Maddie & Tae have shared an intimate New Year’s video recap about the ups and downs they faced in 2017, plus their plans for the new year. Here’s the best part: It sounds like there’s definitely going to be new music from the duo out in 2018!
Maddie Marlow and Tae Dye, aka Maddie & Tae, hit No. 1 on the Country Airplay charts in 2014 with their debut single “Girl in a Country Song,” a playful antidote to the “bro country” tropes of songs about trucks, beer and girls with long, tan legs and painted-on jeans. Follow-up single “Shut Up and Fish” once again took those country stereotypes to task, but the duo quickly proved they had more to say with their song “Fly,” an inspirational message, and “Sierra,” which takes aim at bullying.
However, 2017 was a rocky year for Maddie & Tae: Early in the year, the duo had finished writing the songs for their sophomore album, and they were excited to release a new single. Then their label, Dot Records, shut down.
“Initially, finding out we were gonna make that change — it was pretty scary, I’m not gonna lie,” Dye shares in the update video, which readers can watch above. Adds Marlow, “At the time, I was like, ‘Why is this happening? Our career is over; we’re never going to get to put out a new album.’ I felt horrible.”
In the video, Maddie & Tae sit down independently, each in their separate houses, and speak openly to their fans about the tumult that they experienced over the past year. Those challenges extend beyond their professional lives, too. This refusal to gloss over the more difficult parts of their lives makes sense for a pair of artists who have established themselves as role models from the very beginning.
“If I’m being honest, I went through a pretty tough depression after the label thing happened,” Marlow reveals. “I kinda always was the person who had a plan, had it figured out, and I’d never just been dropped on my a– before.”
The good news? Maddie & Tae officially signed to Universal Music Group Nashville later in the year, and are excited to release new music and grow as artists in the coming year.
“I would like to encourage you guys to have plans and goals going into 2018,” Dye shares at the end of the video, “but if something comes up and your plans just kind of change a little bit … I can say to you guys that there’s a reason for that; there’s a reason why things happen.”
Personally, 2017 wasn’t all bad for Maddie & Tae: In her portion of the update, Dye shares that, in mid-December, she welcomed a brand-new niece.
“I had always heard people talking about being an aunt, having someone in your life like that,” she says. “It’s just truly one of the most spiritual things I think I’ve ever experienced.”
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This Article Was Originally Posted at www.TheBoot.com
