She Can Sing: Review of Madison Beer’s new album Life Support

Before the release of Madison Beer’s newest album, “Life Support” on Feb. 26, I associated Beer’s voice with the Monster High theme song, which I belted out every time I heard it as a little girl. 

But this album proves that Beer has come a long way from her teen-pop phase in the music industry, and is a declaration of her developed musical skills and emerging style as an artist. However, for an album that was advertised to be vulnerable and show who Beer is on the inside, the 17 songs are shallower than I anticipated and generally didn’t say all that much that couldn’t be said by another artist.

The overall vibe of “Life Support” is otherworldly, catchy and consistently sad. The album’s 17 songs are a mix of upbeat and slow, but they don’t stray too much from the standard formula of pop music  — starting off slow then going into the chorus that repeats for the rest of the song. Whatever message Beer wanted to share with her audience felt lost in her desire to make popular songs and be taken seriously as an artist.

With it’s deep electronic tunes and her impressive vocal range, Beer’s debut album clearly leans toward the Ariana Grande side of the spectrum — especially on “Sour Times” with its bursting beats and “Effortlessly” with the dreamy ascension of her singing.

The most superficial songs on the album — “BOYSHIT,” “Good In Goodbye” and “Baby” — are also the album’s most upbeat and fast-paced tracks, and empower women in a surface-level way with lyrics like “‘Cause you’re toxic, boy, I ain’t even gotta try to find the G-O-O-D in goodbye.” These weren’t bad, but probably the least impressive on the album because they felt too catchy and simple. Thankfully, the rest of the songs didn’t resemble these ones as closely.

Maybe I’m overly sensitive, but I was surprised to find that some of Beer’s songs brought me halfway to tears while still maintaining a beat fit for a pop song. “Stained Glass,” for example, felt more vulnerable as Beer shared her inner fragility more than on any other tracks.

Beer’s drawn-out, raw emotion sent chills down my spine in “Everything Happens for a Reason,” which felt like listening to a comforting lullaby. I felt like I could hear Beer’s true voice best when the song was stripped-down and not layered in effects or autotune, and I wanted to hear more like these.

My favorite song on the album, “Homesick,” is probably the album’s most personal and vulnerable song, in which she admits that she feels alone and out of place in the world, with lyrics like, “These humans speak my language, still don’t understand it.” This song felt more genuine and unique to Beer than the other songs on the album, giving better insight into her true voice that sets her apart from the other female pop artists.

“Stay Numb And Carry On” was vague and repetitive, as was “Blue,” though the latter was more interesting to listen to and almost reminded me of Taylor Swift’s “1989” era songs in the way Beer describes exiting an old, toxic relationship.

After listening to all of the songs, my lasting impression is that it’s an above average debut album. It felt like Beer was cementing who she wants to be as an artist, and I was definitely impressed. The dominating background music and repetitive lyrics may have overpowered her message about her inner struggles, but it seems like she’s on the right track to becoming a major Pop singer. I’m looking forward to where she takes her future songs as she gains more experience. For now, I’m still going to add half of “Life Support” to my winter playlist.