Madison Beer’s new era arrives with mature vocals in deeply personal ‘locket’
Since the days of her YouTube covers in 2012, Madison Beer continues to build on her success with her most recent album “locket,” revolving around her former partner. Though Beer was able to get over her breakup, she admits to acting on impulses. Hannah Mesa | Illustration Editor
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Long before Madison Beer was a GRAMMY-award nominated artist, she was posting covers on YouTube. When Justin Bieber watched her cover of “At Last” by Etta James in 2012, Beer was signed to his label, introducing her to the music industry. 12 years later, her second album, “Silence Between Songs” was nominated for a Grammy.
On Friday, Beer built on that success with the release of her third album, “locket.” Across the album’s 11 tracks and 33-minute runtime, Beer shifts genres and showcases her growth and maturity as a singer.
The album is deeply personal; Beer sings about her trauma and pain from a recent breakup and the struggles of being put in the spotlight at such a young age.
In “locket theme,” Beer opens with powerful harmonies and vocal progressions that are a step up from her previous albums. She directly addresses listeners and her former partner with her first line.
“Did you miss me? I like to pretend you did / Was crying lately, I know you can picture it,” she sings.
Here, the lyrics also reveal the inspiration for the album’s name and title track. Beer sings about taking off a locket filled with “pain,” suggesting that the necklace holds her most vivid memories of the relationship as she tries to move on.
Beer quickly shifts the album’s tone in “yes baby,” an upbeat, synth-pop track with an electronic dance background. She sings about worship and submission to her former partner with lines like, “Basically a God, you pray to me,” revealing how intimate their relationship was.
In “angel wings,” Beer follows up with another synth-pop track. The pacing is slower as she chooses to hold onto the best part of their relationship instead of acknowledging where things went wrong. The chorus and the heavy synth in the track’s final 40 seconds make this one of the highlights of the album. Beer describes her former partner as “dead to me,” but shows she’s not fully over their relationship, singing, “I guess some ghosts are too damn cute.”
Beer follows with “bad enough,” which is easily the best track on the album. It’s also the most vocally impressive, with its dreamy vocal progressions and high notes as she shifts to a more depressed state. While she knows the memories of her previous relationship are hurting her, Beer can’t bring herself to let go.
With “healthy habit” and “you’re still everything,” Beer finds herself repeatedly making the same mistakes about idolizing her previous relationship. Throughout the dreamy progressions, Beer weighs the effects of her decisions. She admits she can’t help acting on her impulses and acknowledges she was more invested than her partner.
“I tried to save us, but there’s only so much I can do (So much) / And I’m not perfect, but I’ve never stopped loving you (So) / How am I nothing to you, while you’re still everything to me?,” she sings in “you’re still everything.”
Beer picks up the pace with “bittersweet.” As she gets ready to let go of her former partner, she looks back on their relationship one last time. It’s another one of the top tracks on the album with revealing lyrics in the chorus like, “Now that it’s over, you’ll blame it all on me / I know I should be bitter, but baby / Right now I’m bittersweet.”
The synth-pop style returns in “complexity;” Beer looks back at how far she’s come since the breakup. Refusing to let her former relationship wreck her, she sings about how all of her previous trauma has only made her stronger.
In “make you mine,” Beer’s trauma is replaced by passion and attraction for her new love interest.
“See it in my eyes, how they never lie / Just a little bite, are you dreamin’? (Are you dreamin’?) / Now I got you up, would you look at us?” she sings in one of the most passionate and honest tracks on the album.
After the rush of “make you mine,” Beer closes the album with a more grounded “nothing at all.” The track encapsulates the highs and lows of both her former relationship and her emotions. It’s a snapshot of the entire album with the lyrics, “The higher you rise, the further that you fall / And soon, you’re left with nothin’ at all (Soon, you’re left with nothin’, nothin’).”
Beer has come a long way from her YouTube days, and in “Silence Between Songs,” she already proved that she is a legitimate star in the industry. In “locket,” there’s an even higher level of maturity and growth from Beer. The album both defines her as an artist and is her most vocally impressive yet.
