Juliana Madrid - “Big Plans”
Photo by Josefine Cardoni
Texas-based singer-songwriter Juliana Madrid appears on our blog today with “Big Plans,” the second single from her upcoming, sophomore EP.
“Big Plans” begins with a lo-fi electric guitar atop what appears to be some city street foley, immediately piquing the listener’s interest. Seconds later, the song bursts into its full production, with Madrid’s vocal confidently taking the spotlight. This future indie pop star has the type of voice that we at the blog are very into at the moment– a sort of Soccer Mommy-Phoebe Bridgers kind of vibe, strewn across a lovely instrumental of upbeat goodness.
Madrid layers her harmonies very delicately, adding a magical element to the vocal delivery– a prize that we find ourselves hoping each submission will ultimately reveal. If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million times: vocal harmonies will turn an already great song into one that folks will immediately add to playlists. The call and response vocals during the refrain are truly divine and the dynamic shift between verse and chorus is bound to completely kill it in a live setting.
“Big Plans” has a distinct retro ‘80s feel, with all of the aptitude of modern indie pop music. It’s no wonder that Madrid has been signed to Neon Gold Records and you can catch her on tour with Joe P.
About the track, Madrid adds: “Big Plans was one of those miracle out-of-thin-air-ideas that happens pretty much never for me and artists alike. It’s like my subconscious had been working on it for weeks, and was just waiting for me to play the right chord progression. Once I found it the core melodies and lyrics came out of me like a magic fountain. Immediately I put it into my voice memos and continued to edit it with my producer Ben Ruttner. This is also the song I think that made me fall in love with the sound of the MS20. I am obsessed."
-TM