Mads Sayce
Photo Cred: Mads Sayce
4th October 2023
Mads Sayce, the multi-talented musician and dancer from Dundee has released her first jazz single, 'Why You Cry’.
Delving deep, Mads took inspiration from those who have done her wrong: ‘Before I walk away, I secretly hope that instead of being a brief moment to someone they reflect and cry inside. In the end I realise that that is too good to be true as lack of self-awareness means I am never why they cry.’
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Photo Cred: Tamara Egea Ferguson & Mads Sayce
This particular single experiments with a bluesy vocal style and jazz feel, adding to her eclectic range of styles. Mads reveals each song she writes is distinct but is usually danceable and explores issues that relate to her generation: ‘My music doesn’t fit into one box of emotions or genres. My songs are uniquely structured and I would say unpredictable.’
When it comes to production and dancing, Mads’ is heavily influenced by K-Pop artists such as Blackpink, NewJeans, BTS and TripleS as well as K-Pop instrumentals and movie soundtracks. Outside of Korean culture, Mads highlights Bruno Mars, known for his diverse range of musical styles: 'I really admire Bruno Mars writing as well as his dancing abilities and performance charisma. I aspire to write a song like him one day.’
'My songs are uniquely structured and I would say unpredictable’
Mads' musical journey began at the age of 3 when she was given a violin for her birthday, having started dancing the year previous: ‘Both my parents are musicians so I grew up in a very musical household.’
This progressed onto piano, classical singing and musical theatre before honing in on her passion of songwriting: ‘I knew from age 5 that I wanted to be a musician. I wrote my first song when I was 12, I think I knew that I wanted songwriting and producing to be part of my future.’ In doing so, Mads studied sound production from the age of 15 which allowed her to enhance her song writing skills.
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Unlike most songwriters, Mads begins with the instrumental rather than the lyrics, a trait she feels has been influenced by her classical music background. The process has become very spontaneous: ‘I will hear an obscure instrument, stumble upon an effect or hear a sample and decide to write a whole song based on it.’ Her song, ‘Livin Through’ is a perfect example, having been inspired entirely by hearing chimes.
Photo Cred: Tamara Egea Ferguson & Mads Sayce
The lyrics also tend to be impromptu, meaning Mads will not have a set idea of what the song will be about. Instead, more focus is put on the general mood and genre: ‘This is where my lyric wall comes in… it is a wall of brain splurging with words and phrases that I add to over a period of time which I then piece together to form different sections of the song.’
Mads is ‘no stranger’ to the stage, having represented Scotland on the violin through various prestigious orchestras including the National Youth Orchestra and the Junior Conservatoire of Scotland: ‘Playing with like-minded people of my age really ignited my passion for orchestral playing.’ Mads then returned to the Conservatoire to study BA Music Performance.
'I will hear an obscure instrument, stumble upon an effect and decide to write a whole song based on it'
It might be surprising however, that Mads did not perform one of her own songs until 2022. Her first vocal performance was in a student production where she sang ‘Rain On Your Parade.’ Mads was ‘uncharacteristically nervous’ but felt incredibly supported by her peers: ‘When I came off stage someone in my year group said, “so this is what you love to do?”. My mother didn’t even need to ask how it went as she could tell by the smile on my face.’ From here, Mads began to combine her love for singing and producing.
Currently, her new single is underworks alongside the choreography for the music video. Described as an ‘upbeat sister’ to ‘Why You Cry’ - we can’t wait to hear it!
By Karina Caulfield