The Stunning Transformation Of Madison Beer
Madison Beer — just 24 years old as of 2023, has already become one of the most exciting pop stars of her generation. After being discovered online by Justin Bieber, Beer shot to fame in 2012. She landed a major record deal and quickly became a highly marketed pop princess. However, in 2016, Beer left her label behind and set out on her own, shedding her good girl image and finding a more authentic voice. Since then, she has released two hugely successful albums: "Life Support" in 2021 and "Silence Between Songs" in 2023. She's also captured the attention of none other than Lana Del Rey. Evidently, this young star is just at the beginning of her journey — and there's plenty of great music still to come.
Although she may be young, Beer's life has already been filled with twists and turns. Perhaps, Beer put it best herself: "I have lived a very interesting, special, weird life," she told People in 2023. Curious to learn a little more? Here is the stunning transformation of Madison Beer.
Madison Beer grew up dreaming of being a singer
Madison Beer was born on March 5, 1999, in Jericho, New York. Her parents are Tracie and Robert Beer, an interior designer and construction worker, respectively.
From practically the moment she was born, Beer showed the signs of being destined for a career as a singer. "I don't actually have a first memory [of wanting to be a singer]," she told GQ in 2021. "I look through all of my baby books and even in kindergarten I would always say a singer or a musician."
However, even though Beer loved singing from a young age, it wasn't until she was a little older that she really began to think about singing professionally. "I don't think that I really thought about it in like a professional or career way," she explained to Numero. "I just knew that I wanted to make singing what my life revolved around." At around eight years old, she began taking singing lessons — "that's when I knew I wanted to take it really seriously," she said to GQ.
Madison Beer began performing at four years old
Madison Beer didn't just talk about her love of singing as a young child — she actually started performing when she was just four years old. "I've been performing since I was four," she told GQ. "I used to do these after-school plays where the parents would come and watch." Throughout childhood, she performed at school in plays and in "The School of Rock," an after school singing activity for kids. She landed her first professional performing gig at 13 years old when she sang at Arthur Ashe Kids' Day at the US Open.
Soon after, she made a YouTube channel where she began posting covers of popular songs. Her classmates teased her for singing online. As she told The Telegraph, "everybody was cookie-cutter, so being yourself was hard." However, she persevered with her singing and kept uploading videos to YouTube. Even if the other kids at her school wanted her to fit into a box, she was brave enough to follow her passion — and soon enough, it paid off.
She was discovered by Justin Bieber when she was 13
After posting just three videos to YouTube, everything changed for Madison Beer in 2012 when pop sensation Justin Bieber happened to come across her cover of Etta James' "At Last." "Wow. 13 years old! She can sing. Great job. #future star," he tweeted at the time. "I actually didn't see the tweet, my friend Nicole called me," Beer told Access Hollywood shortly after it happened. Beer then explained that she started "hysterically crying" on the street. Beer replied simply, "OMG." The tweet racked up over 11,000 likes and Beer suddenly shot to fame.
"It was like he spun my life around in one tweet," Beer later recalled to The Telegraph. In fact, when she later met Bieber, it was, as she described to the Independent, "one of the most pivotal moments of my career meeting [Justin], it changed my life forever." The 13-year-old Beer soon signed a deal with Island Records with Scooter Braun, Bieber's manager.
Madison Beer was thrown into the dark side of the industry
Out of nowhere, Madison Beer found herself in the spotlight — she had a huge manager and an even bigger record deal. She and her family packed up and moved to Los Angeles. However, life as a teen pop star wasn't exactly easy. For the first few years, Beer struggled to adjust to the complexities of what is often a problematic industry.
"I've been put in positions and places that are not good," she said frankly to The i in 2023. "I remember older men calling me hot when I was 13, and it made me uncomfortable. Going to concerts and being backstage and seeing people do drugs... I was not protected." The experiences she had at that age, she said, were indeed traumatic. She added, "I was definitely not shielded from the dark side of the industry. I was thrown into the depths of it."
