MUSIC

Pop interview: Madison Beer on Home with You, five years after Justin Bieber declared her a star

The teenage singer is storming up the charts without the help of a record label. Is this the future?

The Sunday Times
Independent woman: Madison Beer
Independent woman: Madison Beer

On stage at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, Madison Beer introduces her song Something Sweet with a speech about independence. Hundreds of hyped-up teenagers scream in solidarity. Yet Beer, 19, isn’t advocating freedom from overbearing parents or the right to party after midnight. Something Sweet, an electro-pop song about a weekend hook-up with a hot boy, is special to the tiny, feisty New Yorker because it marked the start of her current career as an independent artist. Or, as she not so sweetly puts it on stage: “You don’t need a f****** label.”

Five years ago, Beer was supposed to be on a fast track to fame. When Justin Bieber declared her a star after spotting her cover of Etta James’s At Last on YouTube,