Speaker 1: M Hi, guys, and welcome back to this week's episode
Speaker 1: of Let's Be Real Podcast. I'm your host, Sammy Jay,
Speaker 1: and this week I got to chat with the incredibly
Speaker 1: talented Madison Beer. Now you may know her from her
Speaker 1: music from social media, but I genuinely love this conversation
Speaker 1: so much because we talk a lot about how social
Speaker 1: media has negatively affected her even though her career started
Speaker 1: on social media. We talk about anxiety, touring music, girl
Speaker 1: supporting girls, and so much more. I hope you guys enjoy. Yeah, Addison,
Speaker 1: I am so excited that you are on my podcast.
Speaker 1: It's Friday. First of all, Happy Friday. I have no
Speaker 1: idea what day of the week it is or what
Speaker 1: planet I'm on anymore, So Happy Friday, I guess, no
Speaker 1: clue I know, But I mean, you're going on tour
Speaker 1: so soon, leaving tomorrow. How do we feel about this?
Speaker 1: Very excited, nervous. I'm like the most happy excited I've
Speaker 1: been in so long, and I'm just like, I really
Speaker 1: can't wait. It's been a very very long time since
Speaker 1: I've toured or like done a concert, um, and I've
Speaker 1: just been in rehearsals for the past month. So I
Speaker 1: can't believe it's here, and I'm really really excited. What
Speaker 1: are you looking forward to most? Um? I think it's
Speaker 1: like I've done. You know, I did a concert live
Speaker 1: stream when my album came out. Um, I did. I've
Speaker 1: done like a few things here and there, but I
Speaker 1: haven't performed any of this album or these songs for
Speaker 1: my fans. So I think just like finally singing them
Speaker 1: with them is going to be really magical and awesome.
Speaker 1: And um, I think that's probably what I'm the most
Speaker 1: excited for, is to just like hear them sing these
Speaker 1: songs back to me. It's really cool, going to be
Speaker 1: really cool. Like you said, you did the live stream performance,
Speaker 1: but there's nothing like a live audience and getting that
Speaker 1: like immediate feedback. What is that feeling like when you're
Speaker 1: just on stage people know the words what you've written
Speaker 1: relating to your experiences. Yeah, I mean it's a it's
Speaker 1: a really special thing. It's something that like you can't
Speaker 1: I don't know think, especially that I haven't done it
Speaker 1: in so long. I really don't take it for granted,
Speaker 1: not that I did before, but you know, it's like
Speaker 1: I can't believe I'm able to actually get back out
Speaker 1: there with them and do this, you know, And it's
Speaker 1: really surreal because we've we've been through in a global
Speaker 1: pandemic for the past year and a half and now
Speaker 1: we're finally returning to a sense of normalcy and getting
Speaker 1: to actually see humans in person again. It's like Theies
Speaker 1: all over again. Yeah, it's really wild, I think. I
Speaker 1: think it's also just like a lot of this music
Speaker 1: came out during Quarantine, during the heype of it all,
Speaker 1: So I think that like just having that connection that
Speaker 1: we've had online in real life for the first time,
Speaker 1: it's going to be really special. Because I just I
Speaker 1: did a radio show two months ago now, and there
Speaker 1: was only like a hundred people in the crowd, not
Speaker 1: all of which were my fans, like some of them
Speaker 1: were there for other people or whatever. And I was
Speaker 1: immediately crying when people started singing my song back to me,
Speaker 1: even it was just like fifty people. So I can't
Speaker 1: imagine how it's going to feel when it's a whole
Speaker 1: venue of people there for me. You gotta docu meant that, like,
Speaker 1: do you have a diary or like a journal to
Speaker 1: write Steven? Yeah, yeah, And I'm gonna have a I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do like video tour diaries. I think, um, like
Speaker 1: every once a week hopefully we'll get them out. But
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're gonna document as much as we can.
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be really special and I
Speaker 1: want to make sure all of it is documented in there.
Speaker 1: This album, you know, it got postponed first because of COVID,
Speaker 1: and then it got postponed again. But it's been out
Speaker 1: for a while. What has it been like creating art
Speaker 1: during such a surreal time period in all of our lives.
Speaker 1: Has it made it more difficult or has it helped
Speaker 1: your creative process? Would you say? Um? I think that
Speaker 1: at first it was kind of this obviously like bummer
Speaker 1: of a thing, and I was just like, damn my,
Speaker 1: you know, album has to be postponed and tour and everything,
Speaker 1: and it was kind of just this like heavy thing
Speaker 1: at first. But I tried to, as I do with
Speaker 1: most things, like find the positive through line I can,
Speaker 1: and that was, you know, getting to spend time my
Speaker 1: fans that I wouldn't have otherwise, which was like going
Speaker 1: on live streams and talking to them and just you know,
Speaker 1: having a more like honest dialogue between us. I was
Speaker 1: able to just like talk to them and it was
Speaker 1: really special and I'm really happy that I was able
Speaker 1: to do that. But to answer your question, I yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think that it didn't really hinder or
Speaker 1: like motivate me creatively. It was kind of just like
Speaker 1: weird that I couldn't do in person music sessions or
Speaker 1: writing sessions. But it also you know, gave me the
Speaker 1: ability to like want to write on my own and
Speaker 1: like not need a whole crew of people with me.
