Madison McFerrin

The confident woman you hear on SCORPIO was born from the ashes of heartbreak. After years of fighting, Madison ended her relationship with her then fiancé/manager. “We was ‘posed to get married today/ instead I’m here, all alone/ in a home/ with no one to call my own/” Madison sings on the revelatory “I Don’t” conveying a feeling somewhere between sadness and the thrill of liberation. On “Run It Back”, she paints a picture of post-breakup lust: “Do you think about the sex just a little … / Thinkin’ ‘bout your hands up on my waist/ we can run it back non-committal” she coos. But thoughts of backsliding aren’t as loud as the inner voice screaming at her to let go and move on. The piano-driven “Lesson” floats in like a dream, describing how her relationship died so that she could be reborn. “I think the biggest lesson for me was that if it doesn't feel right, it's not.” For Madison, love — specifically self-love — is a revealer of truths. It’s this album’s inspiration: “I truly believe that I went through it because I've created art that's going to change my life.” SCORPIO is what it sounds like when the stars align.