A lot has changed for Maddie Poppe since she won American Idol in 2018. The singer-songwriter dropped an album, afterwhich the label dropped her, released Christmas music and toured the country.
In the meantime Maddie has grown as an artist. While fans knew her as a folk/Americana singer on American Idol season 16, she is moving in new musical directions by releasing the bubbly pop song “One That Got Away.”
Maddie Poppe: Losing American Idol Record Deal “Shook Me”
“I wrote this song after a very good friend of mine went through a break up and it was very sudden and out of the blue,” Maddie shared on the Backstage Pass podcast. “Didn’t make any sense at the time. Obviously she was heartbroken.”
As Maddie and her friend talked through the breakup, she realised that her pal was going to be just fine. “This wasn’t going to shake her in the end,” said Maddie. “But she was so obviously devastated about it right away. It’s funny when I wrote [the song] last July, now that it’s being released a little under a year later, she’s in a very good spot. She is The One That Got Away.”
“I’m telling my own story”
Maddie explained how she had 46 days to write and record her post-Idol album, Whirlwind. While she understood that after winning Idol, she needed to take advantage of the momentum and work quickly. But the tight deadlines meant she’d have to record songs she either didn’t write or only co-write. Now that she’s an independent recording artist, Maddie explains that “the difference this time around, is that I’m telling my own story.”
Also fans will note that the new song is a straight up pop song, similar to the kind of music an artist like Dua Lipa is releasing.
“The new stuff is totally different, not anything like I was doing on [Idol].” Maddie added, “I think it’s been a really important past couple of years for me. I’ve really grown a lot and discovered who I am and the kind of music I want to put out.
Listen to Maddie Poppe’s upbeat One That Got Away
Maddie will appear on “The Great Idol Reunion” 20th anniversary special with a slew of other alums, including her boyfriend, Caleb Lee Hutchinson. Caleb finished season 16 as the runner-up. During their run on the show, the two became a couple. Maddie and Caleb will perform a duet.
ABC already filmed the special. “I’m so excited to be going back to Idol,” Madie told the podcast. “…being back on that stage was unreal…so cool. It brought back a flood of memories I was not prepared for, but so happy to experience again.”
Maddie has also announced a short summer tour that begins on June first in Atlanta, Georgia and finished in Ogunquit, Maine on June 12. Tickets and more info at MaddiePoppe.com.
