Name: Madison McFerrin
Occupations: Singer, songwriter, producer
Nationality: American
Current Release: Madison McFerrin's new single "(Please Don't) Leave Me Now" is out via Madmcferrin. It is a harbinger of her highly anticipated full length debut album, scheduled for release May 12th 2023.

If you enjoyed this interview with Madison McFerrin and would like to find out more about her music, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I honestly can’t say where the impulse comes from, I can only explain it to be from a higher power.

Even though I’m really into writing down my dreams, they don’t often make it into my songs. Instead, I’m usually drawing from personal experiences, relationships and what’s happening in the world around me.

For example, my song “(Please Don’t) Leave Me Now” came directly from experiencing a near-fatal car accident.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

There’s very little planning that goes into my creative process. I just go with the flow and see where it takes me.

Oftentimes when I try to force the creative process. It ends up taking a lot longer than when I’m in a natural state.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

No, I just go to my piano or my computer and start to create.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

I don’t, but maybe I should start! I love some green tea. Baking also gets me in a zone.

I’ll try writing a song after the next time I make scones.

What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

I always start with the groove, be it the chords or the drum beat. Having that flushed out makes the rest of the writing process flow much easier.

When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

Lyrics come last nine times out of ten. I really love writing melodies, that’s where I try and challenge myself. A great example of that for me is my song “Know You Better.”



I purposefully wrote a melody that explored my range. You can’t always force words or sounds into certain melodic phrases, so my lyrics tend to grow from the melody I’ve created.

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

I really enjoy writing lyrics that seem like one thing on the surface, but are really about something else. It gives a sense of mystery and requires a little extra digging for the listener.

My song “Hindsight” sounds like a breakup song, but it’s actually about being sad that Bernie Sanders didn’t win the US Democratic nomination for President.



I always write from my soul, my lyrics are definitely the closest someone else will get to reading my diary.
 
Once you've started, how does the work gradually emerge?

It varies. I’ve had songs that emerge immediately and others that take weeks or months.

I think it’s all about letting the song reveal itself to you instead of forcing it to be something it’s not.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control over the process or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

I definitely follow where the narrative wants to go. Lots of times, lyrics or melodies reveal themselves to me in a way that I wouldn’t have been able to find had I gone searching for it.

It’s also a fun game for me to explore where a song is taking me – it’s a special kind of journey.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

All the time! But in the spirit of following the ideas, I generally just go with it. Sometimes you need to go someplace else to really figure out where you’re going.

Some of my best songs are the product of going in that other direction when it wasn’t my intention.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

It’s one-hundred percent spiritual for me. My creative state, being writing or performing, is when I feel most connected to a higher power.

Especially in the digital age, the writing and production process tends towards the infinite. What marks the end of the process? How do you finish a work?

For me, the end of the process is when nothing new is being revealed to me. Finishing a song is an amazing feeling.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

Oftentimes when I’ve finished writing a piece, I’ll play it over and over. The refinement then comes in the recording and mixing process.

It’s easy to be very nit-picky and it definitely gets to a point where you have to stop yourself from over analyzing. But you ultimately just have to trust yourself.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? How involved do you get in this?

I started producing in the pandemic, so that element has taken on an even more important role from a personal standpoint. I ended up producing 70% of my album myself, which was a big feat for me. I was so proud to release “Stay Away (From Me)” knowing that it was one of my own productions.



But I’ve always been involved in expressing what I like and what I think could contribute to a song. Mixing and mastering help take a song to that next level, so it’s really important to get those elements right. I always have a say in the whole process.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

I see it less as a sense of emptiness and more as a sense of relief, which tends to make the return to creativity not feel like such a burden.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I think anyone can find creativity in anything. At the end of the day, it’s all a form of expression; one is not better than the other.