Madds Buckley: Inside the Journey of Scaling Anime-Inspired Pop and Finding Creative Resilience

As a part of our series about Nashville’s rising stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Madds Buckley.

Madds Buckley is a 23 year-old singer-songwriter who uses her love of anime to create music inspired by various series and video games she loves. She got her start making English anime covers on TikTok while studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Since then, she has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers with her anime inspired releases.

Her most recent album, Sunset on Summerville, is inspired by characters from the My Hero Academia series. It features her biggest hit, “The Red Means I Love You”, a song written for Toga Himiko.

Madds makes music for anime fans that is meant to be enjoyed by everyone, whether they know the story it is inspired by or not. This has allowed anyone to enjoy her music, exploring themes of self-doubt, trauma, and the relationships that uplift us. No matter who you are, there is something to enjoy in Madds’ music.

With the release of “My Love Is Sick”, Madds begins to explore her own personal experiences. The song showcases her growth as a songwriter and is a sign of big things to come — stay tuned for more soon.

Thank you so much for joining us in this series! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit of the ‘backstory’ of how you grew up?

Sure! I grew up near Chicago to a very large family (my mother is one of twelve children, so it’s a LOT of names to remember at Christmas!). I was a pretty socially inept kid, which I blame on being in the Catholic Closet™ and Warrior Cats books. A few years later, I went to Berklee for college, met some of my closest friends and collaborators, and now, here I am; 23, queer and comfortable in it, and a massive nerd!

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

One of my first ways to connect with people was singing and harmonizing with my cousins whenever we’d get together! While I was very much an “A or nothing” student, music was my THING. But even so, I didn’t really regard writing music as something I could pursue as a career until my music production teacher (Mr. Gemkow, you’re a HERO) asked me to join an album project students were making. From there, I took the final level of Music Production (which, very cool we had that as a class in a high school, thank you again Mr. Gemkow), made albums for my final projects 2 years in a row, and once I was off to Berklee I had it in my head that music was going to STAY my thing.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Starting through social media, the opportunities that have come from it are, SO COOL. I’ve gotten to work on music with one of my favorite voice actors, one of my favorite artists noticed my English cover of one of their songs (which is STILL my proudest twitter moment, and the ONLY reason I have a Twitter), and seeing the amount of people who make art to my art! I always love seeing cosplayers or artists make videos with my music being involved.

One thing that was REALLY cool was that I went to my very first anime convention as a GUEST! I was able to bring 2 members of my band along, and it was a really cool experience to actually perform and meet people who enjoy my music! I’ve still got all the little gifts I got in a special place in my room. People were so nice, and I got to meet some longtime internet friends on top of it!!

Can you share with us an interesting story about living in Nashville?

So, back near Chicago we have this chain known for hot dogs (and chocolate cake shakes) known as Portillo’s. And ever since I had moved to Boston, I was REALLY missing it (even if the last time I had it I felt ill, lol). Lo and behold, shortly after moving to Nashville, my roommate introduces me to Cookout! Tears may have been shed over those hotdogs and fried cheese curds. I don’t think I can ever go back to Portillo’s, so thanks Nashville! Except maybe the cake shake, I’ve yet to find a replacement for that in Nashville.

Can you share with us a few of the best parts of living in Nashville? We’d love to hear some specific examples or stories about that.

To be honest, I came to Nashville because my friends were! My longtime roommate is a Nashville native, so when she moved back, I joined her! I think what I really do like best about Nashville is that it feels like where I grew up. During college I lived in Boston for a bit, but after my parents sold the house I grew up in, I kinda missed being in a house as opposed to an apartment (I am known to be quite loud when I don’t realize it, hehe). So I love that Nashville has both a downtown, but isn’t a HUGE city. Besides that, I’ve now got a group of friends that like to go climbing!! And it’s nice that there’s top-rope climbing, as my arms are too feeble to only do bouldering! I’m so weak! And there’s always some restaurant my friends are showing me with great food. Now if only I can remember the names of the places…

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

While it’s more funny in hindsight, another con I played at happened during a heat wave, and they gave me the first slot at noon with the sun BEATING DOWN. Looking back I really wish I would have asked where we could stand besides in the sun for 90 minutes waiting for our very late soundcheck. I ended up having to sit through my set because I was so dizzy from being in the sun!! Lesson: I need to advocate for myself!!! I am still learning to do so, but I’ve definitely been shown what can happen when you don’t. We got a kick out of me being delirious afterwards, but in the moment it was- very worrying!

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I am, so very grateful to my friend and producer Josh Sebek. He started assisting me with my music almost 3 years ago when I was VERY overwhelmed trying to handle everything myself. Not only is he one of my closest friends, he has an amazing ear for mastering and production, and there’s very few people I trust to shape the sound of my music more than I trust him. We’ve had plenty of late nights mapping out my upcoming album, and just as many talking about life, love, and the works! I can’t even imagine what my music would’ve turned out to be without him.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

Besides my newest album, which I could talk for WAY TOO long on, I had the pleasure of working with an artist I’m a huge fan of for my most recent (or upcoming, depending on when this is posted) music video, DogBird. I’d never really made a music video for my music with a vision, a story behind it! And having it come from a TON of poorly made drawings I made to such a wonderful visual video (made by the amazing @megane98_ !!), it means the absolute world. I get to see two characters I made for this song, and later this whole album, come to life! A queer relationship I cooked up that was made to fall apart, and while the story makes me sad, the fact that it gets to be told so beautifully fills me with so much joy!!

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why?

1. Not working on music, or your creative endeavor, is also an important part of the creative process. Studying other media, stories, and art forms can be unexpected sources of inspiration!
2. Jumping off of that, having something outside of music to do is healthy! Once music becomes your job, there’s a real threat of you starting to hate it. No one dreams of labor! I like to play video games in my free time (I’m also admittedly a huge manga fan, so I do read comics quite a bit as well).
3. Taking care of yourself makes you a better artist. For me, especially socially; having a solid social and support network is near essential to me now to keep my sanity.
4. Don’t kill the part of you that is cringe-
5. Kill the part of you that cringes.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

A ton of people in my field struggle with burn out; even I still do from time to time! Things that have really helped me are scheduled work hours (even if I break them sometimes lol), or dedicated break time. If you need to take a day to check in on yourself and decompress, do it! Your mental health is vital to maintaining a career, especially when you’re independent. Trying to be consistently creative for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week is not something you can do forever!!

Besides that, try not to do everything yourself!! Which is one I also find myself forgetting. I have moderators on Twitch that help me run things smoothly, and friends that also help me with video editing and art direction. Taking on everything yourself is stressful and time consuming, and it can be difficult to hand a part of your job over to someone, but if you find people you trust and work well with, it will save you MANY a cry session.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I think so many people would benefit from others thinking more analytically about the information and news they take in. Misinformation is such a huge issue right now, from AI, to reactionary commentators, to full blown conspiracy theories. I’ve seen people’s opinions on socio-economic issues backslide due to intaking their news from reactionary sources. So much misinformation aims to “other” marginalized groups, and it PAINS me when people blindly believe in hate without a thought.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My dad used to quote “an actor” (he always changed the name) that said that “Fall forward. You shouldn’t have a Plan B, because you WILL fall back on it.” I don’t think that advice is applicable to everyone or every situation, as plan B’s are often REALLY good, at the time I was planning on studying education alongside songwriting, and my dad knew that the second I started planning for Plan B, I’d never follow through: I am someone who tries to avoid failure at ALL cost, chronic A-student. If I hadn’t instilled that in me, if I don’t continue to, I’d very likely not be here now!

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

I think if it’s someone I’m a fan of, I’d definitely be too nervous to have a normal conversation, haha, though I ‘m sure I could name a few. BUT, someone I would actually love to meet in person is some of the visual artists I’ve had the pleasure to work with for this album cycle! They’ve done such amazing work, from @litarnes on the My Love is Sick video, to my nearly half a year working with @megane98_ on the DogBird video. I’d love to actually thank them in person over a meal, as I never feel over the phone or through a screen is ever enough. I implore anyone reading to look at their artwork: it’s so lovely!

How can our readers follow you online?

I’m @maddsbuckley pretty much everywhere! Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, etc.

https://beacons.ai/maddsbuckley

^^ though that’s a quick way to find those places!

And my website maddsbuckley.com is good for any important updates.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Thank you, and thank you so much for having me!!