Words and Photos: Amy Perdoni, Leela Brudson, Grace Minghella and Meg Hardy

“I want people to realise that you don’t have to stay in a toxic bubble with someone when there’s no more reason to,” Madeleine says in regards to her single ‘Changes’, which came out last spring. Transparency is a huge part of Madeleine’s writing, she’s skilled at telling engaging stories through her songs, influenced by her own experiences. Crediting artists such as Adele for her inspiration, Madeleine’s music merges the best of pop and R&B, exhibited beautifully through her newest single ‘Treat Me Right (The Bubble Song)’ which flaunts a powerful vocal and dynamic production.

With a new single in tow, the BIMM songwriter Madeleine Mcpherson opens up about her love/hate relationship with TikTok, hearing her song on national radio, and why she’ll always be a country girl at heart.

LDN: Your new single is out now! How do you feel now it’s out in the world?

Madeleine: It’s definitely a lot of relief because that song, I’d had for quite a while in the diary. I shared it on my TikTok which is where I share all my songs, but it took about three months to actually come out because of the production process and to get what I wanted. It took three months in the end and I was like ‘Are people still going to be there for this song?’ But they were when I finally released it in September so… it’s definitely relief.  

LDN: A lot of your lyrics are very vulnerable. They come from quite personal feelings and experiences. How does it feel writing about that and putting it out there? 

Madeleine: It’s really weird because people who knew me from school, they might be like, ‘What is she talking about?’ because sometimes it’s about stuff I’ve done at school. I wrote a song about someone I used to go to school with, and I used her name in the song, and I’m like ‘She’s probably going to hear that…’ But it’s also really freeing to tell everybody what’s going on. Normally, I wouldn’t open up like that but for a song, it’s really easy to do that. There’s a higher purpose. 

LDN: Running on from that question, is there any advice that you would give to your younger self? 

Madeleine: Really, really understand that, you can look in the mirror and it’s gonna be okay. And also, the melodies that you hear in your head are not weird. They’re something that you need to listen to. Don’t worry about what you’re so consumed with. When we’re younger, we might have issues around how we look, or boys, or whatever and it feels so big, like it’s the end of life. But know that there’s another world out there. You can follow your dreams. 

LDN: You mentioned that your Dad was a musician when you were younger, did his music inspire your own or your career?

Madeleine: Definitely, I grew up around him in bands, he was in a band called Take Cover – he’d do shows around the UK. He was always listening to Billy Joel in the car, and Phil Collins, real great musicians. My dad played drums, he was a drummer but he never really made it like he wanted to. So I grew up with the example of that, that this doesn’t happen, so when I was younger, I thought this wasn’t something you could get. But the thing that switched that, was realising that there was nothing else I’d want to be doing. The risk outweighed it all. My dad’s now my manager so it’s gone in reverse, like he couldn’t do it, but now hopefully I can and he can live that. 

LDN: You mentioned TikTok, and people being there for your release. Do you feel like social media has had a big impact on the success of your career?

Madeleine: It’s such a dirty word. You can be associated with that and that’s who you are, unfortunately, especially in the time that I’m doing it. I would have loved it if it was seven years ago and I could just gig five thousand times, but TikTok is really important.  TikTok is such a great place to share your songs. That’s where people discover and look for new music now. For the people who want to go far but they’re on the journey. Instagram and Facebook can’t really do that. I love it and hate it. It’s the hand that feeds you but also kills you. 

LDN: You attend BIMM University where a lot of other performance artists appear in bands, did you always know you wanted to be a solo act?

Madeleine: Yes. I remember doing talent shows when I was in school with my friends and I remember feeling unnatural being with someone else on the stage. It just didn’t feel right. But if I was to be on Jingle Ball, for example, I’d love a band to play for me. As an act, I wouldn’t be anything but solo. 

LDN: How involved are you with the creative process surrounding your music, especially the music video for ‘Treat Me Right’?

Madeleine: That was crazy. We had planned the video months in advance. I thought that the song really deserved it – that’s what happens when you write songs. You have to really weigh up if it’s going to be worth it in the end because it’s a lot to do that.  We thought it was, so we planned it for months and then the guy that was gonna do it, didn’t commit and pulled out right at the end. So I was like ‘Oh who do I know?’, and I got this guy Stan to come do the video. We got kicked out by security guards. My dad was with us and said that we were filming with the BBC, they tried to get us out but we just kept going along the river. We recorded it in about two hours, we did fifty takes of the whole song, and he chopped it up and sent it to me. I’d definitely work with him again. 

LDN: Have you got a favourite place, or somewhere special in London that means a lot to you?

Madeleine: I would definitely say more Kent, in the countryside where I grew up. My family, they all worked in the city. I grew up an hour away from London, I’ve always seen it more like a workplace than to actually live in. I go back to the countryside, and I’m able to breathe again. It’s definitely that, I don’t think you can ever take the country out of the girl. 

LDN Magazine: You mentioned BBC Introducing, in what way have they contributed to your career? 

Madeleine: They have definitely been a way to get yourself on the radar. It’s really intimidating because you don’t really understand how it works, you have a single and then it goes into this big thing and you’re asking ‘But how does this work?’ The song I submitted that got played was actually a song from really early on in my journey, the first song I’d ever written seriously.  But like ‘Treat Me Right’ and ‘Changes’, they didn’t get put on. You just have to be like ‘That’s fine.’ I met Annie Mac and told her that I’d stood outside BBC Kent with a bubble song poster, and she thought I was absolutely mental. I know that I’m going to probably be in the office and bump into her and be like ‘Do you remember that?’ and she’ll be like ‘No!’ 

LDN: Do you remember where you were when you found out the song was going to be played?

Madeleine: I started crying. It’s really easy to be like, ‘It’s not a big thing.’ But when you’re just starting out, moments like that are huge. Being on the local radio, and my Dad’s going to listen to and take a picture of it. I was crying because I got the email and it said ‘We’re going to play it’ and I think I just thought they wouldn’t do it. It feels like the hard work is somehow getting recognised. 

LDN: Do you have a dream venue that you’d like to play in the future?

Madeleine: This is the crazy thing – I’ve always wanted to do the O2. I’ve grown up watching people at the O2 but then as you go on your journey, you realise that’s something you have to be in the long game for. It’s not something that comes because you signed a deal or whatever. But selling out Shepherd’s Bush Empire or the O2 Academy – that’s amazing. If you can do that, some people have come to see you and have sold out the show. You can’t add any more tickets, because you’re just jammed. That would be the best situation because it means you have the opportunity to grow from that point. It would be something like that where it’s a real London venue, where everyone can come. My listeners, they’re already asking for shows but I’m not at the point where I’m big enough to justify playing alone, and that’s a difficult thing. I can only do a show with other people, I can’t fill a room by myself and have a support [act]. It’s really difficult because you have to keep saying ‘We will, we will,’ but even if like ten people came from Manchester, that would be amazing. 

LDN: Where do you see yourself in five years, personally and creatively?

Madeleine: How old will I be then? 27. Very different from where I am now. I don’t know. I just hope that I find where I want to be and there’s a good team around me, and good friendships. There’s happiness. [To] be the best artist that I can be, because a lot of the time you have this feeling your whole life that maybe you weren’t really writing the songs or practicing piano every day. I started a little bit later in life, and that’s always something I worried about. But you get what you want at the end of the day. You can’t change the way that things go. Writing the best I can and singing the best I can.

Madeleine Mcpherson’s single ‘Treat Me Right’ is out now. Stream her music over on Spotify and follow her for more updates on Instagram/TikTok.