Review Summary: The noise med students make.
As Madison's career slowly gathers steam over the coming months, much will undoubtedly be made out of the fact that this young lady actually began her adult life as a promising student of medicine (for better or for worse). It would probably be wise to expect as much, for here we have a tale whose trappings are simply too ethereal to ignore; in fact, the whole thing drips of so much magic it might actually have been pulled out of a fairy's ass. That, or it was devilishly crafted within the annals of a scheming record company based out of New York. This is the sort of dreamy fluff that entire movies - nay,
trilogies - are made out of, and Michael Bay would probably step over his own mother to get the rights to this franchise.
Explosive film-making aside, it is clear that Madison has some serious work to do - particularly if she intends to stay in the business for long. A few quick spins of her debut EP (the first of a planned four) quickly presents a young starlet who is bereft of both a theatrical panache and an aura of unassailable confidence; worse yet, she doesn't even have two
truly cannibalistic beats to rub together. That being said, no one in existence will actually fault her for being a complete newbie; in fact, Madison's inexperience may actually be her greatest strength. Take the EP's opening number for instance; #1 is essentially packaged party poison - the kind that you wickedly text to your friends just to show them what they're missing by choosing to stay at home and cram for that dermatology exam instead. The thumping "Lights Low" follows, running a satisfying gamut of synth beats and reverb drenches before ultimately presenting an artist completely at ease with the raw purity that her own vitality brings.
The record selects against shining as it roils along, choosing instead to glitter; EP closer "Hot Hot Love" pulses along like a hot-wired optical fiber, sizzling listeners with some coy party beats that never fail to subtly entice. The record is not all drunken revelry however, as Madison also manages to spare a few moments for self-reflection; on "Superwoman" she ponds her new-found freedom, admitting that all she does is "imagine how I make it happen". It's as close as we get to wistfulness on this record, and the audible drop to innocence is breath-taking as it is savage in its beauty.
Undoubtedly, Madison's journey to the top will be a long and arduous slog, stuffed to the insides with rabid competition and endless rounds on the night-club circuitry. Most wannabe pop artists will probably find themselves thoroughly drained and wasted before long, having been completely shellacked by the rigours of being in the modern entertainment industry; thankfully however, our little Madison is a former med student - it's quite safe to say that she's been through much worse.
