Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Natalie Madigan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Natalie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
Over the last few years I have dealt with various health issues including hypothyroidism with benign tumors that led to me having a total thyroidectomy. The issues with my thyroid resulted in mental health struggles including anxiety and depression. I suffered from these imbalances for years and the swinging pendulum between anxiety and depression has really informed my art. My thyroidectomy kind of launched me into a whole holistic health journey where I set out to really tackle the physical and emotional issues within myself. I remember hitting such a low point that all I could do was remind myself daily that no feeling is final and all things pass. This idea was really inspiring to me and led me to dive into Taoism and the principals of Yin and Yang. I started meditating daily, doing energy work, eating clean, spending all my time with nature, and replacing medications with herbs, vitamins, teas, etc. Naturally, as life informs art, I ended up creating my Yin and Yang themed project; Yin representing darkness, femininity, sadness and the moon, and Yang representing freedom, confidence, sensuality and the sun. I grew up listening to music from the 60s and 70s (The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Shangri Las, etc) and really let the sounds of those eras inspire these projects.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a conceptual pop artist whose music is a blend of retro nostalgia and modern ideas. I was raised in an artistic household and participated in all things music from piano lessons to dance to musical theater, choir and song writing. I went to school for audio production at MTSU, where I co-produced my first project, What It’s Like To Be Known. That led to my first publishing deal, which has allowed me to do music full time and really explore all the avenues of my creativity. I feel that my music offers a lyrical realness and rawness that is hard to come by in the digital age, while still pushing the limits of production. I aim to create conceptual and highly visual “worlds” for my projects to live in and my listeners to become immersed in. I am a hippie at heart and also aim for my artistry to advocate for sustainability, especially in fashion as one of my passions is thrifting and upcycling clothing for my music projects.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I’d say the biggest test of resilience in my life has definitely come from my health struggles. In the span of 6 months I had both a tonsillectomy and a total thyroidectomy. I didn’t regain my full voice for close to a year, not to mention the debilitating physical and mental health issues that came with those surgeries. There were so many moments that I thought about giving it all up because life felt so HARD. It forced me to confront myself and what I really want in life. I started diving into meditation, energy work and holistic health and was able to heal myself both mentally and physically from the inside out. I transformed feelings of pain and hardship into beauty and light and use those experiences as inspiration for my music.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to not separate yourself from your artistry. I spent years having this grand idea of what success looked like, and that my life would truly “start” when I made it big, but all that did was take me out of the present moment and make me anxious. It resulted in me writing songs that I thought other people wanted to hear or that would “launch my career” rather than writing songs that were truly coming from my soul. It’s an every day journey, but I feel that I’ve learned how to really enjoy life in every phase and I’m able to find beauty in both the normality and the excitement.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0VqERH28tjwguO9olLjkJd?si=wqI8-aLIQnKxfzQElYaNHg
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliemadigan_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nataliemadiganmusic
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nataliemadigan_
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCStMmZtwoLvv47ozuf34LrQ
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@nataliemadigan_?lang=en
Image Credits
All image credits to Gracie Heart