![Madison Beer Told Her Story. Now, She Wants to Dance.
Madison Beer is ready to make some bangers. The 26-year-old pop singer and social media star spent the past few years setting the record straight, releasing diaristic tracks to share what happened behind the scenes of her rocket-fueled ascent to fame. Now, with the past exorcised and well documented, she’s eager to have a little fun.
Beer was just a 13-year-old girl from Long Island, New York, when Justin Bieber tweeted out her YouTube cover of Etta James’s “At Last.” Soon after, she was signed to Island Records and began working with Bieber’s then manager, Scooter Braun. But the life-changing turn of events also thrust her into a harsh and unforgiving spotlight. Beer’s overnight celebrity, and the attention that came from being connected to several high-profile male musicians, made her a target for cyberbullying. When she was 15, an intimate video she’d sent to a friend was posted online; instead of defending her right to privacy, internet trolls shamed her for making the video in the first place. At 16, she was dropped by her label and management. “I was always being tried as an adult,” Beer says now. “I was trying to navigate how to be a person, and I’d have the whole internet to report to.”
She told her side of the story in her 2023 memoir, The Half of It, and in her sophomore album, Silence Between Songs, released the same year, detailing how her mental health plummeted, that she contemplated suicide, and how she ultimately recovered. “There were things I wanted to say that were important to me,” she reflects. “I feel like I really did achieve that.” She embarked on a 63-stop world tour, selling out venues including Radio City Music Hall.
“If my younger self met me right now, she’d be like, ‘You’re the coolest girl on earth. I get to be you one day? That’s so sick.’”
These days, having wrested control of her narrative, the vocal powerhouse seems freer. Her pair of 2024 singles, “Make You Mine” and “15 Minutes,” are club-ready earworms, the former earning her a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Pop Recording. Beer has been in the studio nearly every day working on her next album, one she says is still taking shape but is “feeling really good.” The two singles only provide a preview of what’s to come, she explains, adding: “I love so many different types of upbeat dance music.” She’s been inspired, in part, by one of her favorite hobbies: video games. “I want my album to have a lot of really interesting noises that maybe you haven’t heard a lot in music.”
The new record could help Beer tick off the remaining boxes on her career bucket list (headlining a show at Madison Square Garden, winning a Grammy), but she says her goals don’t keep her up at night. She’d love to be “the biggest,” she says, but she doesn’t need that recognition to be happy: “I’m really proud of where I am,” Beer explains. “If my younger self met me right now, she’d be like, ‘You’re the coolest girl on earth. I get to be you one day? That’s so sick.’”
Congrats on your Grammy nomination this year. How was that night for you?
I don’t want to come across as disrespectful to the Grammys, but I did leave after I walked the red carpet. I have really bad social anxiety, and I honestly was wearing a really uncomfortable dress. My fans were not happy with me, because I finally got a seat on the floor with the other celebrities, [and I left]. It’s unfortunately just who I am. But walking the carpet as a nominee is incredible. At the preshow, even hearing my name, like, “The nominees are: Madison Beer,…” It’s crazy to be a part of it in any way.
Has that been consistent for you over the years—the anxiety that comes with things like red carpets and award shows?
For sure. I don’t feel like anyone was cut out to do this. I don’t think our brains were wired for us to be famous and have a million photographers taking pictures of you at every angle, especially when you’re a growing person. It’s unfortunately impacted my mental health and my self-view, because I’ve been on camera since I was so young. That gives you an opportunity to notice every flaw and overanalyze yourself.
My goal one day is to be on that Grammy stage, performing, accepting an award, giving a speech. But I’m like, “I will not be able to do that. There’s no way.” When push comes to shove, I know I can muster up the courage, but it all definitely feels weird to me. Always has.
What you’re saying—about the downsides that come with fame—has been a huge theme in music this year. I think about Chappell Roan communicating her boundaries around her mental health—even the speech she gave at the Grammys about the lack of support for developing artists. Have you related to a lot of what she’s been saying about the industry?
