.png)
Written by: Lauren Sanchez | October 6, 2022
Maggie Lindemann, the singer best known for her 2016 viral pop hit “Pretty Girl”, just released her debut studio album SUCKERPUNCH in mid-September. Coming off from the 2021 release of her debut EP PARANOIA, Lindemann creates an edgier vibe for her music– a sound that dedicates itself to the golden age of pop-punk and resonates more authentically with who she is as an artist. And SUCKERPUNCH is no exception.
Released on September 16, the album contains previously heard singles like “how could you do this to me?” featuring Sleeping With Sirens’ Kellin Quinn, “break me!” with Siiickbrain, and “self sabotage.” Taking control of the reins on her own career and having full creative control over the music she creates, Lindeman is not afraid of the transition from bubblegum pop to pop-punk and alternative rock genre and proudly embraces the sound.
Especially with the rock/alternative scene still being a heavily male-dominated industry, Lindemann thinks this is an opportunity for her to give credit to the women who paved the way for female artists:
“I think being a woman in rock music is so cool. I mean, we have Gwen Stefani, Evanescence, Paramore, Garbage. There’s so many people that were women leading bands. Women were in the forefront. I think that I have a lot of really cool people to look up to. It’s hard at times. I struggle at times because it is such a male-dominated genre and sometimes I feel like people don’t give credit where maybe potential credit is due. I think it’s cool and I enjoy it a lot, and I have a lot of really cool women to look up to. It’s really cool to be able to follow in their footsteps or at least try to.”
Lindemann wants listeners to hear the growth of her artistry in SUCKERPUNCH and hopes that her listeners can relate to the progression of many emotions within the album: “I hope people can just see the evolution of myself and hear the growth in my writing and in production and everything. When I make music, it’s like a kind of therapy. I just want people to be able to relate and feel like they have someone that understands them and just have that song that if they’re going through something or if they’re having a good day, they have a song on the album they can just put on and not worry about anything else,” Lindemann shares.
When asked about which song on the album would be the most reflective of her new era in music, Lindemann was quick to answer with the track “self sabotage”– one of the songs that she considered to be the quickest to write:
“I really like “self sabotage” because it has like breakdowns with all the glitches and stuff. I’m like obsessed with glitches, I want to do way more stuff with that. I’m really proud of that song. I’m proud of the lyrics. I’m proud of the production, proud of everything.”
Measuring success for Lindemann is all about being proud of the work and music she creates: “I try not to really pay too much attention to views or streams or anything like that because I don’t wanna compare my careers with anyone. Everyone moves at a different rate, so I think it’s not fair to ever do that. To me, success just feels like when I feel proud of myself,”
The music industry is no joke, especially to aspiring musicians, and Lindemann has learned from the brutalness of it. Advising those who want to start in the industry, Lindemann said“building a reputation and a catalog” is a key step before reaching out to labels. However, Lindemann preaches having creative independence and control over the music you make should be extremely important:
“When I did get signed, it was kind of like I got pushed into doing stuff I didn’t really wanna do, and I kind of just listened to everyone. And I think it’s really important to not do that and to believe in yourself and being independent is cool. It’s super cool to be able to do that yourself, and if you’re able to do it, do it for as long as you can. I think the most important thing is to listen to yourself and don’t let people sway you off of what you think is cool. Don’t make music for anyone else other than yourself.”
This fall, Lindemann is headline shows in L.A. and NYC to perform the new album, to which all the shows sold out in under two minutes. “Honestly anytime something like that happens to me, it feels very unreal,” Lindemann said. “It’s always been really hard just for me to believe, especially because we’ve been in a pandemic for the past two years. When I dropped PARANOIA, we were in a pandemic, so I really didn’t get to see the full potential of what it was. So, whenever stuff like that happens, it’s always just really hard for me to believe it because I haven’t seen it in person. It was crazy.”
Lindemann is more than excited to see people in the crowd, do her own show and above all else, perform SUCKERPUNCH.
