{Review}
Therefore, when I stumbled upon “When I’m Dreaming” by Oregon-native, Madisenxoxo, while scrolling through my “New Music Mix” from last week, I made a mental-note to give the song a critical listen.
As a music writer with an innate interest in spotlighting up-and-coming artists, every week I survey the “New Music Mix” that was made for me on the Apple Music streaming platform. As a lover of visual art, I am drawn towards artists that have a unique and creative outlook. And as a hopeless romantic – and also a Gossip Girl (2007-2012) apologist – I am drawn to anything that has the idiom, “X.O.X.O.” Therefore, when I stumbled upon “When I’m Dreaming” by Oregon-native, Madisenxoxo, while scrolling through my “New Music Mix” from last week, I made a mental-note to give the song a critical listen.
“When I’m Dreaming” is Madisenxoxo’s seventh single. Her first EP, Plead No Contest, was released in collaboration with indie label Mana Sonics (headed by long-time collaborator, Mana Garden) in November 2020. As of this year, Madisenxoxo is in partnership with Pack Records, with which she released her January 2023 single, “Control Freak,” and February 2023 single, “You’re so Pretty,” prior to “When I’m Dreaming.” Her paired-down and intimate debut single, “Baby in Blue,” made waves on TikTok in 2020; with all three of her 2023 releases, Madisenxoxo has retained that initial vulnerability when it comes to song-writing, but the latter boast much denser and ornately textured soundscapes. Professionally trained in the Jazz genre, and debuting with a contemporary sound of bedroom pop in the frenetically innovative vein of beabadoobee, Clairo and Billie Eilish’s debut studio-release, Don’t Smile at Me, Madisenxoxo has a cosmos of aural possibilities at her fingertips.
Lyrically, the single revolves around its hook, “We only fuck when I’m dreaming,” which morphs into the song’s bridge, “We only love when I’m dreaming.” In the context of Madisenxoxo’s sapphic-sounding discography – I am particularly placing the single in relation to her second-latest release, “You’re so Pretty,” which opens with the verse, “You’re so pretty, I can’t decide if I / Wanna be you or just kiss you / Queen of sincerity, so full of apathy / I’m an imposter, you’re the real thing” – “When I’m Dreaming’s” hook adopts a Queer wistfulness. Madisenxoxo’s vocals are high and twinkling like the North Star, guiding the listener through the single’s sonic-realm. Digitally-rendered sounds dominate the song’s toolkit. I would characterize the song’s first chorus as metallic and crunching – like Nine Inch Nails vis-à-vis beabadoobee. The choruses are airier, a mix of acoustic guitar and 808-sounding beats. As is the second chorus – which builds out of the first chorus, but ditches the former’s electronic bird whistles. On the bridge, Madisenxoxo’s soundscape drops out, and is replaced by an echo effect placed on her vocals: likely, to emphasize the delicacy, but the emotional resonance, of the singer expressing that she is in love – not simply in an emotionally-detached sexual partnership – with the figure in her dreams.
Per an Instagram post on April 19th, 2023 (link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrOroDEvBgT/ ) Madisenxoxo has put out her second EP – at the very least, it has been put out to the attendees of her EP release party at the Holocene nightclub in Portland, OR…and I am very jealous that I am writing this on the other side of the continent. As a loyal stoker of the bedroom pop flame: I think that you should be turned on to what she’s putting out!