Her sudden fame also had a severe impact on her family. Her younger brother, Ryder, had a particularly hard time. "Whatever was happening to me had effects on him that we weren't even aware of at the time," she told People. It took years for the siblings to work through their childhood issues that stemmed from her budding career.
She left her label in 2016, shedding her glossy pop image
After three years with Island Records, Madison Beer parted ways from her label. As she told The i, she was dropped — "Snip — you're gone!" she recalled. Being dropped was hard. "It felt like no one wanted me, like I was a dog being abandoned on the side of the road."
However, even though leaving her label behind wasn't easy, it proved to be a positive turning point for the young artist. For one thing, she was no longer, as she put it to the Independent, "trapped" in a "Disney queen" box.
Beer released her first EP, "As She Pleases," that had R&B undertones — something that probably wouldn't have been possible with Island Records. As she told Leftlion, "I feel like it's a huge milestone in my career, but I'm so relieved that it's out and that the response from fans has been so positive. Releasing this EP was like showing a part of my soul to the world."
As a teenager, she struggled with other people's opinions
Even though Madison Beer's career picked up again after the release of her EP, she continued to struggle with the pressures of fame in the digital age. "I've sort of been picked apart since I was super young ... I've had my appearance commented on for a majority of my life, which wasn't easy. It's never gotten easy," she told UK's Glamour. The constant judgment made her "kind of crawl into a shell a bit."
When she was 14, private nude photos of Beer were leaked and made public without her consent. In 2020, on International Women's Day, she opened up about the experience on X, formerly known as Twitter, when another video was leaked, writing, "If I could only express the trauma and shame this has reopened for me." As Beer later revealed in her memoir, "The Half of It," the experience made her suicidal when she was 16. "There were many times — just like the night my nudes were leaked — that I felt so backed into a corner I thought the only way out was to end my life," she wrote (via People).
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Madison Beer became a huge social media star
As her fame grew, Madison Beer became known not only for her music, but also for her social media presence. As of this writing, the singer has almost 19 million followers on TikTok and almost 38 million followers on Instagram. Over the years, Beer has learned to take a measured, careful approach to social media platforms, by never posting when she doesn't want to. "In this day and age of social media a lot of us have this pressure to be relatable and likable," she told Grammy.com. She added, "I try to just post when I feel like it ... I don't want to ever force myself into doing anything I don't want to do.
She also tries to avoid spending too much time online. "Contain your relationships and friendships in the real world," she told Numero. "I think that social media is kind of nonsense a lot." Despite her huge platform, it's clear that Beer never lets herself become consumed by social media.
Her first studio album came out in 2021 after she was diagnosed with BPD
In 2021, Madison Beer reached a huge career milestone, releasing her first studio album, "Life Support." Beer wrote, produced, and performed the songs on the album herself.
The album was written shortly after the singer was diagnosed with BPD, which colored the songs on the album. "I was going through genuinely a really, really tough time when we were creating this album," she told NME. "I had just been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and I was in and out of a lot of dark mental states, and I was in therapy three times a week."
She went on to explain that she often spent hours crying in the recording studio. Being able to record the album ended up becoming, as she put it, her "life support." "That's why I called this album 'Life Support' — because it kept me alive," she said.
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
She used to always worry about not working hard enough
After shooting to fame at a young age, Madison Beer became something of a workaholic. It was only when she got a little other than she realized that she didn't have to push herself quite so hard. "As an artist, sometimes we're told that if we take a break someone will replace you, someone's gonna be coming up right behind you," Beer explained to Grammy.com. "I don't subscribe to that anymore, and I think that's been a really freeing thing."
