Written by Kiara Mack
With her debut single released at just thirteen-years-old, Madison Beer has long been a curious case of a rising pop artist. The former child star has spent half her life being heavily scrutinized in the public eye, all while trying to find her musical footing through the noise of fans and haters alike. She released her debut album All She Pleases in 2018, but it was 2020’s “Selfish” where Beer first showed signs of promise as a pop star. She’s since evolved from the mixed bag of her sophomore album Life Support to the retrofuturist aesthetic of Silence Between Songs, and she most recently struck dance pop gold with “15 MINUTES” and “All At Once.” For an artist who’s tried on nearly every style of pop and found success in all of them, committing to just one lane for her fourth album would have meant limiting her heaps of potential and risking her being boxed into a certain style. Her latest album locket is a solid compromise, destined to please both her biggest fans in search of more dreamy ballads and casual fans yearning for her well-crafted club bangers. Her ability to do all this while simultaneously carving out her unique artistic identity makes it well worth a listen.
Having a recognizable pop brand is the make-it-or-break-it star factor these days, and while many have claimed Beer lacks one, it’s always been there, albeit just under the surface. She previously dabbled in the alien aesthetic and cosmic landscape on songs like “Homesick” and “Home To Another One,” with Beer’s declaration on the former track that the stars and planets “always felt like home to me,” continuing to prove the thesis of her discography and pop identity at large. She’s finally and fully leaned into that thesis and expanded on it with locket, a storybook album that successfully alternates between heartfelt lullabies and vibey dance tracks to service the spellbinding style that Beer is destined to embody.
Playing with the complexity of innocence and guilt while embodying the role of both siren and angel, Beer’s exhibition of the duality of femininity has become her greatest strength as a songwriter, producer, and vocalist. Her effortless confidence on standout singles “yes baby,” “bittersweet,” and “make you mine” allows for the vulnerability between such tracks to hit all the harder, particularly “bad enough” where Beer justifies staying in a toxic relationship, crying, “It’s not bad enough to let my baby go.” Meanwhile, the compromise between the two sides of her Jennifer Check-persona, inspired by Megan Fox’s hit role in Jennifer’s Body, manifests explicitly on songs like “angel wings” and “nothing at all.” These songs take listeners on a journey back and forth across the sonic lanes of the dreamy and the darkness that Beer operates so wonderfully within.
An eleven-track album can’t afford to fall short at any point, and Beer’s still working towards a truly skipless masterpiece. The “locket theme” intro underwhelms in comparison to the far more immersive Silence Between Songs opener “Spinnin,” and the short duration and surface-level lyricism of “complexity” fails to live up to its name as the starry synths can only take it so far. The lyricism across the board with this album pales in comparison to her 2023 LP, but when Beer finds the sweet spot, the result is a true musical delight. On “for the night,” “healthy habit,” and “you’re still everything,” the otherworldly production paired with dainty lyrics and ethereal vocals leaves you in a trance as Beer lures you further and further into her heart.
A locket is the tangible embodiment of our deepest secrets and desires, and with her latest album, Beer has gone a step further, opening the heart-shaped locket on her chest to reveal a treasure trove of tracks that solidify her spot in the pop world she’s been establishing for years. If her artistic identity wasn’t clear before, it’s certainly clear now, and if locket is any indication, Beer’s got a bright future ahead of her.
Madison Beer will bring the locket tour to the Kia Forum on June 24th. Listen to locket here:
