A local singer-songwriter has capped her second pandemic year with an award that recognized both her talent and her effort to keep creating.
Madison Mueller received the 2021 “Rising Star of the Year” award, female artist, from the International Singer Songwriter Association (ISSA).
It was her fourth ISSA award in three years. She also received several nominations from ISSA and the Josie Music Awards.
Her newest single, Sweet Bitterness, received four nominations for 'Song of the Year’ at four different indie award shows.
Yet, it wasn’t the song she set out to record last February.
It was another incomplete song, but a producer she was working with liked what she had and where she was going with it. As a result, she took it home and finished Sweet Bitterness.
“I was thinking of the past — when life was very different,” says Mueller, adding she was feeling a sense of mourning for the fact that life isn’t the same anymore.
“The main line in the song is 'I want to feel alive' and I think that remains true for a lot of people. We are heading into a time where things are not simple," she says.
The song marks a move in an indie-folk direction. She says she still loves rock, her roots, but is enjoying the storytelling aspects of songwriting.
Sweet Bitterness has struck a chord with a growing fan base worldwide. One New Zealand DJ told her during an interview that her newest single had received 3,000 requests in a single day. It also spilled over to another song, Got This Way, which
received 1,300 requests.
“They had just begun playing them that week. It was a total shock to hear that there were so many people asking to hear my music, just in that day alone,” she says.
All of it served as encouragement to keep working on her music and writing songs, even though she wasn’t performing.
Like many musicians during the pandemic, performing opportunities have been few and far between.
Last year, she performed at a couple of outdoor patios and did a couple of gigs at the Oro Farmers’ Market. She also tried a live, online show last December and is thinking of doing it again.
Most of the shows were solo, but she did an outdoor gig with a band playing at a downtown Barrie patio.
With the pandemic, music has moved to more of a digital format, a process that can be challenging to artists who are not as established as other well-known singer-songwriters and musicians.
Nevertheless, Mueller’s songs have been streaming through all the usual channels and her music is also available through her website.
She is hoping to release another song sometime in the next few months. To date, she has released six songs.
While she has been writing music since she was seven years old, the first song she felt comfortable sharing was Who Am I. It was inspired by her life, the pressure she felt at school to make a decision about her future and decide what she wanted
to do.
Even though she was 15 years old at the time, she can still relate to it, because she continues to change, learn, grow, and figure herself out. The song has touched a chord with other people, was ranked No. 1 on Reverbnation.com Singer/songwriter
Canada Charts many times, and has been played on more than 170 FM and internet radio stations all over the world.
Mueller marked her first public performance at the age of eight. She started playing the piano at age six, initially Royal Conservatory of Music, and still loves playing it but the guitar is a more portable instrument and one she uses most for
performing.
Teaching followed at the age of 14 at the Spaulding School of Music, initially piano and later, voice lessons. Mueller continued to teach until the pandemic when she found it difficult to make the transition from in-person to online.
“It’s so difficult when you’re used to one way,” says Mueller, who is taking a break from it at the moment.
She said it’s been a “crazy” couple of years outside of music, too. Currently living with her family, she has moved twice but she remains in the Barrie area. She also started working at Bradford Greenhouses in Barrie and is enjoying it.
When she not working, she loves hanging out with her family, including her two siblings, an older sister, a brother who is currently studying at Western University, and a puppy, added last year.
For more, see www.maddiemakesmusic.com.