I love her. Growing up in the industry, I’ve been made to feel like I can only be a certain way: You don’t talk back to people. You don’t stand up for yourself. You don’t make a fucking statement at the Grammys about the music industry. These are things we’re told you don’t do. And to watch her not only do it, but double down every single time—it’s amazing.
Watching her speech, as an artist who was dropped when I was 16 years old and had no fucking clue what to do with myself…I had uprooted my entire life from Long Island to L.A., I had no friends, I was getting homeschooled. When I was dropped, I felt like these people that had sat me down and were like, “We’re family, and we love you, and we are going to take care of you forever,” suddenly couldn’t give less of a shit about me. At the time, I didn’t have the hindsight to know how fucked up that really was, so hearing [Roan] say that was validating.
You’ve also been so open about being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Has your relationship to your diagnosis changed over the years?
When I first started diving into all of this mental health stuff, I was just in the worst place you could be. I was probably 19, and I had pushed everything down and ignored and ignored and moved forward, and then one day, it felt like it all just came up. I was suicidal. I couldn’t do it anymore. I’m not in that dark place anymore. At the time, I was bitter. I was like, “Look at what you all have done to me. How dare you take someone who just wanted to fucking sing and perform and be a person, and you ruined me?” I was honestly spiteful and angry at the world for a while.
“When you go through these really intense, difficult things, especially early in your life, you look at people and the world very differently.”
Have you seen Split? It’s a silly horror movie, and but at the end, the guy says, “The broken are the more evolved.” How I took that is when you go through traumatic things that cause PTSD or BPD—or I’ve been diagnosed with pretty gnarly OCD—when you go through these really intense, difficult things, especially early in your life, you look at people and the world very differently. I look at every single person like they could be me; I have so much love and empathy and care for everybody. Maybe it’s not always a good thing, but I love that part of me.
Our Women in Music issue is filled with musicians who’ve gotten a unique start to their career. You were discovered via YouTube. Do you feel like your story is still possible in 2025?
I don’t think my story would happen, in the sense of how I was mistreated. But in 2012, things were different. I didn’t feel protected, and I didn’t feel like people approached judging me like they were judging a 14-year-old. ... It forced me to grow up really fast, and it messed me up in a lot of ways. I’ve hopefully recovered a bit by now. But I do think getting discovered online is possible. TikTok and [social media] have given so many people an opportunity to go viral without needing the music industry....I also think anyone can do it. People look at famous people and artists, and they’re like, “Oh, that could never be me,” but who are we? We aren’t as special as you think we are. Anyone can follow their dreams.
Not to change the subject, but I know you are an astrology person.
Should I guess your sign? The other day I guessed these two boys’ signs perfectly, and it was so impressive. Okay, I’m going to give you three, and tell me if one is correct: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Leo. Are any of those right?
Yeah. Do you want to guess?
Fuck. I don’t know. Oh my God, Capricorn?
Yes! Oh my God. How did you—
I’m getting really weirdly good at this. Bible, I did not know your name prior to us doing this. Did not Google. I’m not a weirdo.
I’ll be talking about this for the rest of my life. Before you go, was there anything else you wanted to talk about that we didn’t get to?
Just to mention that my middle name is Elle, and I love ELLE, and I was named after ELLE magazine.
Wait, are you kidding?
No. My mom made my middle name Elle, because she thought ELLE was the chicest magazine. You can ask Tracie Beer herself.
Hair by Lacy Redway for Tresemmé; makeup by Alexandra French at Forward Artists; manicures by Natalie Minerva at Forward Artists and Ginger Lopez at Opus Beauty; produced by Petty Cash Production.
This story appears in the May 2025 issue of ELLE.
