Out of everything that comes with being a songwriter, the awkward reality of releasing a song about an ill-fated crush was not something Ayesha Madon had anticipated.
“What if the person involved knows that this is about them? Do I have to send them a message?” Madon recalls wondering.
She’s speaking to Broadsheet via video call from London, where she’s working on a “bigger project” to be released next year. After wrapping filming for the second season of Netflix’s hit Heartbreak High reboot, where Madon plays Amerie Wadia, she jumped straight back into the recording studio. In March of this year, she released her single Eulogy, only a couple of weeks before season two dropped. The series spent three weeks in Netflix’s top 10 and was swiftly renewed for a third season. A few months later, Madon dropped her follow-up single, Blame Me. She plans to release another single before the year is out.
Madon’s life is a balancing act – and she’s loving it.
“After we shot season two, I had set up a studio in my grandma’s garage, and I was just writing every day, and I was trying to figure out what kind of music I wanted to make,” she says. “It’s a big thing for an artist to decide what production lane they’re going to sit in. It’s harder to land on than people think, I reckon.”
Eulogy and Blame Me were a clear answer to Madon’s dilemma. Her pop music is smooth, with ear-worm melodies and a lyrical vulnerability that she names Frank Ocean as an inspiration for. “I’ve seen that in musical theatre with Sondheim and other composers who are very specific with their lyrics. But I've never seen that in pop music, and so Frank Ocean really changed the game for me.”
She says most of her musical inspirations are just that – inspirations, not influences. “A lot of the people that I grew up listening to, I kind of sound nothing like,” she says. Vocally, Madon’s inspirations are clear: Mariah Carey, Destiny’s Child and Whitney Houston were just some of the ’90s divas that graced her playlists growing up. “I just really loved listening to female voices. I never really listened to male artists when I was younger and learning to sing. I think I just became really infatuated by really technically incredible female singers.”
Before Eulogy, Madon had released a few singles between 2020 and 2022, but she initially questioned whether she should pursue music alongside the success of Heartbreak High. “There was a point, maybe a few years ago, where I felt like I was kind of becoming a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none,” she recalls. But soon enough, she found that switching between multiple creative outlets helped make sure that acting and music remained fresh and joyful for her. “I think songwriting and acting actually flex a lot of the same muscles in terms of that creative flow and locking into that kind of focus. When I’m doing good songwriting work, it feels exactly the same as when I’m doing good acting work.”
Now she’s learning to navigate the tricky realities of writing songs about her personal life. “There are two sides of the same coin. It can be really cathartic and incredible,” she says. “For me, I don’t really like to speak about my personal life too much in the media, or even on my social media. I get the freedom to talk about whatever I need to talk about in my songs, and then I don’t have to say it again anywhere else. But on the other hand, it can be very vulnerable, and quite scary.” She says she constantly reminds herself that music is, after all, art. “We don’t know how creative I’ve gotten with this. We don’t know how much truth is in this. It’s all up for interpretation.”
Madon will be performing in Sydney this October as part of the SXSW Sydney Music Festival. The festival within a festival sits alongside the vast program of speakers, ranging from mathematicians and scientists to game developers and museum curators, as well as film screenings and Australia’s biggest showcase of indie videogames.
During her set, Madon will be performing her two latest singles “and maybe some old time-capsule ones too, who knows?” She’s part of a line-up that also includes UK R&B star Jorja Smith, Sydney rock band The Buoys and Melbourne trio The Grogans, among many more. “Being a songwriter, obviously you get to sing in the studio, but it’s such a different ball game to sing live. And so I’ve made sure that this live show is just like, a really good, big sing for me, and it’s really fun to do. I’ve got an awesome band, and it’s going to be a hoot.”
Apart from her set, Madon is looking forward to seeing Sydney-based singer-songwriter Nick Ward on stage. “I think he’s a once-in-a-generation type songwriter, and I’m just so excited to see his show. I’ve never seen his live set before, so that’s gonna be exciting,” she says.
SXSW Sydney takes place from October 14 to 20. Music Badges offer primary access to music-focused programming across the entire event week, including live showcases, talks, panels, workshops and mentoring, as well as industry parties, meetups and more. For a taste of the SXSW Sydney experience, Music Wristbands give access to live music showcases from October 16–19. Badges and Wristbands are on sale now.
This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with SXSW Sydney.