Speaker 1: And it definitely made me a better writer in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways. And um, yeah, it taught me so much.
Speaker 1: I I but I wouldn't say it like hinder the
Speaker 1: process too too much. What would you say the biggest
Speaker 1: lesson you've learned about yourself through quarantine and just past
Speaker 1: a year and a half, Um, I mean I learned
Speaker 1: a lot about myself. I um did a lot of
Speaker 1: like self reflection and just like you know, I just
Speaker 1: wanted to get to a place where I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we have you know, a month whatever it is. Obviously
Speaker 1: at the time, I didn't know how long it was
Speaker 1: going to be. But remember when it was two weeks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: literally and people, O, my god, we're gonna be obst
Speaker 1: for two weeks and I know another break. It's it's
Speaker 1: crazy and I think that like I haven't really had
Speaker 1: time the last ten years that I started this to
Speaker 1: like slow down and you know, just decompress and be
Speaker 1: like who are you? What? What? Like? What are you what? Who?
Speaker 1: What makes you tick? Like just really doing like a
Speaker 1: deep dive by myself, I think was really important to
Speaker 1: me and it ended up being really like worthwhile and
Speaker 1: I'm so happy that I was able to do that.
Speaker 1: But um, it was definitely still like a lot um.
Speaker 1: I think I'm someone who relies on other people or
Speaker 1: I used to at least for a lot of my happiness,
Speaker 1: and yeah, you know that was at first really difficult
Speaker 1: to stay happy, um and not slip back into like
Speaker 1: a severe depression. So I think also just learning how
Speaker 1: to like self soothe and be on my own and
Speaker 1: not rely on others was huge for me. So I'm
Speaker 1: you know, I'm grateful for for what it did provide
Speaker 1: and give to me, And like you said, like it's
Speaker 1: for me. Also, I have a struggle of anxiety my
Speaker 1: entire life. In a very isolating situation. It can be
Speaker 1: kind it could get bad fast if you're also have
Speaker 1: anxiety or depression everything. Yeah, and distraction can just be
Speaker 1: your best friend. Was there a certain show that you
Speaker 1: watched during quarantine that just helped get you through? It
Speaker 1: feels like such a fever dream that I don't really
Speaker 1: even remember anything I did. I know I watched like
Speaker 1: Tiger King and like whatever, all those viral things everywhere
Speaker 1: we're watching. But I honestly, like I swear, I spent
Speaker 1: nine of my time like on live streams talking to
Speaker 1: my fans. Like that's what really I guess distracted and
Speaker 1: took up a lot of my time. Was I was like,
Speaker 1: how can I get to, you know, know them better
Speaker 1: than I already do, and like how can I create
Speaker 1: this genuine friendship with my fans? Like I've never had
Speaker 1: this much time to just sit and talk to them
Speaker 1: and like have fun and just chat um ever and
Speaker 1: so it was. It was really fun. We had We
Speaker 1: made the best of it what we could, so we
Speaker 1: had a good time. Yeah, you're You're so right. This
Speaker 1: entire year and a half has felt like a fever dream.
Speaker 1: I think you you just put it perfectly. Yeah, I was.
Speaker 1: I was seventeen going the pandemic and now I'm now
Speaker 1: and I was a junior. Now I'm a freshman in college.
Speaker 1: What yeah, I was. I literally had just celebrated my
Speaker 1: like twenty first birthday. My birthday's March fits. It was
Speaker 1: like the last thing to happen prior to like lockdown,
Speaker 1: like a week before lockdown. Literally, so I had like
Speaker 1: this party and then it was locked down, and so
Speaker 1: I went to New York and so I yeah, I
Speaker 1: literally entered quarantine twenty one and now I'm like almost
Speaker 1: twenty three. Really weird. What is the past year and
Speaker 1: a half. I don't I don't know. It's really wild.
Speaker 1: It's like it's it's hard to realize that we're also
Speaker 1: like living through such an historical time. It's like, you know,
Speaker 1: we read about this in school that happened, and we're like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: like nothing like that's ever happened to us or in
Speaker 1: our time, but this will be the time and in
Speaker 1: life that gets taught in schools one day and people
Speaker 1: will be like, wow, those people live through a pandemic,
Speaker 1: Like how crazy? What was that? Like? My answer, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I still don't know. No, I'll be talking
Speaker 1: to my grandkids. I'll be like, yeah, no, clue No
Speaker 1: mentally blocked it out a long time ago deleted. Something
Speaker 1: that I've been forgetting is to like give ourselves like
Speaker 1: more grace that we are going through still such a
Speaker 1: fucked up time period, just in general, um, that we
Speaker 1: all need to just be nicer to ourselves, which is
Speaker 1: it can be hard to do because we've gotten so
Speaker 1: normal to this being the new normal. I've tried telling
Speaker 1: that to some of my friends who are in college
Speaker 1: or you know, my my brother, for example, graduated his
Speaker 1: senior year on Zoom whatever same. But people people like that,
Speaker 1: I try to explain to them, like, it's okay if
Speaker 1: you feel sad about this and you mourn something huge
Speaker 1: that you had worked you know, all of high school
Speaker 1: up to and whatever, like, it's totally I think that
Speaker 1: that's where a lot of people got it a bit
Speaker 1: wrong to me was when people were like, oh, um,
Speaker 1: you know, we should all be like try to make
Speaker 1: the best out of this. I'm like, yes, for sure,
Speaker 1: always I think you should try to make the best
Speaker 1: out of situations. But without being said, I think validating
Speaker 1: your emotions and experienced with this happening and feeling feeling
Speaker 1: robbed of certain things is valid and I and I
Speaker 1: would hate to see I think it just drives you
Speaker 1: into more of like a negative space when you're like
Speaker 1: invalidating your own experiences. And I think that it's okay
Speaker 1: to like, like I had to validate that to myself.
Speaker 1: I had to be like, it's okay that you're upset
Speaker 1: that your tour got canceled. That's a really valid thing
Speaker 1: to be upset about. And um, you know, my little
Speaker 1: brother came to me and he was like, I feel
Speaker 1: almost guilty for feeling sad that my senior year got canceled,
Speaker 1: because you know, there're obviously are people who are dealing
Speaker 1: with much worse things like family members passing away and
Speaker 1: like people in the hospitals and things like that. And
Speaker 1: of course, I think that's great that he acknowledged that
Speaker 1: that's going on. But I think it's important to still
Speaker 1: be able to like be like, well, I'm still having
Speaker 1: a hard time, and um, I just yeah, I was.
Speaker 1: I thought it was sweet that he like obviously was
Speaker 1: thinking about other people. I think that that's like such
Speaker 1: a great quality. But also you have to you have
Speaker 1: to validate your own experiences and you have to be
Speaker 1: able to be like I'm going through something weird and hard,
Speaker 1: and still to this day, you know, people are and
Speaker 1: we are and um you know zoom and all that
Speaker 1: stuff is still really really new to us. And I
Speaker 1: think it's it's really important for your mental health to
Speaker 1: take a second and be like, this has been a
Speaker 1: fucking weird, hard year and a half. Now, Like it's
Speaker 1: okay to feel weird about it, and it's okay to
Speaker 1: like more in your you know, the last two years
Speaker 1: of your life. It's okay. I feel that because I
Speaker 1: feel like I've done that too, where I don't want to.
Speaker 1: I'm sure many other people listening can relate like people
Speaker 1: are going through so much worse. At the same time,
Speaker 1: it doesn't make what we're going through less valid, which
Speaker 1: I think is an important reminder. And I think also
Speaker 1: with the pandemic, the way we've kept in touch is
Speaker 1: through social media. I've struggled just balancing a healthy relationship
Speaker 1: with social media my entire life. I'm sure you get
Speaker 1: this what you also have to think of it as
Speaker 1: a business. But the same time, like I'm nineteen years old,
Speaker 1: I'm a nineteen year old girl in social media can
Speaker 1: just get so toxic so fast. Have you found a
Speaker 1: way to manage that balance or is that still something
Speaker 1: you're working on. Um. I think it's like a forever
Speaker 1: like ever evolving process for me. It changes also, like
Speaker 1: with my mental state. It like sometimes I can, you know,
Speaker 1: allow myself to scroll on TikTok for five hours and
Speaker 1: just be like whatever, I'm fine, And then other days
Speaker 1: it will send me into a panic attack and I
Speaker 1: just don't want to even a lot. So I think
Speaker 1: it depends on my mood, it depends on what's going
Speaker 1: on in my life. But I'm really good. I've you know,
Speaker 1: I see a therapist twice a week who's amazing, and
Speaker 1: I work really diligently about like knowing when I should
Speaker 1: indulge in that and when I shouldn't, and like when
Speaker 1: it's worth it and when it's not. And I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm good about trying to be self aware. Also
Speaker 1: so sorry if my voice is so raspy. I've been
Speaker 1: singing like every single day in rehearsals and I feel
Speaker 1: like I sound like, No, you sound great, you sound great. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, like if I'm feeling like shit and if
Speaker 1: I've had a long day and if I feel stressed
