Madison Watkins

What happens when everything goes your way but it’s still inadequate and unsatisfying? For Madison Watkins, it resulted in a season of personal inventory and spiritual reflection. After becoming an online viral sensation amassing over 1.5 billion TikTok plays and becoming an American Idol top finalist and securing major brand partnerships like Steve Madden, LG, and PUMA) and eventually signing a m...

What happens when everything goes your way but it’s still inadequate and unsatisfying? For Madison Watkins, it resulted in a season of personal inventory and spiritual reflection.

After becoming an online viral sensation amassing over 1.5 billion TikTok plays and becoming an American Idol top finalist and securing major brand partnerships like Steve Madden, LG, and PUMA) and eventually signing a major record label contract, Madison, to her surprise, became disheartened.

“After a while I realized the music I was making wasn’t true to me,” she says. “I was trying to fit the mold the music industry wanted me to fit into, and I never felt like I could write about the things that mattered to me the most, like my faith.” During that time, Watkins found herself overcome by depression and anxiety, eventually deciding to take a break from music.

“I got to the point where I thought, ‘I don’t know if I’m ever going to sing again,’” she says. “I remember praying and telling God, ‘If you want me to continue on this path, I need you to send me people who can help me make the music I want to make.” Within a week, Watkins met up with a friend whose brother happened to work in A&R at Sony—a turn of events that soon found her flying to Nashville for a series of sessions with top-notch producers and writers.

“I knew I needed a change, so I ended up moving to Nashville without a deal or a job of any kind,” she says. “I told myself to have trust and let go, and five days after I moved I got my record deal.”

With her debut album due out soon, Watkins has found enormous fulfillment in the making of her latest output. “Ten years after I first started in music, I’ve made it to the point where I’m doing exactly what I want do,” she says. And as she shares her new body of work with the world, she hopes to transfer that feeling of self-love onto each member of her audience.

“As an artist, you have the opportunity to steward however you want, and what I want is to make a positive impact and help other people to be more confident in who they really are. With every single person who listens to my music, I want their soul to be impacted.” says Watkins.