(Photo by Sequoyah Yardley)
Many music lovers don’t realize that Nashville is just as much a pop mecca as it is a country music town. Natalie Madigan is a fast-rising pop artist who actually grew up in the Nashville suburb of Murfreesboro. There’s already a buzz about her upcoming EP YIN, set for release in early 2023.
Some reviewers have coined the term “sophisti-pop” to describe artists like Madigan. There’s a level of sophistication and songwriting wizardry in her music that’s reminiscent of trailblazing artists like Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift and The Beatles. And her voice has echoes of Swift and ballad-y Whitney Houston, but in a way that’s uniquely her own.
“The new single ‘eMotion Picture’ is my depiction of how it feels to be in a relationship where the other person projects their feelings onto you,” says Madigan. “It can really shift your view of reality and identity, so I wanted to create a song that paints a visual of how that feels.”
Natalie recently got rave reviews as the show-opener on her good friend Emlyn’s “No One Came To Grieve” tour. Like Maggie Rogers in 2022, Natalie Madigan is poised to be the breakout star of 2023.
When will YIN get released, and can you tell us more about some of the other songs on the EP?
YIN is set to be released in February 2023 with two more singles coming before. Yin represents darkness, femininity, the moon, emotions, sadness, etc. So all of the songs on this project encompass the darker experiences and concepts of my life. There’s a lot of introspection and me picking apart my feelings trying to make sense of them. For me, the exploration of my own emotions has also allowed me to grown into myself, my intuition, and my femininity.
You’re a pop staff writer at Endurance Music Group in Nashville. Do you write songs for other artists, or do you focus primarily on your own music?
I mostly write for myself; however, I have a few artists and close friends that I write for in the pop world. I also write a lot for film and tv with my publishing company.
You have a magnificent voice. Did you take voice lessons in addition to your music production courses at MTSU?
Thank you! I grew up doing musical theater, doing midstate/allstate choirs, and took voice lessons for about 6 years! I actually feel like there’s been a lot of “un-training” my voice that I’ve had to do. Musical theater and choir just have a lot of diction and pronunciations that don’t really translate to pop, so it’s taken some time for me to really find my “voice.”
How did you meet EMLYN?
EMLYN and I actually met at GRAMMY Camp Nashville in high school! We’ve known each other for years and have a really deep friendship, so getting to experience her first headlining tour with her is really special.