Speaker 1: and insecure and like I don't want to read what
Speaker 1: a million people have to say about me. I just
Speaker 1: I just create that barrier in that boundary. And I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: we're not going to sit on social media tonight because
Speaker 1: I know that if I see something or if I
Speaker 1: read something, I'm gonna fucking feel like shit. So I
Speaker 1: think it's important to just listen to your mind and
Speaker 1: your heart and your body. And if you're heart in
Speaker 1: mind is telling you like, hey, maybe tonight it's not
Speaker 1: the best night to do this, then you just should
Speaker 1: like listen. Do you know what's really helped? I saw
Speaker 1: the Social Dilemma? Did you ever see that? Terrifying? Oh? Yes,
Speaker 1: it's terrifying. And so after watching that doc, I turned
Speaker 1: off notifications for all social media except Gmail because I
Speaker 1: have to use that, and I they've stayed off ever
Speaker 1: since I've watched it. And it's actually great because I
Speaker 1: only go on when I want to go on and
Speaker 1: not want to get an alert that someone wants to
Speaker 1: contact me, right right, Yeah, I have. I mean, like
Speaker 1: I can show you I literally have. My social media
Speaker 1: is all or like dark. You know, they all have
Speaker 1: time on them, so like you open Instagram and it's
Speaker 1: just I have to I have to bypass that. If
Speaker 1: I want to use Instagram today, I need to click
Speaker 1: ignore limit, which then gives you like, okay, do you
Speaker 1: want to ignore it for a minute or fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: or ignore it for the whole day. And I'll never
Speaker 1: ever click ignore it for the whole day. But like,
Speaker 1: it's it's nice that I have to kind of like
Speaker 1: have these checkpoints of not just because you know, it's
Speaker 1: I think like as young people, it's like we just
Speaker 1: naturally go to Twitter and we'll just scroll on Instagram
Speaker 1: or whatever it is, and I think that it's like
Speaker 1: important for people to like have this checkpoint that's like okay, TikTok,
Speaker 1: do I want to bypass this? Yes or no? And
Speaker 1: you have to actually like log in your head these
Speaker 1: these time limits. Like I I feel like I used
Speaker 1: to also look at my screen time and it was
Speaker 1: like hours and hours and hours that I spent on
Speaker 1: social media and I'd be like, what, yeah, that's so
Speaker 1: much of my life and my time, and I'm just
Speaker 1: like this is terrible, like horrible. So at least when
Speaker 1: you have themers, you're like logging it, you know, you're like, hey,
Speaker 1: that was only fifteen minutes that was minutes. I'm definitely
Speaker 1: gonna explore the time limit thing. I uh my software
Speaker 1: of high school, my anxiety was like the worst it
Speaker 1: ever got um and social media just got so toxic.
Speaker 1: And on a winter break, I shot off my phone
Speaker 1: completely for two weeks and I was like, if my
Speaker 1: friends want to contact me, they can call my home phone.
Speaker 1: And I was spending like thirteen hours on my phone
Speaker 1: a day, and I had so much extra time. I
Speaker 1: taught myself the ukulele because I was like, I don't
Speaker 1: know what to do with this extra time in my life.
Speaker 1: Good for you, that's I think that's amazing, and I
Speaker 1: think that it's really like dope that you had that
Speaker 1: like inner dialogue to tell you, hey, like let's let's chill,
Speaker 1: Like it's too much. A lot of people don't have that,
Speaker 1: and so it's that's really that's awesome. Okay, we have
Speaker 1: to take a quick break, but when we come back,
Speaker 1: let's talk more about your experience with social media and
Speaker 1: the impact it's had on your min health. I also
Speaker 1: want to talk about your passion about being a mental
Speaker 1: health advocate, your new music, and so much more. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can feel myself starting to go down the not
Speaker 1: so great feeling of social media. Again, for everyone listening,
Speaker 1: please remember at the highlight reel, it is not anyone's
Speaker 1: life at all. I think it's a yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think it's crazy we even have to say that,
Speaker 1: Like I think that it's like you should just know
Speaker 1: of course people are only putting out what they want
Speaker 1: you to see and like they're only their best and um,
Speaker 1: it's not it's it's it's not reality. I try to
Speaker 1: I try to remind my fans and like just people
Speaker 1: who follow me that as much as I can. Where
Speaker 1: I'm like, you guys do know I don't look like
Speaker 1: this all the time, right, you guys are fully aware that,
Speaker 1: Like I spent two hours in here and makeup before
Speaker 1: I took this selfie and like whatever it might be, Um,
Speaker 1: I think it's so important, Like people need to just
Speaker 1: understand that, especially even I've found it's not not even
Speaker 1: really the like people who post selfies really look super
Speaker 1: fire all the time and stuff like that. That gets
Speaker 1: to me. It's more like I found myself for a
Speaker 1: really long time looking at people's relationships and people's lives,
Speaker 1: being like, well they seem like they're so happy all
Speaker 1: the time, and they're traveling and this person they're dating,
Speaker 1: they seem so happy with them, and da da da
Speaker 1: da da. And I was always comparing like my relationships
Speaker 1: to that. But in reality, like a lot of the
Speaker 1: couples you see posting online that are like the happiest
Speaker 1: couples ever, like fighting NonStop and like have issues and
Speaker 1: they're not posting like, hey, me and my boyfriend has
Speaker 1: gone to a fight like this. It's just not reality.
