Country fans and fans what they've been working on. The girls chatted with All Access Nashville about what they've been up to the past few years, their forthcoming concept album, the inspiration behind "Friends Don't," and much more.
1. Last time you chatted with All Access, you were a part of the CRS 2015 "New Faces" Show, back when "Girl In A Country Song" hit #1 and "Fly" was your current single. Obviously, a lot has changed since then, including your label home. Can you talk about how you knew UMG Nashville was the right home for you?
Maddie: Basically, Dot Records - the label we were on - was a joint venture between Big Machine and Universal New York. It's really confusing; there's no easy way to explain it, but we were kind of linked in with UMG with Dot Records, in a way. So, it felt like a very natural fit, and when we started meeting everyone over there, it felt like a total family and like home. We absolutely love the new label family, and we have found a new creative freedom with our home.
2. You've also experienced some recent personal life changes, as well. For example, Maddie, you got engaged this past year. How have these personal life changes affected your music and/or songwriting?
Tae: Wildly. Truly, when you're in the midst of trials, it seems like they're never gonna end, and it seems like there's no beauty for your ashes, if you will. It's hard to see the silver lining and why things happen. But, for us - as we're finally on the other end of all of that - having a record made and feeling so great about the entire record makes us so grateful for what we've gone through personally and professionally. It was really vital for us to take the years that we took to really discover us, our duo, our message, and our new brand. Now, we have a record that tells a story, and the story is ours. It's very personal and real. We feel very confident in the music that we're making and the stories that we're telling now. Thankfully, things do happen for a reason, and even though we can't see it in the middle of it all, we see it now. Our story is a long one, and we're ready to tell it, and we hope our fans can relate to it.
3. As songwriters, you've always done a great job at getting your message across. Can you talk about how your sound and songwriting has maybe matured or flourished in past three years, as you were out of the spotlight?
Maddie: When you're starting out in this industry, you're really wanting to please people, and you're wanting to cater to certain things. I think that we've learned that the best way to connect with our fans is to be completely honest and keep making really unfiltered music and tell it how it is, like I think we always have. The biggest learning lesson for us was being given the freedom to write so freely. Both Tae and I have wrapped our self-worth into our career, because in the entertainment industry, you are your product. The minute we detached our self-worth from our career, we learned that who you are is more important than what you do. If people like what you do, that's awesome; if they don't, then whatever. Whenever we realized that, we had this new creative freedom where we weren't thinking about, "Oh, is someone gonna like this," and we felt a new confidence in the writing room. We wrote most of the record this past year, when we had these really big "A-ha" moments.
4. Let's discuss your newest single, "Friends Don't." What inspired the tune?
Maddie: That song is actually about my sister. Sometimes you write about your own situation, then other times you get inspired by other people's lives. I'm like, "Sorry to anyone related to me, because your business may be put into a song!" My sister has this friend group, and there was this one guy in the group who she was really having fun with, but they were just friends. Then, they started spending more time together, and it was kind of like that weird gray area, where you think someone's into you, but you're afraid to make the move - that whole transition of going from just friends to seeing if there's something there. She would call me all the time to tell me what was happening. Finally, he took her on a date - which she tried to say could be a "friendly thing." But, she told me what restaurant he took her to, and I was like, "Girl, no. That guy likes you. That's a really nice restaurant." I remember telling her, "Friends don't do that." So, we went into the writing room the next day, and I was telling our co-writers about the situation. We wanted to write it in a way that when you hear it, you feel that tension between the two people - that desire and tension - and hopefully, people feel that when they listen to it. And, they're still together, so Tae and I are the matchmakers over here! If anyone needs help, we'll write a song about your love life, and it'll all work out.
5. You also have mentioned that a new concept album is set to be released sometime soon. Are there any details you can offer? A theme, what fans can expect, etc.?
