Known best for poignant hits like “Fat Funny Friend” and “You Might Not Like Her,” the singer-songwriter spoke to The Knockturnal about releasing her new single “Heaven” and expressing herself through music unabashedly.
Maddie Zahm has a knack for sensitive self-portraiture. Her debut album Now That I’ve Been Honest reflects earnestly on her religious upbringing, the pressure of expectations and growing up queer. Recent viral hits like “Fat Funny Friend” and “You Might Not Like Her” address body image and shifting ideals. The candid nature of her music has helped Zahm to foster a community of fans who resonate with her experiences and see themselves in her introspective lyricism – a group that has continued to grow since her appearance on American Idol in 2018.
Ahead of embarking on her upcoming Sad & Sexy Tour, Zahm refocuses her contemplation from her upbringing in Idaho onto the life she is currently living in Los Angeles. Her upcoming EP, The Angry Part, features four songs and will be released in its entirety on March 28.
Zahm’s Jan. 31 single release, “Sheets,” focuses on her feelings of frustration in the wake of a breakup. When paired with soaring backing vocals and a percussive bassline, Zahm’s teasing dejection becomes a prime and relatable example of the disdain one can feel as their ex begins to move on – perhaps sooner than anticipated – after a relationship ends.
On her newest single, “Heaven,” Zahm continues to channel those same feelings of hurt and heartbreak against a beautiful, anthemic sound. Rebuking her ex through religious imagery serves as a clever and moving bridge between the reminiscences that characterize some of her prior work and the direction of her current artistry.
Zahm spoke to The Knockturnal about the build-up towards her EP release and growing in tandem with her fans.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Knockturnal: 2025 is shaping up to be a super awesome year for you. You’re going back on tour and have “Heaven” coming out, which is the third single you’ve released since dropping your album in 2023! Could you tell us where the past year and a half have brought you as an artist?
Maddie Zahm: I feel like so much has happened the last couple of years. When I first became an artist and really realized that I was more than just a songwriter. I think there was a level of – not that I didn’t believe in myself, but maybe feeling like I bamboozled the system. It genuinely felt a little bit like a joke. It’s really been an interesting transition in realizing that this is what I want to do. I’m starting to adjust to the idea of being an artist and owning that. I’m so grateful. I still sometimes feel a little bit like I snuck out of my hometown and somehow became an artist.
The Knockturnal: It shows that people are resonating with your music long term. It must be so rewarding to see, especially when you can interact with fans and perform these songs live.
Zahm: The people that listen to my music are genuinely people that I fuck with. I love them so much. It’s so interesting, I think, because I know the OG people that listen to me and the people that connected with my EP have gone through similar life experiences, and therefore, we have so much in common. I’m so lucky to have such a like-minded group of people. I’m like, “Where the hell were you in high school? We should have hung out.” It’s like a sleepover, but like, through Spotify!
The Knockturnal: You seem to have a really powerful relationship with your fans, where you take care to listen to them and exchange stories. What has your experience been like in fostering these connections both in-person at concerts and online? Is it something that has come naturally?
Zahm: I sometimes have to remind myself that I don’t just have a bunch of online friends. The people who follow me are so respectful and sweet and understand in a way that I can’t even explain, especially when I released my first EP. I release a lot of this stuff like a year after I write it. So by the time I released the EP – where I deconstructed my entire life, basically, my sexuality, religion, and my whole identity – I was kind of at the tail end of acceptance on that. I had written those songs when I was going through it, and then it takes at least eight months for the songs to come out. So it’s really interesting to be on the same journey with so many of my listeners. On my first tour, we all were really deconstructing our sexualities and religion in real time. Then on the next tour, I saw a lot of those people who now have accepted themselves and brought their girlfriends.
The Knockturnal: It’s really interesting to hear you talk about how you might be in a different position when you’re writing these songs than when time passes and you’re performing these live for your fans. There seems to be a really cool progression in terms of your music’s themes. Like on your last record, several songs like “Dani” and “You Might Not Like Her” reflect on your upbringing in Idaho. And then it’s cool to see your more recent releases, like “Sheets,” that speak to your life as you’re living it today. What has your experience been like writing songs when they speak to what is happening more currently to you, rather than reflecting back on memory? Is that something you approach differently?
Zahm: I think I was doing so much internal work when I was writing the EP and the first album that a lot of [the songs] were very introspective. Then I got to a place where I was publicly out, I was really comfortable with my sexuality. I felt really at peace with leaving the church. I feel like when you’ve done work on yourself, and you find the security of “Okay, I now know who I am,” it kind of allows you to not be as introspective anymore and just exist. I got to date and be queer and have experiences as this person that I became. On this next album, of course, there’s still introspection because I’m literally a Pisces, and I think about therapy. I am an emo girl. If I am not melancholy, then I am nothing. But there’s also a lot of songs about just my experiences outside of my own inside work. There are breakup songs. There are angry songs. It’s gonna be interesting to see how my listeners respond.
The Knockturnal: When there’s that span of time that occurs between documenting these emotions through songwriting and when the songs actually get released, do you find that you end up coming back more often to reflect on the circumstances that prompted you to write the songs in the first place?
Zahm: It is so weird. On my last album, there were a few breakup songs, but most of them were kind of for the sake of writing a breakup song. They weren’t deeply personal in the way that my introspective songs were. This was the first time that I wrote “fuck you” songs and had someone at the other end of it. As someone with a guilty conscience, I have immense guilt when I write breakup songs or like songs about other people. It’s weird to move on so much and then have to be releasing breakup songs a year and a half later about something that I don’t even think about often anymore. Being a musician is objectively kind of funny, and I feel like you have to relive emotions that are so not present. Like, on tour, I’m going to be singing “Sheets” like I have thought about it every single day since I wrote it.
The Knockturnal: You spoke about “Sheets” as having come to you in 30 minutes. Could you tell us a little bit about what that process was like? Was it a unique experience for a song to come to you that quickly?
Zahm: Hilariously, I feel like I kind of know when a song is going to come out if I wrote it in less than an hour. It sounds ridiculous, but I feel like my best songs… like “You Might Not Like Her” was the quickest song I’ve ever written. And I feel like anytime we have a demo that I’m obsessed with after an hour or two, I know it’s coming out. And with “Sheets…” What I think is so funny is that I don’t drink when I write at all, even in night sessions. But for “Sheets,” we took two whiskey shots. With that song it makes sense. It feels like two shots of whiskey and the truth.
The Knockturnal: When the process happens so quickly, you’re able to capture, you’re able to capture something more real.
Zahm: When I’m sitting down and having drinks with my friends and something shitty happens, I’m not worried about how I’m saying it. I’m giving them the tea quickly and honestly. I think how I view my listeners is that they don’t want something really refined. I don’t find myself filtering or having to re-say things or rewrite things when I’m telling a close friend about a shitty person, right? I wanted it to feel honest.
The Knockturnal: “Heaven” seems to hold that same sense of anger and turmoil, but explored in a completely different way. Could you tell us a bit about where that song came from?
Zahm: That was the song that I was the most anxious about putting out because it did feel so angry. Like telling someone you’ll hate them from heaven is objectively insane. I wrote that when I was really angry at someone, but then the next week, I felt like I was ready to bury the hatchet. But then this song now exists, right? So it’s an interesting thing. To be equally proud of a song as you are ashamed of it. I just think anger is a funny thing, and it’s a hard thing to feel for me. I think that there’s something so beautiful about allowing yourself to feel an emotion and then change your mind. Queer breakups are horrible, I don’t recommend them to anyone. I think the songs show that it was my first time having a genuine heartbreak with somebody that I really, really loved, and it feels existential.
The Knockturnal: “Heaven” comes across as very cathartic. Is that also something that people can further expect on The Angry Part?
Zahm: These four songs, I chose them specifically because they are pointing at other people… Being raised in the church, I feel like I wasn’t really allowed to feel anything other than forgiveness. Very much “turn the other cheek” vibes. My producer asked: “If you didn’t care about who listened to this song, what would you write about how you’re feeling right now?” And those songs are what happened. There’s a part of me that’s really freaked out about sharing them. I’m worried that people are going to think that I’m mean. But I do believe that as artists, it’s cool to be able to write from a feeling that isn’t permanent. Being able to express a feeling that we are all feeling without it being the full story, and to release that and then change my mind. To have a little time capsule of that feeling, and to also know that I’m not going to stay there, which is why I wanted to call it The Angry Part. It’s just a part of the full story.
Photo Courtesy: Gus Black
