Madison Cunningham Shares Origins of New Song “Subtitles”: Exclusive
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The post Madison Cunningham Shares Origins of New Song “Subtitles”: Exclusive appeared first on Consequence.
Our feature series Origins provides artists with a space to break down everything that went into their latest release. Today, Madison Cunningham takes us through her new single, “Subtitles.”
Folk singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham has shared her new single, “Subtitles.” The song marks a change in direction for the artist, and follows the release of a deluxe edition of her Grammy-winning album Revealer.
Featuring a driving guitar and a staccato bassline propelling the song forward, the song was given the title of “dino-rock” by the singer herself. Drawing inspiration from ’80s new wave, Cunningham directly referred to XTC as a major inspiration for the song’s melody, inspiring her to sweeten up the track and “pack this song with candy.”
Drawing together feelings and thoughts of dystopia and cluelessness, Cunningham conjures all of this together and more for this undeniable new track.
Currently supporting Hozier’s “Unreal Unearth” tour, Cunningham will also provide support for John Mayer’s upcoming 2024 European tour, beginning in March. Get tickets to both runs here.
Listen to the new track “Subtitles” below, and read on for Cunningham’s breakdown of the main inspirations behind the new track.
XTC:
I was listening to a lot of XTC at the time of writing this one. Their record Apple Venus was actively transformative for me, showing all of the ways chords and melody could be used. “Subtitles” was consciously drawing from those colors I think. I always say Andy Partridge knows how to satisfy my musical sweet tooth and I was inspired to pack this song with candy, and let the melody show me the way out of the chord rubble I had created.
The Truman Show:
When I saw this movie it deeply impacted me. It’s burrowed its way into many ideas and songs since, but particularly on this one, I tried to take the dystopian visuals they used in the film and pack it into the imagery and overall narrative. “The lawn is getting painted, and there’s a camera peering from the wall” are all ideas I pulled from the plot.
The Prophet by Kahlil Gabran:
It had been a minute since I revisited this beautiful book. While I was aimlessly trying to figure out the chorus of this song, I saw it sitting on my bookshelf and it was as simple as that really. “I’m not the prophet” was this throwaway lyric that seemed to cling to some emotion that said, “I have no idea what’s going on.” And that’s what the whole chorus is. Throwing up my hands.
Dinosaur:
Photo by Dariusz Sankowski via Pixabay
If I could choose one animal to describe this song it would be a dinosaur. It was the metaphor I kept using to find the right BPM and overall strut. “Subtitles” has a very dino-rock thump about it. We even tried to make the drums sound like a giant creature taking steps.
Madison Cunningham Shares Origins of New Song “Subtitles”: Exclusive
Aidan Sharp-Moses
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