Speaker 1: So I think it's it's super important to just take
Speaker 1: everything with a grain of salt and really trying not
Speaker 1: to compare your life or relationships to you know, any
Speaker 1: of that. It's just it's just not worth it. It's
Speaker 1: really not ingradius on the pot and he kicked up
Speaker 1: and he said something to me that, like I've just
Speaker 1: been thinking ever since you was You're right where you're
Speaker 1: supposed to be. You're not behind anybody, you're not ahead.
Speaker 1: You're on your own journey and that is where and
Speaker 1: that's true for all of us for sure. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: like I hate anything comparison, Like I'm just like, no,
Speaker 1: do not compare yourself to each other, like only one
Speaker 1: of you. You're on your own path. Yeah, there's only
Speaker 1: one of you, and like you were here on this planet,
Speaker 1: I believe to fulfill like your own ship, not anyone else's.
Speaker 1: Don't compare your life to anyone else's. Um. I think
Speaker 1: also like it's hard being our age now because like
Speaker 1: you see kids our age like who are millionaires and
Speaker 1: who are super successful and who are just like running companies,
Speaker 1: and you're like, what the fuck, Like it's really hard
Speaker 1: to not compare, Like I have friends who are um
Speaker 1: my age and who will be like, I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm a failure because I'm not like a multimillionaire because
Speaker 1: on social media, that's like all you see and I'm
Speaker 1: just like, yo, that's so not reality, and like you
Speaker 1: need to stop being so hard on yourself. But I understand,
Speaker 1: like you might think that this is like what goes on,
Speaker 1: but it's it's not, and it's it's sad. I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people who do really great discredit themselves
Speaker 1: because they compare themselves to people online. And I think
Speaker 1: also we're living in such a weird world where people
Speaker 1: on social media are making millions of dollars and their
Speaker 1: fourteen and we have to like that's just because you're
Speaker 1: not that does not mean you are any less than Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a wild, wild time. It's really really crazy, and
Speaker 1: it's really bad on the psyche, Like let's not forget
Speaker 1: like it's it's really intense for a kid. Um. I
Speaker 1: mean I was twelve on social media and it had
Speaker 1: its effects on me in a major way. And I've
Speaker 1: had to now be in like extensive therapy and I've
Speaker 1: gone through a lot of ship mentally that like I
Speaker 1: do credit being on social media is super young. I
Speaker 1: think that that had a really really negative impact on
Speaker 1: the way I viewed myself mental health. Um, having like
Speaker 1: people just like talk about you in a negative way
Speaker 1: all the time is not It's not something like you're
Speaker 1: meant to process. So especially when you're growing up and
Speaker 1: people are critiquing you for when they don't know you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I have no idea who I am, let alone, Like
Speaker 1: do these people know who I am? So it's it
Speaker 1: was really difficult. And I think there's a lot of kids,
Speaker 1: like literally kids on social media now that I'm I'm
Speaker 1: really worried for and I just I just hope that they,
Speaker 1: you know, look out for themselves the best they can.
Speaker 1: It's a really scary place the anteinet sometimes you know,
Speaker 1: a mental therapy. I haven't in therapy since I was
Speaker 1: like eight, and there's such a stigma with it, but
Speaker 1: there shouldn't be because I always say, people say, you
Speaker 1: gotta work out, you gotta work out your mind, and
Speaker 1: that's what therapy is. Yeah, it's so important. And also
Speaker 1: just to be able to like talk to someone who's
Speaker 1: unbiased and just like get your emotions out. I don't
Speaker 1: ever think it's good to let things build up and
Speaker 1: like let that pressure, you know, like becomes so Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's and you don't need to be in a
Speaker 1: bad place to go to therapy. It's always good to
Speaker 1: go if you don't think you need it can become
Speaker 1: a better person. I literally have this conversation like less
Speaker 1: than a week ago with someone because my friend was like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't really have any like trauma in my life,
Speaker 1: really have anything like bad that's ever happened to me
Speaker 1: that I feel like I've talked about. I was like,
Speaker 1: but being like a human being is trum attic. Put
Speaker 1: it on a shirt. Like literally being born as a
Speaker 1: traumatizing experience. Like it's just like growing up, like learning
Speaker 1: how to do things, and like you know, tripping and
Speaker 1: falling whatever, Like you can't say that you've never gone
Speaker 1: through anything before, you know, Like yeah, so I told
Speaker 1: him you don't just because you don't have these like
Speaker 1: huge things you can cite. I think it's still really
Speaker 1: important to like just talk about your feelings and your
Speaker 1: emotions and look at things through a new lens, get
Speaker 1: another opinion. I don't know. I'm a bit therapy me too.
Speaker 1: And I remember I used to be so ashamed of
Speaker 1: it because my old best friends, um would say the
Speaker 1: therapies for the crazy. After knowing that I went, I
Speaker 1: hate and I was like, no, not really, I'm just
Speaker 1: trying to better myself as a human. Like you should
Speaker 1: do that too, we should. Yeah, I think that's so.