Maddie: Making a concept album for us was so much fun and, actually, unexpected. We didn't plan on making a concept record. It tells a story top to bottom. When we started having meetings to discuss what we wanted the second record to say and what we wanted it to sound like. It just so happened that all of the songs we felt so connected to and gravitated towards were relationship songs, so we thought to tell a story with all of them, since they all hit home for us. So, we rolled with it. It's through the eyes of a relationship; in the beginning of the record, the first song is "Friends Don't," then there are a couple songs about not knowing if you're in it or not. Then, they're in it to win it, and they're in love, so there are a couple in-love songs. Then, it goes into the heartbreak, where the relationship ends, and the character is heartbroken and lost. Then, the end of the record, there are a couple of redemption songs, where she's finding her confidence and ain't takin' no crap, basically. We say that the girl in this record is a combination between Tae and I, because we both went through a lot of different personal struggles, then through our professional struggles together. But, we stayed so close through it all. We combined both of our different experiences from the past two year. We haven't named the girl in the album yet, but she's a combination of the two of us.
Tae: She needs a sassy, strong name. She's a strong woman who's been through a lot.
6. You two have always been strong females within the Country music scene. What are your thoughts on the presence of females on Country radio today?
Maddie: We released "Girl In A Country Song" to kind of wake people up. It talks about not being a girl in a Country song, but also about how we're being neglected in this genre. I do think it's gotten better since we first came onto the scene, but it's still hard. Even right now with "Friends Don't," it's really hard out there. It's hard for any artist to get their song played, but I think it's trickier for women. A lot of that stuff you just can't control - if a station wants to play your song or not - you just have to make great relationships and be kind. We just hope that we're making music, as females, that people - men and women - can connect with and relate to, because that's our job as songwriters. So, hopefully we make that connection with people through music. It's a mystery to me, because there are great female artists that aren't getting airplay, and it blows my mind.
7. What advice can you offer to any female singers/songwriters that have just moved to Nashville or have been here for years trying to reach their goals in the music industry?
Tae: I'd say both of us have advice that we give, because we were both in that state. For me, something I really struggled with when moving into such a big town and having such a big team was not being confident in the things I brought to the table. I thought I needed to be more of "this" or "that" and wasn't owning up to the things God gave me - trying to be something I wasn't to fit into a world. So, I feel like I would look at her and say, "How you were made is exactly how you were supposed to be made to do the things you are supposed to do."
8. You've toured around the country with huge name acts. If you could put together your own tour and bring three acts with you, who would you bring along?
Maddie: First, Dierks [Bentley]. He took us out on his tour, so hopefully we could do that again.
Tae: Yes, definitely Dierks.
Maddie: Jillian Jacqueline would be so much fun.
Tae: Brothers Osborne.
Maddie: And, Devin Dawson. Those would be our four people.
9. You had a capsule collection with the clothing brand, Aqua. How did you get into the fashion world, and is that something you want to continue to pursue?
Maddie: We did have a capsule collection with them. I think it ended maybe last year. That was so much fun and a fun way to express ourselves creatively. The current clothing line we're working with is called Black Daisy. It's a jean line at Macy's. The Aqua thing was our first go at the fashion world, and we had such a great experience there, so we knew we always wanted to have something like that for our fans to connect with us. We designed a couple pairs of jeans with Black Daisy, and told them that as long as the jeans pass the stretch test and they're comfy, then we're good.
Tae: I think so. We want to be able to let our creativeness come out in some way. We also want to stay engaged with our fans, because we know they like Country music, but they also like to shop, they like candles, or they like makeup. We always want to stay engaged and give them a bargain deal.
Maddie: We want to make music that makes them feel great, and if we can make clothes or accessories that also make them feel great, then it's a double-win.
10. You've already hit so many career goals, and y'all are only in your early 20s! What are a few "bucket list items" for the rest of the year and as your career continues to advance?
Maddie: I would love to have a record that impacts people - one that people can connect to. I would love to have a couple hits.
Tae: I would love to go on a Summer tour next year.
Maddie: And have a headlining Fall tour. Since the album is a concept album, we want to put together a really cool experience for our fans. This is gonna happen - it'll get crossed off the bucket list. I think just keeping everything going, releasing the record, and songwriting. Creating music is our favorite part. We get to do what we love every day, so we try to set healthy goals, but nothing too crazy. Years from now, we hope to be filling out stadiums and crazy things like that.
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