Q&A: Mistakes Are Miracles in Madison Cunningham’s ‘Revealer’
REVEALING, AS THE ALBUM TITLE ANNOUNCES — Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and guitarist Madison Cunningham’s latest album, Revealer, is the epitome of introspection.
Cunningham’s familiar folk-rock sounds are accompanied by various questions on Revealer. The record addresses the uncomfortable and understands that answers are not always concrete or even existent: “Who are you now? Who are you this time?”; “Will I know what to say?”; “Don’t you remember feeling low?” Cunningham has described the writing process of Revealer as difficult, as it required constant self-reflection and dealing with grief. In this way, the album is curious and aware of its own contradictions — to question is to grow. She sings in “Collider Particles,” the eighth track on the record, “Mistakes are miracles designed to take what’s sensible and ask yourself, why?”
In a press conference hosted by 1824 of Universal Music Group, Luna had the pleasure of hearing more about the creation of Revealer and Cunningham’s headlining tour, The Revealer Tour. Read the interview down below.
1824: Revealer is described as a “warts-and-all self-portrait.” How does it feel for these aspects of yourself to be out there and now [for you to be] soon going on tour to share them with everybody?
CUNNINGHAM: It feels kind of funny to, I suppose, let those things about yourself hang out for everybody to see (laughs). But what has been cool about it and surprising in the best way is how much people have been able to relate to those sorts of conversations. In that way, it doesn’t feel lonely, it doesn’t feel like I’m going out on a limb and hanging there. A lot of people have met me there and have been like, “Yeah, I feel the same way about these things.” I suppose it’s always a gamble when you put music out and you put out things that are true for you; you kind of wait to see if it’s true for anybody else, and so far, that’s been the overwhelming reaction to it, which has been very cool to see.
1824: The album is filled with contradictions that ultimately work together: “The world’s greatest song is one no mortal’s ever heard,” “Spеnding more to not feel broke,” “You might have to losе your mind to wrap your head around it.” Would you say the writing process of Revealer brought forward some contradictions in yourself as an artist or person?
CUNNINGHAM: Definitely. The whole process was me trying to get back to the love of the music, and I think the whole time, making music and trying to then sell it is sort of a thing that is always at odds with each other. It was me just trying to ditch the fears of what it would mean not to sell it or to make money off of it and to just write from a pure place. I think those contradictions were there the whole time, and I was wrestling with those things as an artist and just as a person. I think the record is sort of constantly showing what it’s trying to hide, and I think that’s an ironic thing that I like in music that immediately takes the edge off of the seriousness. You can’t take yourself too seriously in that sort of a context.
1824: It is noted that writing Revealer didn’t necessarily come easily. When did everything start to click for you, and when did you start to realize that you truly had a great album in the palm of your hand?
CUNNINGHAM: Probably in retrospect. I have spoken a lot about how hard it was to make it [the album] because when the good break-through moments came, there was sort of another hurdle immediately after that, so it felt like it was this stop and go progression the whole time. When you’re so buried in something and it’s become of utmost importance to finish it and get over those hurdles, you start to wonder, like, “I’ve put all this work in, I’ve cried over this — is this good? Is this worthy?” I think towards the end of last year, when all the songs were together and I made the sequence for the album, I felt the relief of, like, “I think this is a full thought and statement that I’m actually proud of.” I think that was more evident given how hard it was personally to make it and then to know everything about what it took to make it and still be proud of it on the other end.
1824: You’ve said that you wrote songs one by one, recording quickly after you wrote each one. How did you merge that spontaneity with still maintaining a cohesive theme for the album?
CUNNINGHAM: That’s a good question. I don’t know that I was very conscious about doing that. I think towards the end when all these pieces had to come together, it was sort of a lucky, happy accident of, like, all of this works. I recorded in Portland and Nashville and LA, and sometimes it was hard to keep track of everything. But I think ultimately it was all just written from the same place. So it didn’t matter who was producing it or what studio it was at — it was all thematically linked because of just where I was.
1824: You’ve done late-night shows, a Tiny Desk concert, and opened for Harry Styles. How has this helped prepare you for your upcoming headlining tour?
CUNNINGHAM: I think it has helped me shed some nerves being in those circumstances and touring as much as I did in the last year. You start to understand how to wield an audience as part of your instrumentation. That’s a whole set of skills that you have to come to learn. I think specifically playing in front of a Harry Styles crowd, it showed me what the songs could be, where they could go, and that they could play. They could survive a room like that. Learning how to play to that amount of energy is difficult, but exciting when it works. Learning how to not just think about yourself in the performance and what your fingers are going, but actually looking out and paying attention. Knowing the songs enough to where you can actually pay attention to the audience and how to make them feel like the performance is for them and not just about you making sure it’s perfect. I think there’s a difference and the audience can sense that. No audience is stupid (laughs).
1824: Which song from Revealer do you think will be a fan favorite?
CUNNINGHAM: It’s hard to tell. From what I’ve noticed, I think the three that people have talked about the most are “Life According To Rachel,” “Sunshine Over The Counter,” and “Your Hate Could Power A Train.” Those are the three that I hear from people a lot. I’m sure it’ll change, but it’s been fun to see what people gravitate towards.
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