#MadisonBeer elle.com](http://hqpics.space/images/2025/04/16/Madison-Beer-ELLE-Magazine---May-2025_18bcc71882c4ef7a5.md.jpeg)
Madison Beer Told Her Story. Now, She Wants to Dance.
Madison Beer is ready to make some bangers. The 26-year-old pop singer and social media star spent the past few years setting the record straight, releasing diaristic tracks to share what happened behind the scenes of her rocket-fueled ascent to fame. Now, with the past exorcised and well documented, she’s eager to have a little fun.
Beer was just a 13-year-old girl from Long Island, New York, when Justin Bieber tweeted out her YouTube cover of Etta James’s “At Last.” Soon after, she was signed to Island Records and began working with Bieber’s then manager, Scooter Braun. But the life-changing turn of events also thrust her into a harsh and unforgiving spotlight. Beer’s overnight celebrity, and the attention that came from being connected to several high-profile male musicians, made her a target for cyberbullying. When she was 15, an intimate video she’d sent to a friend was posted online; instead of defending her right to privacy, internet trolls shamed her for making the video in the first place. At 16, she was dropped by her label and management. “I was always being tried as an adult,” Beer says now. “I was trying to navigate how to be a person, and I’d have the whole internet to report to.”
She told her side of the story in her 2023 memoir, The Half of It, and in her sophomore album, Silence Between Songs, released the same year, detailing how her mental health plummeted, that she contemplated suicide, and how she ultimately recovered. “There were things I wanted to say that were important to me,” she reflects. “I feel like I really did achieve that.” She embarked on a 63-stop world tour, selling out venues including Radio City Music Hall.
“If my younger self met me right now, she’d be like, ‘You’re the coolest girl on earth. I get to be you one day? That’s so sick.’”
These days, having wrested control of her narrative, the vocal powerhouse seems freer. Her pair of 2024 singles, “Make You Mine” and “15 Minutes,” are club-ready earworms, the former earning her a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Pop Recording. Beer has been in the studio nearly every day working on her next album, one she says is still taking shape but is “feeling really good.” The two singles only provide a preview of what’s to come, she explains, adding: “I love so many different types of upbeat dance music.” She’s been inspired, in part, by one of her favorite hobbies: video games. “I want my album to have a lot of really interesting noises that maybe you haven’t heard a lot in music.”
The new record could help Beer tick off the remaining boxes on her career bucket list (headlining a show at Madison Square Garden, winning a Grammy), but she says her goals don’t keep her up at night. She’d love to be “the biggest,” she says, but she doesn’t need that recognition to be happy: “I’m really proud of where I am,” Beer explains. “If my younger self met me right now, she’d be like, ‘You’re the coolest girl on earth. I get to be you one day? That’s so sick.’”
Congrats on your Grammy nomination this year. How was that night for you?
I don’t want to come across as disrespectful to the Grammys, but I did leave after I walked the red carpet. I have really bad social anxiety, and I honestly was wearing a really uncomfortable dress. My fans were not happy with me, because I finally got a seat on the floor with the other celebrities, [and I left]. It’s unfortunately just who I am. But walking the carpet as a nominee is incredible. At the preshow, even hearing my name, like, “The nominees are: Madison Beer,…” It’s crazy to be a part of it in any way.
Has that been consistent for you over the years—the anxiety that comes with things like red carpets and award shows?
For sure. I don’t feel like anyone was cut out to do this. I don’t think our brains were wired for us to be famous and have a million photographers taking pictures of you at every angle, especially when you’re a growing person. It’s unfortunately impacted my mental health and my self-view, because I’ve been on camera since I was so young. That gives you an opportunity to notice every flaw and overanalyze yourself.
My goal one day is to be on that Grammy stage, performing, accepting an award, giving a speech. But I’m like, “I will not be able to do that. There’s no way.” When push comes to shove, I know I can muster up the courage, but it all definitely feels weird to me. Always has.
