Madilyn Bailey Shares Debut LP 'Hollywood Dead'

Pop singer-songwriter Madilyn Bailey reveals her debut LP, Hollywood Dead, a record that serves as a heartfelt tribute to her extensive experience under the shining lights and ruthless competition of the entertainment world.

In each of the ten tracks, Madilyn pulls back the curtain to candidly channel the experiences and emotions she’s collected through the years. Ranging from the delicate euphoria of falling in love with a new city, to the despair of navigating a ravenous, cutthroat industry, Hollywood Dead grants an intimate view of both the celebrity and the person behind its veneer.

Masterfully spun with vulnerable, insightful lyrics and expressive, formidable vocals, Madilyn proves to longtime listeners and new fans alike: she’s ready (and excited) to take on whatever comes next. 

The album’s title track “Hollywood Dead” is a playful, sardonic spin on a music industry time-old tale. The pop-rock-infused song satirically proclaims Madilyn, freshly thirty years old, as ‘Hollywood Dead’— no longer a shiny new toy, relegated to being ‘old news’ in a field that ravenously searches for the next young thing.

The song joins poignant lyrics such as, “I’m a satellite hanging out with the stars / take my picture on the boulevard / I’ve got fifteen seconds to make a mark,” with lighthearted quips about the youth of the new wave of stars: “been posting since before these kid’s conceptions / yeah that’s f***ing depressing.” With this nimble dichotomy, Madilyn offers a nuanced yet quick-witted take on the perils of pop stardom, paired with an infectious melody. 

Earlier this summer, Madilyn revealed an array of singles in the buildup to the LP’s release, among them the tracklist inclusions “Doomsday in LA” and “Serious.” The former track is a pensive, guitar-laden resolution to remain loving and hopeful in the face of hardship, while “Serious” is a buoyant, refreshing summer track, navigating the exhilaration and fear of standing on the edge and ultimately diving into the unknown with a new lover.

Also released was the upbeat single “Tattoos & Therapy,” which unravels Madilyn’s worst tendencies and bad habits in love in the form of a danceable, addictive melody. 

Additions to the tracklist of Hollywood Dead include spirited tracks “Petals”, an infectious, uptempo track calling out the perils of an indecisive lover, “3, 2, 1,” a high-tension, rock-heavy breakup anthem, and “Wake Up Juliet”, a rallying call to push through the disillusionment of dead-end relationships and career paths in favor of forging your own way.

Proving the emotive range of her songwriting, Madilyn seamlessly moves to a more somber sound to explore the melancholy and disenchantment of failed relationships and aspirations in “Half in Love and Almost Happy” and “Dreams Die Hard,” as well as the all-consuming grief and envy that comes with never feeling good enough in “She’s Gonna Break My Heart.”

Finally, Madilyn rounds out the tracklist with the tenderness of budding hope against adversity in tracks such as “Any Other Way” and the aforementioned “Doomsday in LA”, which also serves as the album’s closer. 

For all that Hollywood Dead is sonically an easy listen, complemented by Madilyn’s powerful and compelling vocals and smooth hooks, its lyrical rawness offers an edge. From this, Madilyn articulates all she's learned as a seasoned veteran of heartache and fame with wit and poise, while also making it clear that listeners have much to anticipate from her for years to come. 

Madilyn is a bonafide social media sensation with 9.5 million subscribers on YouTube, 3.2 million followers on TikTok, 1.8 million followers on Facebook and 1.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

She made a name for herself covering popular songs on YouTube before gaining further notoriety in 2021 when she auditioned for America’s Got Talent using her own original song with lyrics made up entirely of hate comments she had received on her channel. Madilyn’s resilience and talent caught the attention of Simon Cowell and she swept through all the way to the competition’s semi-finals. 

Madilyn also recently announced her pregnancy in an IG post that documents her journey over the past two years (including three surgeries, 317 shots, and one failed IVF transfer) to shed light on the fertility experience that many couples today are going through. 

Hailing from a tiny town in rural Wisconsin, Madilyn began posting acoustic covers to her YouTube channel in 2009. Her viewership quickly exploded and her covers of Titanium (120 million views), Rockabye (71 million views) and Shape of You (52 million views) have all gone super viral on the platform.

She found a passion for writing her own music shortly after and has defined her voice as an artist through a number of successful original singles like True Crime, Red Ribbon, and Tetris, all of which merge Madilyn’s clever, relevant lyricism with powerful pop production. 

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