Life Support

She was almost a cautionary tale: Singer-songwriter Madison Beer’s career began on YouTube at age 13, when Justin Bieber found her 2012 cover of Etta James’ “At Last” and told the world to listen. It did. She signed with Island Records, got the Radio Disney push, released a few teen-pop singles, and was dropped by the label before ever releasing a debut full-length—pop star aspirations dead by age 16. Instead of giving in to disillusionment, she went independent, leaned into her original musical loves—the soulful sounds of James, Fugees, Adele—and released a debut EP in 2018, As She Pleases, followed by the Charli XCX-penned single “Hurts Like Hell” featuring Offset.

Now, nearly a decade after her initial career-making moment, Beer’s released her debut LP, a robust reintroduction emboldened by her smoky soprano. Gone is her teen pop sheen; she’s penned a collection of ascendent R&B (“Effortlessly”), sultry Americana like an impressionistic Lana Del Rey (“Blue”), breathy kiss-offs (“Sour Times”), slinky come-ons (“Baby”), doo-wop balladry (“Emotional Bruises”), defiant anthems (“BOYSHIT”), and, perhaps most surprisingly of all, comic relief in the form of a Rick and Morty sample (“Homesick”). Seventeen tracks, no collaborations, all co-written by her—Life Support is Beer, laid bare. And she’s never sounded more herself.