by Lauren Rosier
Photos courtesy of madidiaz.com
Indie pop artist Madi Diaz grew up in humble surroundings in the Susquehanna Valley in Pennsylvania before moving to city life in Boston, Nashville and then Los Angeles.
“Pennsylvania was such a great place to grow up. There was so much space. So many trees. So much green and so many walks of life. It allowed me to be sort of wild and use my imagination,” Diaz describes.
Diaz’s latest record, Phantom, is a breakup record. Three years ago she decided to make the cross country drive from Nashville to Los Angeles.
“I moved because I felt too still. I had been in Nashville for four years and made a decision to try and push myself further. I want to live all over, I don’t just want to talk about it,” she explains.
Phantom spans the first year and a half to two years in Los Angeles — from falling in love, the hard stuff, to the end. So what sets Diaz’s breakup record apart from all the rest of the breakup records? It’s really the most upbeat, danceable breakup record.
“I hope that for myself at least there’s a little bit of determined lightness to it. Hopefully by the end of the crying and epically bumming part, I can laugh about it, get up, and get going,” she says of Phantom.
Diaz had attended Berklee College of Music and her time there really helped to reinforce her instincts, trust herself, and introduce her into a world of her own musical peers.
“I’m still close with a lot of people that I met back then, so I’m super grateful to Boston for being such a great part of my foundation,” she says. “Man…maybe they’ll let me graduate one day…”
Catch Madi perform at the North Star Bar on Friday at 9 pm.
