Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Madison Hughes, 25, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., performed “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” by Bob Dylan. Madison immediately showed off her nice tone. Midway through the song, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani turned. Camila Cabello turned around late in the performance. Camila likes the melting pot of music Madison is influenced by. Gwen said she loves Madison’s voice. Blake pitched his country credentials. Madison decided to join Team Blake.

Here’s more about Madison.

* She’s a singer-songwriter now based in Nashville and has already released lots of music.

* In a mini-documentary on YouTube, Madison says she was musically inclined from a young age. “As a very young child, I remember, at any given moment, we (she and her two sisters) would break out into singing and dancing in our living room.”

* She learned to play guitar when she was in fifth grade. She and her dad took guitar lessons together. And one of her first performances was a cover of “Wild Thing” at a fifth-grade talent show.

* Growing up she attended summer camp at Berklee College of Music. She also learned how to play harmonica and mandolin and got involved in choir and musical theater in high school.

* She started writing songs while attending Florida State University and has traveled extensively, including visits to London, Jamaica, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Spain, Cuba, Scotland, and Nicaragua, according to a 2020 interview with Buzz Music.

* According to that mini-documentary, she also traveled the country for a while as a freelance videographer.

* As for that already available music, Madison has 17 singles and a four-song EP called “Ignited” (2020) on streaming sites. She dropped her first single, “Lebron” back in 2016.

* Her most popular song on Spotify — with nearly 200,000 streams — is a cover of Lord Huron’s “Meet Me in the Woods.” And Madison’s vocal is simply fabulous. You can check it out below.

* Her most popular original — with nearly 150,000 streams — is “Easy Way,” a song about not taking the easy way through life. Madison wrote that tune and released it in 2020.

* And here’s what Madison has to say about pursuing her music, which isn’t always the easy way. “I think a lot of us are tempted to give up on whatever dream we have because it seems like, there’s just no way this could work, it’s just too impossible. But everywhere I move to, I always carry with me this plaque that my guitar teacher, Bennett Lewis at camp, awarded me in 2010. And it has written on it, Pick of Destiny, and a letter on the back saying, basically, keep going.”

Madison on social media:
Instagram
Twitter
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YouTube