We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Madeline Lam a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Madeline , thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Blue is an EP that charts the atlas of a human heart. An intimate roadmap of grief, it offers a hope that we can crumble into wholeness. For me, music is the complete expression of the soul. ‘Blue’ is my second studio recorded EP and next release. It will be my first fully-self recorded project. As a life-long musician, songwriter and performer, recording is a new extension of my craft. In a conceptual sense, this EP came from the depths of my being in a time where I had to confront abuse and grief this past winter. In the midst of feeling myself breaking, I felt the people that I have lost come to me and whisper in my ear that we “break back into wholeness.” With this new touch from the other side, these songs flowed through me allowing me to live from the depths of the ocean so that I could get free, and that I could free generational pain and trauma. In a musical sense, although my songwriting-styled music has always aired on a side of spiritual lyricism embedded in melodic simplicity, ‘Blue’ has been a new exploration in genre that highlights arrangement and flavors of R&B and Soul. My EP Blue is a demonstration that music beautifies trauma, not just to glorify, but to make it useful, not just to the songwriter and craftswomen, but also to the heart of the world. The intention behind Blue is a message that we are allowed to feel the deepest shades of blue, and we are going to make it out more whole.

Madeline , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Maddie Lam, and I am a musician, songwriter, and performer whose work is rooted in storytelling, healing, and shared humanity. Music has always been my way of making sense of the world—of turning grief into something beautiful, of connecting deeply with others, and of offering a space where emotions can be felt fully and freely.

I have been immersed in music my entire life, but my journey as a professional artist began when I realized that my most honest songs—the ones that told my own stories of grief, gratitude, and transformation—were the ones that resonated the most with people. I’ve had the privilege of performing at spaces like WGBH, Pao Arts Center, and Club Passim, and I’m honored to be recognized as an emerging Asian American voice in music.

I’m most proud of the fact that my music has made people feel seen. Whether it’s someone telling me that a song helped them through their own grief or someone finding solace in a lyric that put words to something they couldn’t express—those moments are what keep me creating.

For anyone discovering my work for the first time, I want them to know that my music is an invitation—to feel, to heal, to connect.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal as an artist is to connect my listener back to their own hearts. My music and performances become intimate, soft spaces for people to experience their own humanity and vulnerability. There are many levels to why I create. At the core of my artist mission, I goal is to touch the center of mother Earth’s heart. On a personal level, music is a soulmate, a lover, and a lifelong partner who grows me and challenges me, and I will grow her as well. On a cultural-political level, my music is my racial justice work–to represent women of color and more specifically Asian American women whose voices and faces go invisible in the music industry. On a universal and global sense, I sing because, just like the birds, we sing because it is in our nature. We sing to create good vibrations, and my overarching music career goal is to continuing growing my platform, growing my skills, growing my collaborations, and offering a new way to the world as a healthy, functional, and heart-centered feminine artist.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the way my music becomes a bridge—connecting my own personal experiences with others in a meaningful way. When I create a song, it feels like a raw, vulnerable expression of what I’m going through or how I’m processing life, but then when I share it, it often resonates with others in ways I never imagined. That exchange, the feeling of being heard and seen by others, is incredibly powerful.

I also find it deeply rewarding to know that my music can be a tool for healing, not just for myself but for anyone who listens. Music is a language that transcends barriers, and when someone tells me that my song helped them through a difficult time or that they found comfort in something I wrote, that’s everything to me. It’s a reminder that our stories, even the painful ones, can create something beautiful and transformative.

Finally, I love that my work allows me to evolve, experiment, and continue growing as both an artist and a person. Every new project or song teaches me something new about myself and about the world, and that constant evolution keeps the work fresh and meaningful.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maddiexlam

Image Credits

(1) Benjamin Feldman
(2) Najee Brown
(3) Benjamin Feldman
(4) Raphael Lehnen