Maddie & Tae, the duo made up of Madison Marlow and Taylor Dye, burst onto the scene with “Girl in a Country Song” in 2014, the debut single from their freshman Start Here album. Although the song poked fun at the way females are treated in country music, the women, who just released “Friends Don’t” from their next project, say it’s really no laughing matter.
“We released ‘Girl In A Country Song’ to kind of wake people up,” Marlow tells All Access. “It talks about not being a girl in a country song, but also about how we’re being neglected in this genre. I do think it’s gotten better since we first came onto the scene, but it’s still hard. Even right now with ‘Friends Don’t,’ it’s really hard out there. It’s hard for any artist to get their song played, but I think it’s trickier for women. A lot of that stuff you just can’t control – if a station wants to play your song or not – you just have to make great relationships and be kind.
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“We just hope that we’re making music, as females, that people – men and women – can connect with and relate to, because that’s our job as songwriters,” she continues. “So, hopefully we make that connection with people through music. It’s a mystery to me, because there are great female artists that aren’t getting airplay, and it blows my mind.”
Maddie & Tae are releasing a concept album later this year, finally making the music they wanted to make, after finding the freedom to not give in to what they thought would have the most commercial success.
“Something I really struggled with when moving into such a big town and having such a big team was not being confident in the things I brought to the table,” Dye recalls. “I thought I needed to be more of ‘this’ or ‘that’ and wasn’t owning up to the things God gave me – trying to be something I wasn’t to fit into a world.”
The young women have big plans for 2019, after their album – their first on Mercury Nashville – is released.
“[We want to]have a headlining Fall tour,” Marlow says. “Since the album is a concept album, we want to put together a really cool experience for our fans. This is gonna happen – it’ll get crossed off the bucket list. I think just keeping everything going, releasing the record, and songwriting. Creating music is our favorite part. We get to do what we love every day, so we try to set healthy goals, but nothing too crazy. Years from now, we hope to be filling out stadiums and crazy things like that.”
Download “Friends Don’t” on iTunes.
Photo Credit: Getty images/Steve Jennings