As she explained to British Vogue, she "learned to stop making [herself] feel guilty" for doing things like hanging out with her friends or leaving emails unanswered for a couple of days. "I don't want to look back one day and be like, yes, all my dreams came true, but I didn't have a life," she said. "This industry can be very intense and cutthroat and you can be made to feel guilty for wanting to just be a human ... Now, I let myself do what I want, quite frankly."
She learned the power of self-love during the pandemic
After having a difficult time in her teens, struggling with low mental health and suicidal thoughts, during the pandemic, Madison Beer discovered just how powerful loving herself could be. She spent a lot of the lockdown period reflecting and speaking to a wise friend. She came out feeling better about herself than ever.
"I was self-hating for a very long time," she confessed to The Forty-Five in 2023. "I believed I didn't deserve love, I was negative. I grew out of it." These days, she believes that she deserves love from herself and others. "I've learned a lot over the last few years," she added. "I have a lot of self love and a lot of respect for myself and I try to treat myself with the same amount of respect as I do other people."
In fact, Beer even tries to think of herself as her own best friend. When she catches herself being cruel to herself, she has a discussion with herself to remind her to be kind. "Did not anticipate the pandemic being the thing that made me learn all that about myself," she summed up.
Madison Beer published a memoir in 2023
Madison Beer may be young, but her life has already been very full — in fact, it has been so eventful, the young star has already published a memoir. "The Half of It" was released in 2023 and, as Beer explained during a conversation with Lana Del Rey for Interview Magazine, it was an attempt to set the record straight about her life in the spotlight as a teenager.
"I really wanted to do it because there's been so many things thrown around about me over the years, whether it's misconceptions, misjudgments, whatever," said Beer to Del Rey. "I never felt like going on Instagram Live or posting a TikTok was appropriate for the things I wanted to explain. Quite frankly, I don't think that most people care, so I wanted to do something that was like, 'If you do care, here's a place where you can learn about me.'"
Lana Del Rey has been a huge inspiration in Madison Beer's life
Of all of the musical influences that have inspired Madison Beer over the years, Lana Del Rey may be the most important. As the singer explained to Official Charts, Del Rey is her "idol of all idols." She added, "Lana Del Rey's somebody I look up to so much."
Beer was thrilled when Del Rey approached her at a coffee shop and complimented her on her music. "I was like, 'Hi. What's happening right now?' Beer later recalled while speaking to Del Rey for Interview Magazine. "I couldn't believe it."
That interview with Del Rey was, in itself, also a massive milestone. "That was the craziest thing I've ever experienced," she gushed to Official Charts about speaking to Del Rey for Interview. "She's my literal mother. I would kill for a collaboration; I would die to make that happen. I will try every day, forever."
Madison Beer's second album came out in 2023
In 2023, Madison Beer released "Silence Between Songs," her second studio album. The album featured singles "Spinnin," "Home to Another One," and the titular "Silence Between Songs." The album reached number 16 on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart after its release.
With her second album, she was careful to stay creative and avoid focusing too much on creating one specific sound. "I don't think there was ever a moment where I was like, 'This is the tone of the album,'" she told British Vogue. "It really just organically grew on its own, and I let it happen."
Although Beer didn't set a specific tone for the album, she did make sure the album was as authentic as possible. "There are things I talk about in these songs that I've never spoken about before," she explained to Official Charts. "It's a really vulnerable record; all the songs are very meaningful."
Her priorities have changed, but she knows she still has a lot of growing to do
Madison Beer has already been in the music industry for over a decade and released two studio albums, but that doesn't mean she's ready to stop growing. In fact, she knows that there's still plenty to look forward to.
"I've lived so much in the last ten years that I can't imagine what's going to happen next," she said to Interview Magazine. One thing she knows is that her future will be less about fame and more about following her heart. "I know I'm only 24, but as I've gotten older, I've been able to say that my intentions and my priorities have changed ... I hope that I continue to gain wisdom through experiences and make music I'm proud of, if that's what I decide to do." Whatever she decides to do, we know it will be just as remarkable as everything she's done so far.