Madison Beer – Life Support (First Access 
Entertainment/Epic
Records)
Release Date: Out Now
I’ve been looking forward to this one for quite a while now
and not only has it not disappointed, it has exceeded expectations. Here we
have a debut pop album from an artist who has been involved in every stage of
the song writing, producing and even creating the videos. Madison Beer is the
real deal and has already been through plenty in her young years to give her
the material to write about so let’s dive in, shall we?
‘Life Support’ contains 17 tracks in all but don’t let the
length put you off, time flies when the soundtrack is this good. The opening
track, ‘The Beginning’, is a collection of haunted, breathy vocal notes calling
out from the middle of the night, beckoning you into a secret world. This then
opens out in former single ‘Good in Goodbye’, a breakup track set to music-box
melody but with Beer’s steely vocals making sure the listener knows who is instigating
this break up. ‘Default’ follows next with a slow sense of forlorn heartache
set to strings before ‘Follow the White Rabbit’ starts with a grungy guitar
riff followed by one of the most unique and catchy melodies in a pop song for
the last 20 years. ‘Effortlessly’ tries to soothe and take away the pain but there
is a sinister edge that tells you to keep one eye open while you sleep.
There is a theme on this album
which takes a lot of energy from toxicity in both relationships and wider
society. ‘Stay Numb and Carry On’ is a classic example of this energy which
dances on both sides of a line of being in control or being controlled, showing
Beer’s vocal talent to switch from fragility to power with the blink of an eye.
My favourite track on the album is ‘Blue’, a cautionary tale that there is a
time to get out of a bad relationship set to Lana Del Rey-esque dramatic
melodies; “I know when to run, when my make up does” is as big a chorus as
there is out there right now.
After the love letter vocals of ‘Interlude’, we slip in to ‘Homesick’ which uses Beer’s voice as an instrument to layer up the notes before being joined by an acoustic melody that makes for a Miley Cyrus sized tune. There was (and still is) a justifiably huge buzz around ‘Selfish’, a tune that acts as a goodbye letter to another toxic influence; “I shouldn’t love you but I couldn’t help it, I always knew that you were too damn selfish. ‘Sour Times’ shimmers and throbs before erupting into a tune that sounds like something Incubus wrote for Lady Gaga to sing at a particularly cool event. Conversely, ‘BOYSHIT’ takes matters in hand and marches straight down Beyoncé boulevard with women pouring out of every doorway following Madison Beer to a huge, empowering party that sticks one finger up at the ridiculousness of men.
As a change of pace and attitude,
‘Baby’ is a pure seduction track with more than a little Ariana Grande about it
while ‘Stained Glass’ is as fragile a cry for help as you’re ever likely to
hear in a pop song. There’s a delightful slow-dance lilt to ‘Emotional Bruises’
that makes you want to hold yourself close and forgive yourself for bad choices
in the past. Similarly, ‘Everything Happens For A Reason’ sways softly like a Hawaiian
palm tree while Beer sings “I used to believe that everything happens for a
reason but I just can’t find a reason you’d want to hurt me so bad”. Track 27
is called ‘Channel Surfing/The End’ and you are dropped back into your world
with static, snatches of conversation and clips of Madison Beer singing like a
broken robot. This album is absolutely crammed with catchy, thought provoking
and original pop songs which is impressive on its own but then you remember
that this is her debut, and she is planning to release another album of
original material by the end of 2021. Madison Beer is the real deal, time to
get involved.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/MadisonElleBeer