Madison Rose

Madison Rose is an American singer-songwriter from Cincinnati, Ohio.^[1] She gained recognition with her 2018 debut single "DIAMONDS"^[2] and her 2019 collaboration with Kandy, "Keeping Secrets,"^[3] which charted on Billboard's Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart.^[4] Known for her queer focused artistry and vivid style, she released her debut album TECHNICOLOR in 2022.^[5] Rose has also performed at RuPaul's DragCon^[6] and Boston Pride.^[7]

Madison Rose debuted her career with her single "DIAMONDS", which Billboard described as "only the beginning of 2018 for her".^[2] During the interview with Billboard, Rose said her inspirations for her music came from Dolly Parton and Beyonce, and how important it was for her to create a safe space where people could feel safe.^[2]

In 2019, Rose collaborated with DJ and producer Kandy on the single "Keeping Secrets,"^[3] released through Thrive and Capitol Records. The single gained over 15 million streams across all platforms.^[7] The single also charted on the Billboard Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart.^[4] The track debuted on June 22, 2019, and peaked at number 29 on July 6, 2019, and spent a total of four weeks on the chart.^[4] Rose told Billboard she did not knew much about Kandy before the collaboration, in fact, when she saw him on Diplo's Instagram story, she was not expecting much.^[3] The lyrics for the song were originally written by Rose, who wrote about a relationship that never materialized.^[3] While Kandy told Billboard that the song spoke to him about the experience of being closeted.^[3]

In 2020 Rose released another single, "Rainbow Phone" which was received with excitement on TikTok.^[8] In a song review article, Earmilk described Madison Rose as having an "elegant style with modern day flare."^[8] Rose also told Earmilk how deeply inspired by rap culture.^[8]

Her fourth single, "Sunshine", was released in 2021. To celebrate it, she decided to do her first drag performance at a local dive, called the Offbeat Bar.^[9] Rolling Stone described the single as "The sonic embodiment of strutting down a drag-show runaway." Its loud, unabashed and bursting with optimism.^[9] She also told Rolling Stone that a record label executive allegedly told her to expect a "complete shit show" if she tried to release "Sunshine".^[9]

In 2022 she finally released her debut album, TECHNICOLOR. The album came out in two editions. The regular edition counted with eleven singles, while the deluxe edition had four singles more.^[5] In an interview with Paper, Rose explained how the album was originally made for a label deal, but due to unknown circumstances it was pulled from her in the 11th hour.^[5] She also explained how the most difficult part for her as an independent artist was her limited budget, being creative and having all these ideas having to figure it out how to work it with a "nickel and a prayer".^[5] The same year after the album was released, Rose performed on the main stage of RuPaul's DragCon LA, she was brough out by Morgan McMichaels.^[6] She described DragCon as being "Eye Opening" for her, because it placed her hard work into perspective.^[6]

In 2023 Rose was headline for the Boston Pride for The people, she performed at the Boston pride event on Saturday June 10, 2023, on the Boston Common stage.^[7] The same year, Spotify partnered up with Rose and Lennon Stella to perform special covers of the song "True Colors" from Cyndi Lauper to celebrate Lauper's 70th birthday.^[10] Rose's cover had her touch of club remix. While working on this project she also had the opportunity to connect with one of the original writers of "True Colors", Billy Steinberg. She also went on to say how meeting Steinberg was a big thing for her, and how much Lauper inspired her career and her music.^[10] Also in 2023, she released the single "GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS."^[11] The track producer for "GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS", Arthur Besna, also produced the single "BoysBoysBoys" for Binoy which also dropped in 2023. The producer "begged" them to do a remix between the two of them, which Rose agreed on, and hopped on it exploring her pansexuality through the special feature.^[12] Their feature dropped in 2024 named "BoysBoysBoys With Madison Rose."^[12] Rose told Paper that the first time she heard "BoysBoysBoys" she described it as a banger right away, and how she loved that Binoy was drawing from personal experience as a gay man.^[12] While Binoy described his experience when listening to "GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS" in the studio with Besna as "how crazy would it be if we did a collaboration of BoysBoysBoys meets GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS."^[12]

In 2024 Rose released her single "Panavision" which she described as how she sees the world through her lenses as a "Black queer woman".^[13] The music video had quick glances of American flags which showed Rose political view in America. "I don't subscribe to our government's vision of America" said Rose to Paper.^[13]

All Credits adapted from Apple Music and Spotify.^[14][15]

• Monochrome: The White Album (2025 Upcoming)
• TECHNICOLOR: The Full Spectrum (2022)
• TECHNICOLOR (2022)

• HAUS! (2024)