What Madi Diaz knows about love

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Just over a year ago, Madi Diaz was sick with COVID-19 in her apartment close to Dodger Stadium, battling a high fever and other symptoms.

The singer-songwriter from Nashville went to Los Angeles to record a new album, a follow-up to her early 2024 release, “Weird Faith,” which received two Grammy nominations – including one for a poignant duet with Kacey Musgraves. However, after just a few days of recording, she fell ill during the National League Championship Series between the Dodgers and the Mets last October.

She remembers clearly seeing the stadium lights, with drones filling the sky and people celebrating by honking their horns and setting things alight. She was completely bewildered, wondering why this was happening in Los Angeles.

Despite the pain she experienced in her former city, Diaz finished her album, “Fatal Optimist,” which is being released this month. It’s a powerful and honest collection of songs about overcoming heartbreak and finding hope, featuring just Diaz’s voice and acoustic guitar.

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The album kicks off with “Hope Less,” and it really got me thinking – how much would I put up with if someone I loved wasn’t giving me what I needed? Then “Good Liar” dives into the tricky part – how we lie to ourselves to justify staying in a situation that isn’t great. But it’s not all about what’s done to her; she also explores how her own actions have hurt others. Like in “Flirting,” she admits she can’t change the past, acknowledging that something might not have affected her as much as it did the other person. It’s a really honest look at both sides of things.

I was really struck by “Heavy Metal.” It’s such a raw song where she admits that going through a tough breakup actually gave her the strength to know she’ll survive the next one too. It’s almost like she’s accepting that heartbreak is just a part of life, and she’s prepared for it now.

Diaz, 39, explains that making this album was a deeply personal experience, requiring her to fully connect with her physical and emotional self throughout the entire process. She shared this during a recent visit back to Los Angeles.

What’s truly striking about the music’s openness is that “Fatal Optimist” arrives after over fifteen years of a complex career – a career that could easily have made Diaz sound more hardened, but instead, she sounds remarkably fresh.

In addition to releasing six albums, including her latest, “Fatal Optimist” (since moving to Nashville in 2008), she’s a versatile musician who also writes songs for commercials, TV, and artists like Maren Morris and Little Big Town. She’s supported major acts like Miranda Lambert and Parker McCollum as a backup singer, and even toured with Harry Styles in 2023 as a guitarist.

Even in a gentle song like “Feel Something,” where Diaz sings about wanting to be a stranger – someone who doesn’t even know a personal detail like your middle name – her voice carries a sense of pain and vulnerability.

Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, who collaborated with Madi Diaz on her 2023 album “Natural Disaster,” explains that music is essential to Diaz’s life. Cosentino says Diaz creates music because she needs to, making it genuine, honest, and unfiltered – not just another obligation to create an album.

“If she doesn’t put those emotions somewhere,” Cosentino adds, “I think she’ll implode.”

Which doesn’t mean that putting out a record as vulnerable as “Fatal Optimist” hasn’t felt scary.

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In his book, “The Uncool,” the director of the acclaimed film “Almost Famous” reflects on his experiences as a young music journalist.

Diaz chuckles, comparing the situation to the story of the emperor’s new clothes, but quickly adds with a laugh, “I know I’m not naked!” She’s sitting at a picnic table near a café she used to frequent while living in Los Angeles from 2012 to 2017, dressed casually in shorts and a denim shirt with a ball cap covering her hair.

She admitted she regretted not wearing hiking shoes. “I really wanted to hike to the top,” she said. “I definitely would have, especially when I was 28 and up for a challenge. I would have happily hiked in the hottest part of the day.”

Diaz says her album has a very simple, stripped-down sound, influenced by artists like Patty Griffin’s “Living With Ghosts,” which she calls a classic, and, of course, Joni Mitchell’s “Blue.” She describes “Blue” as an obvious and essential inspiration.

Similar to Joni Mitchell, Diaz writes songs with a clear, honest perspective that makes the emotional pain even more powerful. And like Mitchell – and Taylor Swift – she’s able to pinpoint a partner’s flaws with remarkable detail and honesty.

In her song “Why’d You Have to Bring Me Flowers,” and other playfully named “folk diss tracks” on her album “Fatal Optimist,” she sings about frustrating apologies and destructive patterns. One lyric captures this, stating, “Fake smiles hide the truth / We’re going in circles / Stuck in a worsening situation.”