What you’re saying—about the downsides that come with fame—has been a huge theme in music this year. I think about Chappell Roan communicating her boundaries around her mental health—even the speech she gave at the Grammys about the lack of support for developing artists. Have you related to a lot of what she’s been saying about the industry?
I love her. Growing up in the industry, I’ve been made to feel like I can only be a certain way: You don’t talk back to people. You don’t stand up for yourself. You don’t make a fucking statement at the Grammys about the music industry. These are things we’re told you don’t do. And to watch her not only do it, but double down every single time—it’s amazing.
Watching her speech, as an artist who was dropped when I was 16 years old and had no fucking clue what to do with myself…I had uprooted my entire life from Long Island to L.A., I had no friends, I was getting homeschooled. When I was dropped, I felt like these people that had sat me down and were like, “We’re family, and we love you, and we are going to take care of you forever,” suddenly couldn’t give less of a shit about me. At the time, I didn’t have the hindsight to know how fucked up that really was, so hearing [Roan] say that was validating.
You’ve also been so open about being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Has your relationship to your diagnosis changed over the years?
When I first started diving into all of this mental health stuff, I was just in the worst place you could be. I was probably 19, and I had pushed everything down and ignored and ignored and moved forward, and then one day, it felt like it all just came up. I was suicidal. I couldn’t do it anymore. I’m not in that dark place anymore. At the time, I was bitter. I was like, “Look at what you all have done to me. How dare you take someone who just wanted to fucking sing and perform and be a person, and you ruined me?” I was honestly spiteful and angry at the world for a while.
“When you go through these really intense, difficult things, especially early in your life, you look at people and the world very differently.”
Have you seen Split? It’s a silly horror movie, and but at the end, the guy says, “The broken are the more evolved.” How I took that is when you go through traumatic things that cause PTSD or BPD—or I’ve been diagnosed with pretty gnarly OCD—when you go through these really intense, difficult things, especially early in your life, you look at people and the world very differently. I look at every single person like they could be me; I have so much love and empathy and care for everybody. Maybe it’s not always a good thing, but I love that part of me.
Our Women in Music issue is filled with musicians who’ve gotten a unique start to their career. You were discovered via YouTube. Do you feel like your story is still possible in 2025?
I don’t think my story would happen, in the sense of how I was mistreated. But in 2012, things were different. I didn’t feel protected, and I didn’t feel like people approached judging me like they were judging a 14-year-old. ... It forced me to grow up really fast, and it messed me up in a lot of ways. I’ve hopefully recovered a bit by now. But I do think getting discovered online is possible. TikTok and [social media] have given so many people an opportunity to go viral without needing the music industry....I also think anyone can do it. People look at famous people and artists, and they’re like, “Oh, that could never be me,” but who are we? We aren’t as special as you think we are. Anyone can follow their dreams.
Not to change the subject, but I know you are an astrology person.
Should I guess your sign? The other day I guessed these two boys’ signs perfectly, and it was so impressive. Okay, I’m going to give you three, and tell me if one is correct: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Leo. Are any of those right?
Yeah. Do you want to guess?
Fuck. I don’t know. Oh my God, Capricorn?
Yes! Oh my God. How did you—
I’m getting really weirdly good at this. Bible, I did not know your name prior to us doing this. Did not Google. I’m not a weirdo.
I’ll be talking about this for the rest of my life. Before you go, was there anything else you wanted to talk about that we didn’t get to?
Just to mention that my middle name is Elle, and I love ELLE, and I was named after ELLE magazine.
Wait, are you kidding?
No. My mom made my middle name Elle, because she thought ELLE was the chicest magazine. You can ask Tracie Beer herself.
Hair by Lacy Redway for Tresemmé; makeup by Alexandra French at Forward Artists; manicures by Natalie Minerva at Forward Artists and Ginger Lopez at Opus Beauty; produced by Petty Cash Production.
This story appears in the May 2025 issue of ELLE.
#MadisonBeer elle.com
