Rising artist Madison Rose “ain’t the three, not the two. [She’s] the one.” Fresh off the release of Monochrome: The White Album, Rose spoke with So.Gay about all her new music and so much more.
Photography and Creative Direction by Zac Olewnicki, Wardrobe Styling by Indigo Boy David, Makeup Artistry by Kyle Anderson for MAC Cosmetics, Set Design by Kole Parchman, Jewelry by Alexis Bittar, and So.Gay Founder and CEO Alex Hughes
Madison Rose is a lot like her favorite animated heroes, The Powerpuff Girls. Fiercely determined to succeed and ready to make change through powerful punches while killing with kindness, all while serving in a cute ass outfit.
Rose has proven she can do it all. This expansive album explores a lot of genres, embracing Black origins of Rock and Roll themed-song, “Ramona” to a Charli XCX: Brat-like EDM mix with “HAUS!”. Rose is dynamic stick of dynamite and doesn’t care if you’re not ready. As she sings in her sapphic song, “Red Lipstick.”
“You never met a girl like me, with the light-up Pleaser heels and the gems on her teeth.”
Rose is an unapologetic queer singer who more than meets the moment. She shared with So.Gay her upcoming touring plans, info on her alter egos: Supersonic and Slaybot, and how it feels to have her many years of hard work come to fruition.
Continue reading for our full So.Gay’s The Hottest Ever Digital Cover interview and photoshoot with Madison Rose.
So.Gay: I’d love to know when you first started dreaming of pop stardom and how it feels to finally achieve it?
Madison Rose: I love that. I love that it’s seems that I’ve achieved it because there’s so much that I still want to achieve, but I’ve been having a lot of moments lately that me five years ago, even me three years ago, wouldn’t even believe.
I was always dreaming of being a pop star, but I didn’t realize it. As soon as I could walk and talk at three years old, I was singing and entertaining my family in the living room. I was such a little ham. I originally didn’t understand the music industry and thought being a Disney kid was the move. Because they sing, dance, and act. I wanted to do all those things, so I went into musical theatre as my focus when I was younger.
I’m originally from Ohio, and then I moved to LA, was in LA for 15 years, and now have been in New York for 3. In that time of being a young creative, literally 9 years old, all I knew was that there were all these stories about Taylor Swift writing her own songs so I thought I couldn’t even be a pop star if I didn’t write my own songs. Little did I know, most of y’all are not writing your own songs! But anyway, that’s tea for another tea time.
When I was around 15, I started writing my own songs. That’s what really put it into overdrive, showing me this is what I want to do for my life. Then it just became about how am I gonna do it, because I don’t come from any sort of money. My mom’s in construction, my dad is a maintenance man and was a dog trainer when I was younger, and none of my family is in the industry. I had to teach myself every single thing that I know and pay for everything. I really struggled to figure out every little thing about this industry.
I spent a long time in LA just figuring out life, myself, and art. Then it just got to a point where I was really sad. I didn’t feel like I had community, even though I knew everyone in the city. I had always wanted to live in New York. I visited when I was younger, and I remember walking around and being like “oh, this is my home.” I felt that at that age, but I was just not ready to make the move. I thought I was going to go to college in New York, but I didn’t even end up going to college at all. I actually graduated early from high school and decided I was going to figure out how to be an artist because I really couldn’t afford to go to college. We weren’t trying to take out more loans and more debt. My family already has debt as a generational curse and I’m breaking it for us.
I think I’ve been doing this a long time because the universe has been preparing me in a very high-pressure diamond situation. I’ve started to become more honest, shout out therapy, because I’ve now processed a lot of things that have happened to me. Now I’m able to be more honest on the internet and share my stories. Oh, I’ve got stories people wouldn’t believe. People tell you to have thick skin in this industry, I’m like b***h I’ve got eczema patches, it’s that thick. Like, please, don’t even.
So.Gay: How do you tap into that energy?
Madison Rose: I am alchemizing the pain in my life and navigating what it’s all worth. I think that’s the mission of this album and the mission of my life. My artistry in general is about how you can be kicked down, but not stay down. How can you heal and really look at these cards your dealt and recognize that some of us have been given s****y hands? How do you take that hand and say no, I’m making my what I choose.
So.Gay: You talked online about someone who said no, an executive who didn’t get your artistry. How do you keep going even in the face of adversity?
Madison Rose: I think rejection in this industry and rejection in general, in life, is important. We’re gonna take it as little, mini pockets of grief. I ask, how do you process grief? First steps, denial plus anger, it’s like “okay, well go f**k yourself executive” or “I’m right, you’re wrong.” Then the bargaining is actually a bargain with yourself of “am I what that person told me I was?” Figuring out if they’re wrong, but maybe there’s something right in that because hey, this person’s farther along in their career. Some of that self-bargaining can actually be helpful because sometimes you do receive criticism that is constructive, but it’s also knowing yourself well enough to know when it is and when it’s just pointless. If you’re meeting someone who has no idea what they’re looking at, what are you to do?
You can be the perfect package, but if you arrive at the wrong address it doesn’t matter. Once I understood that, who my music is speaking to, made me see that realistically, I’m not making my music for old white male executives and straight ones at that. Now if they get down with it, if they’re down to clown with the diva, sure. But I’m not making it for them, so why would I care… You shouldn’t take anything personally, but really in that scenario, I can only take it so personally when that person says they don’t get it. I’m like, “Well it’s not really for you to get.”
Back to those stages of grief: there is depression there. I was rejected, and it’s okay, like let me sit with that. Ask yourself what feelings that brings up because ultimately whatever they’re telling me about myself, if I’m receiving any of it deeply, it’s because it’s playing on something that I probably do think about myself, and I need to sit with that. Then finally, the stage of acceptance. My version of acceptance typically looks like, “no, actually, you still can go f**k yourself.”
If I understand myself and ultimately my fans understand me, and if I’m getting messages every day about how I’ve changed someone’s life, then that is the person that I need to be. If I’m worried about anybody’s opinion, it’s that person, my fan. I need to be worried about my own opinion first and foremost, but if I’m additionally worried about something, it’s the fans. Not the executive. Plus, at this point in the music industry, none of these executives knows what’s going on. Everybody in the music industry is terrified and has no idea what to do. The only thing that’s true is the connection that an artist has with their audience.
I was saying this to myself recently, right before my album came out. I was just really frustrated and then realized, “I don’t have to understand the timing of my life, but I have to trust it. I don’t have to understand, I don’t have to agree, but I need to trust it.”
So.Gay: 21 songs in 54 minutes is such a treat. Can you talk more about the album?
Madison Rose: Monochrome: The White Album is interconnected to my first album, and it is interconnected to the next album, which will be Monochrome: The Black Album. It’s a semi-autobiographical story about my life and about me gaining an understanding of my bipolarity. It’s about how my black and white thinking affects my world and how I harness these superpowers that people tell me are to my detriment. Being mentally ill, being neurodivergent, being queer, being a Black woman, all these things that people would go “oh girl…pick a struggle” or “sit down try something easier”… and I go, “no. These are all things that make me make me who I am and that I make into my superpower. I can be a superhero.” This album is led by Supersonic, she’s the robot that’s responsible for the depressive side of my brain. Slaybot is the manic side, which everyone will properly meet that crazy girl soon. Every second felt so vital. I actually wrote this album and the next album in a pretty severe manic episode around two and a half years ago. I completely wrote the albums, and once we started, I actually started getting in with producers, and then through that journey of trying to actually create this album, I got medicated. I was in consistent therapy. It was really this full cyclical moment of getting in front of this wild kind of energy, but then to actually nurture it I had to nurture myself and take care of myself. I think over the course of time, knowing that, it held that much context for me. This album is a musical. It had to have every beat, every scene
The song “Girls Girls Girls” was actually the catalyst for writing this entire project. My understanding of my queerness and some specific experiences I had with women really added a whole new layer to myself, which then affected my artistry.
So.Gay: Your song “Fully Charged” covers some of your new mindset.
Madison Rose: “Fully Charged” has got to be the riskiest song on there. I knew I loved that song but I had no idea how people were gonna respond to it. It’s just not a sound you would expect from me, I think if you know me personally, it’s not gonna shock you, but I didn’t know if this sound would resonate with the audience I’ve created. My goal was always to have a record that was a gradient of sound, and that it started off in this pop place, and it ended in this funky pop place, but that we explored all the different colors of sound along the way. All the different colors of my personality are represented, and also its reclamation. There are genres that Black artists are discouraged in making, they’re not invited in, or they’re not celebrated for their rightful work. Black people made rock and roll, so I’m gonna make my rock record. Also, I went to Warped Tour and Hard Summer, and I loved Panic at the Disco! I’m gonna make exactly the record I want to make, and I’m so grateful because I think in another world if I had signed a deal at any point, this album wouldn’t have been made. A label wouldn’t have funded something like this.
So.Gay: Big swings yield big home runs and you clearly hit it out of the park. Can you share more about Supersonic?
Madison Rose: Supersonic is in charge of the depressive side of my brain when I am too low to function. Supersonic appears, and she is saccharine, sweet; she is just excited to be here. She’s an intergalactic superhero that just crash landed on Earth like three days ago, and she’s understanding it with wide eyes. I think she is also a hyperbole of how I felt when I was in severe depressive episodes, but still had to show up at things. I had to put on a mask and put on a super suit and literally quote Frozone, “Where’s my super suit?” and that it hurt to be without it.
The vinyl wear of it all – it started off as like, almost a necessity. I do this for the girls who get their wigs out of a bag, and they’re clothes out of a box. Meeting at this intersection of pop star and stripper… Also, like the showgirls aesthetic of it all, the true showgirls of it all. Those three identities: showgirl, a stripper, and a pop star… So powerful, and I think that vinyl and latex, especially on a body like mine, where I’m not a size two, and I don’t plan to ever be, is powerful. I love my curves and I want to showcase them.
So.Gay: What animation or anime inspires your art?
Madison Rose: The heroes of my life are the Powerpuff Girls. I think in general, kids’ cartoons are so inspiring. I love how much positive subliminal messaging that I was getting, which an adult over my shoulder probably understood, but maybe then I didn’t. I’ve always viewed myself as a cartoon character, where I want to draw people in with bright colors and fun. But if you actually listen, there’s really positive and deep subliminal messaging to what I do. I think that’s the power of pop music in general, when it’s done well. When it’s done with intent and care. It could be a vehicle for so much more. That’s why Gaga is one of my all time Mothers. I love Betty Boop, I love Jessica Rabbit: these figures are so beautiful. Then, society was so focused on their outward appearance that no one was necessarily clocking how genius these figures are. “I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.” Jessica knows who she is. She knows how to harness what she’s doing. If you want to get distracted by the outward appearances, go for it, but I think that is the power of women. You’re told you can either be pretty or you can be smart. And if you’re pretty, you’re not smart. And it’s like, “f**k you, I’m all of it.” Or just, “f**k you. I don’t want to be pretty today.” But I can be whatever I want out of all of these things when I choose. And that’s not for you to decide.”
So.Gay: And yes, shout out to Powerpuff Girls because they are so iconic.
Madison Rose: Those girls changed my brain chemistry. One of my goals is to make a children’s television show with Supersonic and Slaybot where they ride around the universe and it’s a vehicle to explain mental illness and neurodivergence to kids and show them you can save the world.
So.Gay: Yeah. Especially if you’ve got your girls by your side.
Madison Rose: Yes. Get your girls in the world. Color coordinate with each other and then blast off. And girls means everyone, everyone is a girl, girl is multi-use. It’s for everyone. I hope my work can inspire the queer community to not box ourselves in. It’s a lot of unlearning heteronormative programming. You don’t need to present, and you don’t need to show up in this specific way. To say that you are, you are a gay man, you are a lesbian, you are bisexual, you are pansexual, is enough.
So.Gay: I love to ask about “Ramona,” which is such a bop of a song. You dedicated this rock song to a she-they baddie. “Ramona” is powerful and fun.
