The Most Perfect Madison Beer Songs Are
By Simone Gonzalez
Recently, Madison Beer released 15 MINUTES, a song that’s ranked too low on my ranking for this first part of my most perfect series on Madison Beer. I only ranked such an incredible song so low because I want to give credit to her past work, especially on her album Life Support.
Life Support was written with mental health at it’s core. When it came to the lyrics, beat and all elements, Madison Beer has stated multiple times and in interviews that writing and creating her second album saved her life in so many ways. It’s been a long time since then. Madison has released another album, Silence Between Songs and I went to her Spinnin’ Tour at Radio City Music Hall. The show was so exciting and wonderful that my experience there also played a part in my ranking.
So, the most perfect Madison Beer songs are:
Default
Everything about this song is perfect. The beginning where you feel engulfed in water, the strings and Madison’s vocals effortlessly take you to another world. I also feel like it perfectly captures the essence of life support, something is making Madison feel like she is the end of herself but her love sends her back to default. It’s so interesting to interpret this song in so many ways. Of course, romantic love comes to mind. However, it could be any love, familial or friendship kind of love that brings her back to who she truly is despite what she is going through.
There is also a four minute version of default that Madison has not released yet (madison please please please). Additionally, Madison has not once spoken about this song, it’s specific meaning or it’s songwriting process. Genius claims that “Default” by Madison Beer was written by Madison Beer, RAYE & Leroy Clampitt. An annotation on Genius by one if it’s contributors has this to say about Default:
Default is the 3rd song off of Madison Beer’s debut studio album. This song is about Madison’s anxiety and depression. Madison is diagnosed with bpd (Borderline Personality Disorder). Madison is most likely talking to herself in this song and when she’s singing “you” she’s talking to herself as if there are two parts of her. The outro could be suicidal saying that she will be the end of herself.
Effortlessly
As I previously stated, Life Support is an album about Madison’s mental health. It’s sound proof that she continuously struggled with multiple mental health issues all at one time. When I first head Effortlessly, I felt seen in an only a small way. I haven’t been through the things Madison has gone through. However, I still related to the concept itself. At a certain point you realize, when did completing daily tasks get harder? When did certain life situations try to stop you from your goals? When did get it harder to control your feelings, your anxiousness?
Genius said that in February 25, 2021 published article by BuzzFeed, Madison talked about the song:
I wrote “Effortlessly” before I had ever come out about the fact that I had self-harmed. I was really nervous when I was writing the song, because I wasn’t sure, when it was released, if I was going to have had talked about it or not. That scared me and intimidated me a lot. So, I decided let’s just write about it — and hopefully, either I’m gonna have talked about it publicly by the time the album drops, or I’m not and then that’ll be the way I’ll start talking about it.
There’s lyrics in “Effortlessly” that are like, “I hold my breath to breathe, I hurt myself to feel.” It was just kind of my way of talking about self-harm, and I was really scared to do that. But then I did it, and I really like how it came out. As I said, that’s one of my favorite songs. So there’s a lot of things that if you listen to it closely, you’ll be able to be like, “Okay, this is what this is, what that is,” and so on and so forth.
Additionally, with MTV Madison discussed Effortlessly and said:
I remember being in the studio that day, and just talking for hours with my team about how I took the simple things for granted, [like] being able to smile without having to force it. I remember I said, "I used to do all these things so effortlessly,” and [a co-writer] was like, "That's a really dope song concept,” and then [we] started writing about it. Immediately, it was one of my favorite songs that I'd ever made. It's my dad's favorite. It's an incredible song. I love it so much, but yeah, it was a tough, tough, tough day for me. "Selfish" was the first of the emotional, vulnerable songs, but then "Effortlessly" was just a tough day. That day was pretty close around the time that I was really suicidal and pretty much 5150'd. I was just in a horrible place, and I remember I couldn't even form a sentence. I just think back to that time, and… Sorry, I'm trying not to cry. It was a lot for me."
Selfish
Selfish changed Madison Beer’s career. Billboard magazine praised her vocal performance on the song by saying she is “committed to the approach and confident in her skills as a vocalist". Brian Cantor, writing for Headline Planet, hailed the song as a "impressive vocal showing" and "perhaps the strongest 'mainstream pop' song to hit the market thus far in 2020". Mike Wass of Idolator called the song a "stirring breakup ballad".
At the time selfish was released, Valentine’s day about three years ago I believe, this was her favorite song of hers. Madison also explained in a Genius video that Selfish's lyrics were made of things she said while crying her eyes out over a breakup and that Selfish helped her to cope with her sadness and turn it into art. At the same time, this was the hardest song to write.
I don’t know exactly how to explain my relationship with Selfish. I’ve cried to this song. I’ve angry screamed sang this song. Anyone can be selfish. Despite that, for your actions to reflect your selfishness by hurting someone else in the process is beyond tough for that other person. Madison makes it clear that even though that person was repeatedly hurting her with their selfishness, she still loved them.
Also, Madison performing this song is amazing:
If you’re more interested in Selfish, Madison also talked more about Selfish with MTV:
Reckless
Madison’s team told her it was not the wisest idea to release a sad song at this time. After the song’s release, the song became a viral sound on Tiktok and is now one of Madison biggest hits to date. Reckless debuted with 729,263 streams in its first day on Spotify (at the time her biggest debuting stream).
I agree that this song is one of Madison’s best. Reckless has easily withstood the test of time and will always be a remarkable release in Madison’s career. This song is perfect to me as well because of it’s music video. I find it fascinating how Madison turns such a heartbreaking experience into a whimsical music video with an alternate ending version as well. Madison was heavily inspired by Alice in Wonderland and paired that concept with her opening lyrics about Reckless being about a story she hates.