She admits some of the songs on the album came from a place of apology while she was writing them. But once they were finished, she felt it was necessary to express those feelings. With a smile, she says her former partners are strong and will be okay.

When asked if any of her songs capture feelings she couldn’t express to her former partner, she agreed.

She explains she felt like she could only get so close to truly connecting with her partner. It was as if she couldn’t fully express herself or finish her thoughts within the relationship, and that realization made her feel like they couldn’t continue together—or, more specifically, that she couldn’t continue.

Has writing about love taught her anything about herself and what she wants?

I do a lot of traveling – I’m always on the move, which I love because it gives me freedom. But looking back, it’s kind of funny… I think maybe, subconsciously, I was searching for something a bit more… settled, a more traditional relationship. It’s weird, though, because I’m not even sure if I’m capable of that kind of life. It’s a strange realization, honestly.

Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, Diaz was home-schooled in a Quaker family and began playing piano and guitar at a young age. As a teenager, her musical talent led her to the Paul Green School of Rock in Philadelphia. However, the school’s founder was later accused of abuse and sexual misconduct by many former students, including Diaz herself, who described the environment as “a really toxic place” in an interview with the New York Times.

She began her musical journey at Berklee College of Music in Boston, but later moved to Nashville to pursue a career as a country-pop singer-songwriter. After several years of hard work, she decided to move to Los Angeles to explore new opportunities and quickly connected with a supportive community of fellow musicians.

She fondly remembers going to the now-closed Smog Cutter bar in Silver Lake, where they’d enjoy a couple of Bud Lights and sing Mariah Carey, terribly.

Diaz earned money as a songwriter – one of her songs was even featured on the TV show “Nashville” thanks to Connie Britton – but she found it difficult to become a successful artist herself. Looking back, she jokes that the obstacles seemed insurmountable.

On top of dealing with work-related stress, Camila Cabello experienced a difficult breakup with songwriter Teddy Geiger. She explains that Geiger was going through a major personal transformation, coming out as transgender, and that being in the same industry made things complicated. Ultimately, Cabello felt she didn’t fit in anymore.

When Diaz moved back to Nashville, things didn’t take off right away. She remembers working as a bartender at Wilburn Street Tavern, even making nachos for Jack White. “He probably doesn’t recall, but I definitely do,” she says. “I thought, ‘This is just what my life is going to be like now.'”

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A 25-year-old singer-songwriter recently gained popularity with her song ‘Sailor Song,’ and she’s planning to share even more of her music soon.

Honestly, it felt like everything clicked for me in 2021 with my album, “History of a Feeling.” It was a really personal record, inspired by the end of my relationship, and it finally started getting me the recognition I’d been hoping for. I ended up signing with Anti-, which is such a cool label with artists I admire like Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman. Then, unbelievably, Harry Styles actually reached out to me on Instagram – a DM! – and asked me to tour with him. That, combined with becoming a more regular face in Nashville’s songwriting community, felt like a dream come true.

Everyone in town loves Madi, according to Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town. She explains that Madi has a unique ear for melodies. Fairchild admits she sometimes wonders how Madi will incorporate a melody into a song’s phrasing, but Madi always manages to make it work beautifully.

When Diaz began working on “Fatal Optimist,” she first tried recording with a full band. However, she and co-producer Gabe Wax ultimately decided the songs were better suited to a simpler, more stripped-down sound, so they recorded at Wax’s studio in Burbank.

She explains they recorded the music very organically, without using any of the tools that typically help keep things precise – no headphones, no metronome, and no strict timing guides. This allows the music to naturally speed up and slow down, and even drift slightly out of tune, just like a live performance. Interestingly, she found inspiration in a compilation album by the influential riot grrrl band Bikini Kill, praising its raw, unpolished sound – a sense that the band was still discovering their voice.

Diaz admits she strives for perfection, but explains that her album, “Fatal Optimist,” was about accepting flaws and finding beauty in imperfection. She’s proud they allowed the album to embrace that raw honesty.

This fall, she’s performing solo shows in support of her new album, aiming to recreate its intimate feel. She’ll be at the Highland Park Ebell Club on November 20th.

“I don’t know if I’d really thought that through when I made the decision,” she says with a laugh.

Despite being perfectly happy on her own, and knowing another relationship could be difficult, Cameron Diaz says she’s deeply loyal and ultimately still wants to find a meaningful connection with someone.

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2025-10-31 21:32