Today, the 22 year-old Dallas, Texas born, New York dwelling Juliana Madrid shares the cover track “Let Go” (Frou Frou), the first new song since her sophomore Afterlife EP release on Neon Gold Records.
Juliana “Jules” Madrid says: “Imogen Heap has been an inspiration to me for a while now, but I heard Let Go years ago in the movie Garden State and fell in love with it. There’s so much going on in the song which creates such a sick effect, but with my version I wanted to strip it back to the basic chords and cool ambient sounds. I didn’t want to go full acoustic guitar vibe, so you will be hearing some synth and a bit of omni chord and occasional bleep bloops. I wanted this to remain as epic as possible while still making it my own.”
After releasing “Trackstar”, co-written with GRAMMY-nominated talents Benjamin Ruttner (of The Knocks), and Matthew Koma (Zedd, Carly Rae Jepsen, Shania Twain etc), she finally released the new collection of songs followed by a west coast tour supporting SAINT MOTEL and played her first festival performance at the sold out All Things Go Festival alongside alt-fem legends Lana Del Rey, boygenius, MUNA, Ethel Cain etc.
After releasing her self-titled debut EP on Neon Gold Records in 2022, she returned this year with a more expansive, deeper sound on “Afterlife”, with lyrics “Hey! I’m not great but I might be alright. So kiss my perfect afterlife goodbye”. See “Jules” in her official music video HERE.
Juliana combines elements of folk, alt, and pop to write sardonic, coming-of-age tales that are relatable yet uniquely her. Madrid started in music at the young age of 9, learning guitar at the encouragement of her parents. Soon after, she enrolled in a local program called School of Rock. There, she began to find her voice while realizing she also had a knack for songwriting, using music as a creative outlet to express herself.
Since then, Juliana and her guitar [which she named “Earl”] have been inseparable, working tirelessly to refine her craft. In August of 2022, she released her self-titled EP. Written by Juliana and produced by GRAMMY-nominated artist Benjamin Ruttner [of The Knocks], the EP explores themes of relationships, religion, and the existentialist feeling associated with growing up. With additional instrumentation from the likes of Griffin Goldsmith [Dawes] and Matt Chamberlain [David Bowie, Pearl Jam], the EP received critical praise from the likes of UPROXX, V Magazine, and The Line of Best Fit. Gorilla vs. Bear listed it as one of the best EP’s of 2022. Additionally, the lead single, “Pretend” was featured in the hit Netflix movie “Do Revenge,” resulting in more than 20k Shazams in one week.