Speaker 1: It's so sad to me that like people like trying
Speaker 1: to make it that people who struggle with their mental
Speaker 1: health or like crazy or like people who therapy are
Speaker 1: like inherently going to some bad or I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: actually means I'm like one step ahead and I'm trying
Speaker 1: to look out for myself, um and get to know
Speaker 1: who I am. Um. I think a lot of people,
Speaker 1: you know, like I'm I can make this judgment about
Speaker 1: what you just said about your old best friend, like
Speaker 1: probably don't want to know, Like there's certain things that
Speaker 1: she probably doesn't want to acknowledge, And that's fine too,
Speaker 1: But like, don't say that we're crazy because we go
Speaker 1: to therapy, Like just say that you don't want to
Speaker 1: learn certain things because you'd rather just leave those stones unturned.
Speaker 1: That's fine too. And something that I've realized more recently
Speaker 1: is that if I hadn't struggled with O c D,
Speaker 1: and if I hadn't gone through anxiety in my entire life,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be where I am, and I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: talking to you where we are right now. For sure,
Speaker 1: you would be creating the art that you've created. And
Speaker 1: I think so it can suck it. It makes us
Speaker 1: who we are, and I feel like we should embrace
Speaker 1: that more. Yeah, And I think that I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: grateful that I've gone through things and I've come out
Speaker 1: stronger the other side because I you know, I think
Speaker 1: that I tried to speak to my fans and my
Speaker 1: followers and whoever's listening about mental health, particularly a lot.
Speaker 1: I try to talk about it as candidly as I can,
Speaker 1: and just like these people to know that they're not
Speaker 1: alone in their struggles and they're not like the only
Speaker 1: ones feeling that way. It's it's really important for me
Speaker 1: because you know, like we said, social media is such
Speaker 1: a false narrative all the time. We're all guilty of it.
Speaker 1: I know I am, and so I think that when
Speaker 1: I can be candid and when I can do these
Speaker 1: little live streams, even it's even if it's for like
Speaker 1: just my die hard fan base who follows this private account,
Speaker 1: that to me like impacts people and it makes people
Speaker 1: realize they're not alone in their struggles. And that's like
Speaker 1: really really important to me. And it feels like it's
Speaker 1: like part of my life journey to like let people
Speaker 1: know they're like not alone. Like I. It's like, really
Speaker 1: what I care about the same here. And I feel like, also,
Speaker 1: I remember, like that's what music is. I remember the
Speaker 1: first time, um I listened to Julia Michael's song Anxiety
Speaker 1: and I listened to those lyrics, I was like, I've
Speaker 1: never related to something more and that's just the power
Speaker 1: of music. And I feel like you're doing that. You've
Speaker 1: done that with your past music, you're doing that with
Speaker 1: your album, and I think it's so incredible. I know
Speaker 1: you're working on your second album already, I am. Can
Speaker 1: you please tell me a little bit um It's hard
Speaker 1: for to tell anything without spilling anything, but just like
Speaker 1: a little tidbit, like maybe some themes, some constant themes
Speaker 1: that run throughout cool. Sure, yeah, I think that. Like
Speaker 1: the most constant theme is like the evolution from Life Support,
Speaker 1: which is kind of just like not that I feel
Speaker 1: like Life Support was a breakup album per se, but
Speaker 1: I was very much so going through a real breakup that,
Speaker 1: like I wrote about a lot, and it was a
Speaker 1: healing album. Sure, I love that, let's call it that.
Speaker 1: And now it's kind of more the perspective of, like,
Speaker 1: you know, what I've gone through and how I feel
Speaker 1: like I've strengthened because of these things. And uh, it's
Speaker 1: more like I don't want to say confidence, but it
Speaker 1: feels like it's a lot more like in touch with
Speaker 1: my emotions rather than questioning them. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1: I like that, Like I don't know if that makes
Speaker 1: any sense. No, it makes perfect sense. Yeah, just like
Speaker 1: knowing knowing that like I'm valid and what I've experienced,
Speaker 1: knowing that, like you know, my emotions are real instead
Speaker 1: of like I feel like life support was a lot
Speaker 1: of me. Also, it was a lot of like just
Speaker 1: talking about my ex and things that happened in our relationship.
Speaker 1: But I was like, I don't want to reduce myself
Speaker 1: from my experiences down to like with this one relationship.
Speaker 1: I feel like I've gone through a lot in my
Speaker 1: fucking life and I want to talk about all of
Speaker 1: the things. So it's definitely a way more like diverse
Speaker 1: somatic album. It's not just about an X as you ship.
