Released Jan. 16, Madison Beer’s new album, “locket,” left me sobbing after her long-awaited drop. The more I listened, the more I understood Beer, and each song felt more sacred than the one before. Each of the 11 songs taught me about different parts of Beer’s life that artists often hide — just another reason to love her lyrics. She let fans into her heart by stepping outside of her comfort zone in her artistry. From house beats to soft-sounding pieces and everything in between, her third studio album was worth all of the feels.
Listening to “locket” feels like the journey of looking into your own past, along with Beer’s. Beer loves being vulnerable and personal with her listeners, so she wanted to write these 11 songs with purpose — to represent different phases and moments in her love life. Some songs feel nostalgic or traumatic but are still kept close to her heart, where the locket of her necklace would sit. To make the release more magical, Beer wore a different locket in each music video, teasing the album title.
As an introduction, “locket theme” sets the scene for the emotional, lyrical pieces to follow. What seem like fairytale stories are actually Beer’s true experiences she is sharing with her audience. She angelically sings, “all our memories safe in my locket, I carry it / I had to get this off my chest,” as if Beer had been waiting to release the weight of the hard times. Before ending the theme, she sings, “Pain on a necklace, set it down, I’m weightless,” symbolizing the pain Beer carries with her inside.
Following her heavenly intro, “angel wings” eases listeners into the album with a chill beat. As a fan of Beer’s, this song reminds me of the more calm, mature version of “Hurts like Hell” featuring Offset. This song shows she’s matured, still wishes past friends and lovers all the best, but respectfully, they remain dead to her.
The softly-strung song “for the night” takes listeners through a seductive fantasy and sounds like a dreamy daze. It’s about yearning for someone she’s been missing and would do anything to spend time with, even if it’s just for the night. The mysterious melody is paired with the lyrics, “I don’t wanna be like this forever / Baby, if you loved me I’d feel better / At least let’s try.”
A song so good it hurts is “bad enough.” The song is about toxic relationships, yet it sounds light, paired with the track’s delicate piano. Being deeply in love with someone who doesn’t serve your best interests can make it seem impossible to leave. In the video, she uses “Beauty and the Beast” references that show the monstrous side of toxic partners that can lash out and wreck your life but also be so charming. Beer makes sense of the struggles often faced when leaving the person you love most, even when the good times are well gone. Hearing her side of the story made me feel seen in my own past friendships and relationships. Even when the bad times outweigh the good, we tend to keep around what’s familiar to us, because it’s comfortable and human.
Sometimes, relationships are the opposite of a “healthy habit,” but in this short song, Beer questions her own sanity over craving her past connections that didn’t work out. When people aren’t good for us, we often miss the way they made us feel, especially before the red flags. She stays in a spiral of overthinking “if it’s worth doin’ it again.”
If any song on the album is a tearjerker, it’s “you’re still everything.” The vulnerable story of her missing someone sheds light on Beer’s true feelings — even if they can’t easily be logically translated. This song truly makes the world stop spinning for a minute, giving time for Beer’s attempt to feel understood by others. She dives into her deepest self and admits to living in the past. The song mirrors the abundance of thoughts and feelings that often come late at night when you’re alone — “I only exist in the moments you’re talking to me / if we can’t be together, then I’ll just go back to sleep.”
In contrast, “nothing at all” shows Beer’s fear of letting go and changing. The song starts slow, soft and somewhat sad — “The higher you rise, the further that you fall / And soon, you’re left with nothing at all.” As she keeps singing, realization hits with a steady beat — sometimes being left with nothing at all can be better because nothing can last forever.
As much as it hurts to move on from someone, when you do, it feels so “bittersweet.” Beer’s moment of self-love arrives with, “Now that it’s over, you blame it all on me / I know I should be bitter, but baby, right now I’m bittersweet.” What makes this song so special is the music video, in which the “locket” concept comes to life. During the bridge of the song, Beer takes a break from the tears and takes in the flashbacks as they flood through the opened locket. It feels like Beer is finally letting go of everything she didn’t give herself permission to before, the release of the unhappiness her past relationship caused.
While you may see Beer in the “bittersweet” music video celebrating her self-love and first stages of a breakup, you’ll catch her alter ego in the “make you mine” music video. Beer is at the club, living her best life — it’s Beer’s revenge. “Yes, baby” also captures Beer’s party girl persona, as she knows her worth and gets what she wants when she wants it. These two songs are the closest the album gets to a house beat.
“Complexity” is the perfect way to wrap the album — “all of my fine complexities / The baggage that I turned into beauty.” These lyrics imply Beer uses her outlet of songwriting to cope with all of the ugly parts of her past, allowing them to remain memories. The song is Beer’s way of facing the truth and moving on while still leaving room to look back and remember these times. “locket” is an experience that listeners not only tune into, but connect with — it’s truly a work of art.