Madison Rose: [With Ramona] I wanted something that’s like, “you meet a hot girl and you’re like: I literally cannot believe how hot you are. Like it’s actually it’s paralyzing.” I need to rise to the occasion of being with this hot woman. That’s what “Ramona” was birthed out of. It’s also about my actual experience with a real Ramona, who totally revolutionized my understanding of my queerness. Accepting my body and accepting what I want, how I wanted to define my femininity. She made me question how I think a lot of queer people feel when, again, they’re trying to deprogram that heteronormativity. I’m very, very invested in oscillating between my divine femininity and my divine masculinity as I stand here as a she-her baddie. It helps knowing that all that energy exists in all of us at all times, however we want to tap into it. I think that was another thing I got to really express with “Ramona.” I really have a very, very deep reverence for Ramona. It’s even now helping me now that I’m dating a man. And he’s a straight man, straight cis man. I don’t think I could have a successful relationship with him if I wasn’t fully embodied in my queerness because there are toxic heteronormative structures I’m not interested in uplifting that; he and I don’t welcome into our space. That has been a whole other journey in itself. You know, having this awareness of myself and going into that relationship when I didn’t think I was going to be with men anymore. But then you love who you love. I found this person who means the absolute world to me. But my identity is still there. I’m still who I am. I’m still very much a queer woman. I will never not make songs about women and my queer experience.
So.Gay: It’s 100% who you are. And it’s so infused in all your music. Your album release party had drag artists. Why was it important for you to include more queer artists and bring the community together under your umbrella?
Madison Rose: You know, drag artists changed the trajectory of my career with my song “Iconic.” It became very popular and still is in the drag community. So many other songs of mine are performed all over the world. Local artists, RuPaul girls. Even people doing baby drag. I think I’ve been so supported by that community that I can’t not highlight them back. That’s my mission: I want drag queens in Madison Square Garden. I want drag queens, in arenas, in stadiums, you know, I want drag.
So.Gay: How can fans welcome the rise of Black pop stars? How are the rules maybe different for you that you’ve encountered than maybe like your white peers or counterparts?
Madison Rose: I think as a Black pop star or Black artist in general, there is this feeling that you can’t mess up because the world is just so unforgiving. White cis men fail upwards every day, and it doesn’t feel the same, you know? Not when you’re a marginalized identity. I can’t even remember what it was, but there was something that happened in my career where, at the time, I perceived it as a big mistake. I was freaking out and crying because I was like, “I don’t get to make mistakes like this because my goal in my career is to open the door for girls who look like me. And if I f**k this up, then it’s not just me. It feels like I’m f**king up for a hundred people behind me.” That’s so much pressure to hold, though there’s some truth in that. I am famously known for putting the world on my shoulders. But there is truth in it. I think that emotional and mental support could help a Black artist like myself. Let us grow and let us fail.
When I say fail, I don’t mean moral failings. I’m talking, “the camera quality is not as good. Yeah, the costumes aren’t as expensive. Yeah, you know, the song isn’t mixed exactly right.” All back to systemic issues that resources and money can maybe assist these artists. Don’t judge people for doing the best they can with what they have.
You can show support by actively engaging with someone that you truly want to see succeed. Spend two minutes commenting on and liking a post. It takes time, but it is a rewiring of all of our brains. We’re consuming so much content all the time that it’s hard to make a priority, but you can. I don’t expect that everybody is going to be able to afford a $35 t-shirt. But if you’ve got five minutes, you could genuinely change someone’s life. It’s just your time if you’re willing to give it.
So.Gay: With this album rollout, what is up for this next year ahead?
Madison Rose: [I’m] currently working through some really exciting visuals. Supersonic is getting a proper music video and a proper introduction. I’ll definitely start on the next album. I’m not sure when it will come out, but it was always my dream that it would come out pretty close to this record. So that’s definitely in the pipe, but the thing I’m most excited about is my goal: to finally properly tour next spring after the deluxe album comes out. I didn’t have the means, team, or support in any way to tour before, but these album stories are tied together. I’m very excited to tour both Technicolor and Monochrome in one tour. I do want to take it internationally. It’ll be at least a 10-date headline in the United States.
So.Gay: We’ll be there! Are there any organizations, charities, or nonprofits that resonate with you that maybe fans can donate to in your name?
Madison Rose: Thank you for that question. I love that. ‘For The Gworls’ is a great option. They’re a collective that fundraises money to assist Black trans people with rent, affirmative and patient-centered medical care, smaller co-pays for doctor visits, and travel assistance. Give to the gworls!
STREAM MADISON ROSE’S NEW ALBUM AT THE LINK HERE!