Speaker 1: I'm excited. Is this coming out soon or like a
Speaker 1: little further away. It's a little further away just because tour,
Speaker 1: Like I didn't really factor in how much work I'd
Speaker 1: be putting in for tour, Like I I've it's been
Speaker 1: a lot, so I haven't had really time to finish
Speaker 1: it per se. So I'm gonna I'm gonna say, like,
Speaker 1: hopefully top of next year is realistic. Okay, we have
Speaker 1: to take one more quick break boat. When we come back,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna talk more about your mental health and any
Speaker 1: advice you'd give your younger self. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: How is your mental health been? When I have a
Speaker 1: lot going on, I can get overwhelmed. How have you
Speaker 1: been Are You've been doing okay with your rehearsals and
Speaker 1: all that. You know, I'm the same. We're like, I
Speaker 1: get really overwhelmed when I'm um doing a lot too,
Speaker 1: because I feel like I have no time to do
Speaker 1: things for myself, Like I'm leaving tomorrow and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I still have to get my nails done and I
Speaker 1: still love to do my eyebrows and like things like that,
Speaker 1: and I haven't had any time to do them. So
Speaker 1: I get overwhelmed when stuff like that happens. But because
Speaker 1: it's tour, I'm just so excited and happy. So I'm
Speaker 1: just like, yes, overwhelmed, but like I'm happily overwhelmed. I'm like,
Speaker 1: keep keep overwhelming me. That's a perfect type of overwhelmed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm like this is great, and I'm I'm like I'm
Speaker 1: so excited. I just can't believe it's like actually here
Speaker 1: and I'm leaving tomorrow. That's so exciting. If you could
Speaker 1: tell your younger self something or give your younger self
Speaker 1: a piece of advice, will be I feel like my
Speaker 1: only piece of advice would to be like, firstly, like
Speaker 1: I know it's hard, but like please stop listening to
Speaker 1: these people who literally just want to rip you down,
Speaker 1: and like stop crying yourself to sleep every night, like
Speaker 1: they'll never see you. Like it was a really hard
Speaker 1: thing for me for a long time to like except
Speaker 1: that people were seeing me in the wrong light and
Speaker 1: people just had the wrong idea of me, Like I
Speaker 1: had to separate the idea of versus like the person,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's it's hard for me as someone
Speaker 1: who like struggles with anxiety and depression as well, and like, um,
Speaker 1: like a lot of a lot of other ship I
Speaker 1: being seen and being validated and like feeling like I'm
Speaker 1: genuinely translating who I am to the public, like has
Speaker 1: been important to me because I've been someone like I've
Speaker 1: been followed or whatever since I was twelve. That like
Speaker 1: it's become part of my life where like I want
Speaker 1: people to you know, know me, and I don't want
Speaker 1: to ever come across like different. And I had to
Speaker 1: add a certain point just be like there are always
Speaker 1: going to be people who have the wrong idea of you,
Speaker 1: and there's always going to be people who do not
Speaker 1: see you the way you want to be seen, and
Speaker 1: that's okay. And there are people who do, and even
Speaker 1: if it's a smaller number, or even if it feels
Speaker 1: like a smaller number, and it's not like I've had
Speaker 1: to just try to live with that. So I would
Speaker 1: definitely tell my younger self, like, you know, as long
Speaker 1: as you know that you're good, and as long as
Speaker 1: you know that you have good intentions and um, as
Speaker 1: long as you can go to sleep with yourself at night,
Speaker 1: then I then I would I would tell my younger
Speaker 1: self to just be okay with that. I don't just
Speaker 1: like give her a big hog and I'd be like, hey,
Speaker 1: kids are gonna be fine, and like you're going to
Speaker 1: turn out great, and I have faith is that you're
Speaker 1: going to find your way. So yeah, I think you
Speaker 1: are putting your experiences so beautifully into music and Reckless
Speaker 1: is so incredible and Life Support like and I'm not
Speaker 1: just saying that, I'm really not Like it's not only
Speaker 1: is your storytelling incredible, but I love the instrumentation behind
Speaker 1: all of it. Is there a certain song that I'm
Speaker 1: sure you go in waves and relating two different songs
Speaker 1: you've written at different times. Is there a certain songs
Speaker 1: from Life Support that you are currently relating to more
Speaker 1: right now than others. That's interesting. Uh No, I think that,
Speaker 1: like I go through phases of like, what's my favorite,
Speaker 1: I always say that Effortlessly is like my favorite. It's
Speaker 1: just I just love the song in general. But um,
Speaker 1: I think like rehearsals has given me a new love
Speaker 1: from my song Homesick because I just like love it
Speaker 1: and it's so cute, and I just like, I love
Speaker 1: what we're doing in the show for it? Are you
Speaker 1: can include a little Rick and Morty part as well?
Speaker 1: It is in the show? Yes, you know I still
Speaker 1: haven't gone to Rick and Morty. You're really fucking up
Speaker 1: and missing out. But I know I am, and I've
Speaker 1: seen episodes and I've loved it. I just haven't watched
Speaker 1: it all the way through very very much my life. Um,
Speaker 1: but you should watch it. I won't peer pressure you
Speaker 1: because I think you should get into it on your
Speaker 1: own time. But it's really really good. I will DM
Speaker 1: you after I watch it, and I will let you
Speaker 1: know my thoughts. Also, where do you go to school?
Speaker 1: You like should come to a show? Um? Yes, please,
Speaker 1: I just moved out to California. I'm actually from New York. Cool,
Speaker 1: So okay, we'll come to the l Show or the
Speaker 1: San France or or the San Diego Show, whatever show
Speaker 1: you like. Wait, when is this, uh the end of November,
Speaker 1: I'm coming. Yeah, Oh my god, we'll be able to
Speaker 1: meet in person. You're coming, you have to come? Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness. Yeah, Madison, thank you so much for coming
Speaker 1: on my podcast. I feel like these conversations aren't happening enough,
Speaker 1: and it's all about these surface level stuff. So I'm
Speaker 1: just very happy, thank you for just opening up and
Speaker 1: being you, because it's wonderful and it should be celebrated.
Speaker 1: You're so cute and it's really awesome that, like I
Speaker 1: know that I'm not much older than you, but I
Speaker 1: tend to like view the younger generation a bit of
Speaker 1: a negative light, just because I feel like a lot
Speaker 1: of like what I think, what I associate like nineteen
Speaker 1: year olds too is like TikTok and like, you know, like,
Speaker 1: and I associate TikTok to like negative like hate and
Speaker 1: like people I feel like are like super cutthroat at
Speaker 1: your age, and I mean, I'm sure you've experienced it,
Speaker 1: so I think it's really really hope and you should
Speaker 1: like be really proud of yourself for being so young
Speaker 1: and having this mindset. And I mean, you're literally like
Speaker 1: my little brother's age, and I look at like him
Speaker 1: and his friends, like they're so young, and I'm just like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, you guys like don't care about any
Speaker 1: of that kind of stuff, and like mental health isn't
Speaker 1: something that they give a shit about. And I mean
Speaker 1: they're boys or whatever. They're different. Boys are a different breed.
Speaker 1: Different breed for sure, But I think that it's awesome
Speaker 1: that someone your age like cares to have these conversations
Speaker 1: and wants to and like I could tell that you're
Speaker 1: genuinely passionate about it, and it means a lot to
Speaker 1: someone like me who is like a mental health advocate.
Speaker 1: And I feel like I kind of sometimes don't like
Speaker 1: break through to younger people because I feel like they don't,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe care about it as much you're
Speaker 1: reading to it as deeply. But I think I think
Speaker 1: what you're doing is great and I'm really proud of
Speaker 1: you and happy that you are doing this. It's it's
Speaker 1: really really cool. That means a lot. And I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, especially this industry, like we us girls got
Speaker 1: to support each other. Like there's enough competition in the
Speaker 1: world and there shouldn't be any with girls, and the
Speaker 1: fact that there is any ridiculous. So I'm glad that
Speaker 1: we can all support each other and I'm excited to
Speaker 1: meet you in person, come to your show. Yes you
Speaker 1: have to come. And it's I totally agree. I think that,
Speaker 1: like the narrative about just being a woman and like
Speaker 1: having to literally compete with other women all the time
Speaker 1: is so dark and sad, and I think it's just
Speaker 1: like a flaw, the many flaws in society, it's one
Speaker 1: of them, and like, you know, yeah, we should all
Speaker 1: be there to uplift each other and be kind and
Speaker 1: like it's just life is too short to be a
Speaker 1: fucking dick. Like truthfully, that's it. Yeah, that's what it
Speaker 1: comes down to. It's what it comes down to. And
Speaker 1: it's just like it's so crazy. It's crazy to me
Speaker 1: that it's not like a common thing, but it's not.
Speaker 1: Can we change that? Let's change that. I really would
Speaker 1: like to what's your sign? I need to ask, and
Speaker 1: I need to know. I'm a lie? Whoa surprising? Okay, cool?
Speaker 1: Really what do you think I went? I didn't honestly,
Speaker 1: I didn't think anything. I was going to get Sagittarius,
Speaker 1: which is like pretty opposite to Leo, like bye bye.
Speaker 1: But also that's I think that's because I like usually
Speaker 1: associate leos with like partying and being like super like hype,
Speaker 1: and so I'm seeing you in a different light maybe
Speaker 1: if I know you a girl, No, I am. My
Speaker 1: ideal night is like watching Jenna Marble's YouTube videos like
Speaker 1: doing a face mask. That's what. That's what. That's my
Speaker 1: ideal night. I'm not a big but you know what,
Speaker 1: it depends on my mood. I guess I feel like
Speaker 1: I've also just like coming out with a lot of
Speaker 1: leos who are like pretty like wild. So I don't know. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm excited that we have met each other virtually, and
Speaker 1: I'm excited to meet you in person. And You're the best.
Speaker 1: You're the best. Thank you so much, seriously, this was
Speaker 1: really fun. Thank you guys so much for listening to
Speaker 1: this week's episode of Less Biro podcast. If you haven't
Speaker 1: listened to Life Support, or if you haven't bought tickets
Speaker 1: to Madison's Score, I I only recommend you do. Madison,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming on my podcast. I
Speaker 1: genuinely really appreciate this conversation. It helped me a lot
Speaker 1: actually and inspired me. Also, if you haven't already, subscribed
Speaker 1: to the podcast and follow me on Instagram at its
Speaker 1: Sammy J. That's I T S S A M M
Speaker 1: Y J A y E. I will see you guys
Speaker 1: next week by