Madison Beer Reckless Photoshoot
Again, I am at a loss for words. Madison made light of an experience many people have gone through and brought about a shared connectivity on that experience on multiple social media apps. Madison stated the song is about:
“how easy it is for some people in relationships to hurt others and move on without any guilt”.
Beer shared these tweets referring to the song as well:
guys i’m releasing my favorite song i’ve ever made soon i’m sorry i rlly couldn’t keep that information to myself anymore […] i hope everyone sobs on their bathroom floor like i do when i listen to it
Then in 2021, Madison shared this on twitter:
i made reckless in october of 2020 after finding out my intuition is literally always right and if someone tells you not to worry about someone else but your heart tells you you should…… run
Lastly, Madison revealed a bit more about making the music video for Reckless in her memoir.
Dangerous
It is extremely crazy of me to not rank this song #1. Madison’s discography is full of many personal and vulnerable songs but I’ve always considered Dangerous to be the most vulnerable when it comes to Madison and how she approaches love.
Madison also made it clear that the music video had a simple concept around it because the song is what takes up the most space here.
A lot went into that song. [...] I call it like my disney princess song in a way, but obviously a sad disney princess song i guess. But it has a lot of energy to it and [...] a bit of a like regal vibe.
Madison went live on Instagram an had this to say about Dangerous.
I’m currently in my third long-term relationship and I’ve done a lot of self-reflection over the last two years – a whole lot of therapy, a whole lot of spiritual endeavors, and just learning about myself. Part of that, for me, has been to reflect. There have been times where I was like, “Is it me?” When you’re, like, the common denominator in something, am I the drama? It’s one of those things where I had a moment of self-reflection. Being the dramatic Pisces I am, I definitely had times thinking, “Maybe I’m unlovable?” and I think we all go through phases of that. I’ve learned through therapy and a lot of love for myself, that I’m not, and I’m not too dangerous to love, but this song is about that feeling when you’re in that headspace.
For Headline Planet Madison also stated:
Dangerous is the start of a more honest, vulnerable and mature chapter… It’s about accepting that some situations didn’t pan out the way you imagined. And it’s about questioning your own responsibility in a relationship. I’m really excited for fans to hear this new side and hope they love it as much as I do!
Madison’s close friend and producer Leroy also had this to say about Dangerous:
Our most ambitious record to date
– via Leroy Clampitt’s Instagram story
Writing this song was the craziest journey we’ve ever been on. Everything single thing we had went into this, couldn’t be more proud. Love you @madisonbeer
– via Leroy’s Instagram’s post
Nothing Matters But You
Madison Beer has quite a few love songs under her belt but Nothing Matters But You is my favorite. I’ve pictured it played a wedding, a school dance and/or a date. It is a song that is so heartfelt and genuine and I love when Madison showcases this style of her songwriting. It is easy to piece together that this song describes what Madison is like when she is in love. She describes it as an obsessive state of mind that nothing matters but you. This song meant a lot more to me when Madison placed this song on her setlist to devote to her fans on tour.
Stained Glass
“I wrote Stained Glass at a time where I was really struggling mentally. This song was my message, not only to the public, but to those around me, to be more gentle on people and not judge them so hard, because you never know what someone’s been through.”
I believe Stained Glass defends something Madison Beer strictly stands on. In a popular excerpt from her memoir, Madison declares we should treat each other with kindness because you never know what someone else is going through. She defends her image and life choices by writing that no matter how well you think you know her, there will always be experiences she’s had that you don’t know about. Madison’s cleverness is shown in this song and a fan on Madison Beer Wiki stated:
The metaphor of “stained glass” reflects the idea that our vulnerabilities are visible like cracks in glass, yet people often fail to see the pain hidden within them.
Stained Glass was also a special moment for fans during the Spinnin Tour. If anyone had a far view from Madison, she walked up to a camera poised directly at her on the side of the stage and sang into it the lyrics of Stained Glass.
My Pictures from the Spinnin Tour all credit to me
Carried Away(Love to Love)
Let’s get into another light hearted track in Madison’s discography,
I think this song showcases Madison’s vocals and an integral part of her personality best. She’s full of love and passion, so much so she gets carried away. This collaboration is certainly her best to date but if perhaps she collaborates with Sabrina Carpenter or Maggie Lindemann, I’ll change my mind about that.
When asked about this track, Genius revealed Madison had this to say:
When writing songs about love, I’m often drawn to the ups and downs and heartache that can result from a relationship gone bad. It was refreshing to explore the other side of love for “Carried Away,” the excited nerves you get from meeting someone and falling in love for the first time. I’m so grateful to Surf [Mesa] who made the whole process so fun.
Make You Mine
This song brought Madison Beer back to the public’s attention. The video and Madison herself was getting compared to Jennifer’s Body which was an intentional move from Madison. She stated that that’s where the inspiration for the video came from. I believe that while some can look at this song as a generic pop hit, it proves Madison has creative vision, sonically and outside the studio especially since at the end of this music video, a bit of 15 MINUTES starts playing.
I love how a song can exist outside the studio and how fans react when it is performed live. There were tik toks going viral of Madison Beer concerts during the Spinnin’ tour turning into a rager all because of this song. As someone who attended the Spinnin Tour, the teasing opening to this song and Madison performing the song was one of the best parts of the show.
15 MINUTES
This song gives me James Bond vibes. How can you not imagine it in the kinds of movies Madison likes so much such as Fight Club?
I also believe the release of this song is the start of a new era for Madison Beer. After one day of the song’s release, there were tweets and tik toks encouraging Madison to keep diving into this genre of music. I must say, I agree.