As a music writer with an innate interest in spotlighting up-and-coming artists, every
week I survey the “New Music Mix” that was made for me on the Apple Music streaming
platform. As a lover of visual art, I am drawn towards artists that have a unique and creative
outlook. And as a hopeless romantic – and also a Gossip Girl (2007-2012) apologist – I am
drawn to anything that has the idiom, “X.O.X.O.” Therefore, when I stumbled upon “When I’m
Dreaming” by Oregon-native, Madisenxoxo, while scrolling through my “New Music Mix” from
last week, I made a mental-note to give the song a critical listen.
“When I’m Dreaming” is Madisenxoxo’s seventh single. Her first EP, Plead No Contest,
was released in collaboration with indie label Mana Sonics (headed by long-time collaborator,
Mana Garden) in November 2020. As of this year, Madisenxoxo is in partnership with Pack
Records, with which she released her January 2023 single, “Control Freak,” and February 2023
single, “You’re so Pretty,” prior to “When I’m Dreaming.” Her paired-down and intimate debut
single, “Baby in Blue,” made waves on TikTok in 2020; with all three of her 2023 releases,
Madisenxoxo has retained that initial vulnerability when it comes to song-writing, but the latter
boast much denser and ornately textured soundscapes. Professionally trained in the Jazz genre,
and debuting with a contemporary sound of bedroom pop in the frenetically innovative vein of
beabadoobee, Clairo and Billie Eilish’s debut studio-release, Don’t Smile at Me, Madisenxoxo
has a cosmos of aural possibilities at her fingertips.
Lyrically, the single revolves around its hook, “We only fuck when I’m dreaming,” which
morphs into the song’s bridge, “We only love when I’m dreaming.” In the context of
Madisenxoxo’s sapphic-sounding discography – I am particularly placing the single in relation to
her second-latest release, “You’re so Pretty,” which opens with the verse, “You’re so pretty, I
can’t decide if I / Wanna be you or just kiss you / Queen of sincerity, so full of apathy / I’m an
imposter, you’re the real thing” – “When I’m Dreaming’s” hook adopts a Queer wistfulness.
Madisenxoxo’s vocals are high and twinkling like the North Star, guiding the listener through the
single’s sonic-realm. Digitally-rendered sounds dominate the song’s toolkit. I would characterize
the song’s first chorus as metallic and crunching – like Nine Inch Nails vis-à-vis beabadoobee.
The choruses are airier, a mix of acoustic guitar and 808-sounding beats. As is the second chorus
– which builds out of the first chorus, but ditches the former’s electronic bird whistles. On the
bridge, Madisenxoxo’s soundscape drops out, and is replaced by an echo effect placed on her
vocals: likely, to emphasize the delicacy, but the emotional resonance, of the singer expressing
that she is in love – not simply in an emotionally-detached sexual partnership – with the figure in
her dreams.
Per an Instagram post on April 19th, 2023, Madisenxoxo has put out her second EP – at the very least, it has been put out to the attendees of her EP release party at the Holocene nightclub in Portland, OR…and I am very jealous that I am writing this on the other side of the continent.
As a loyal stoker of the bedroom pop flame: I think that you should be turned on to what she’s
putting out!
You can listen to “When I’m Dreaming” here:
