Bio

As she celebrates the release of her label-debut EP, Turn Off All The Lights, Haven Madison reflects on a pivotal conversation she had with her dad, Grammy nominated Jason Roy – lead singer of Building 429 — when she was just 12. At a Chik-Fil-A in her hometown of Clarksville, TN, she told him she wanted to follow in his footsteps and pursue a musical career. Jason asked, “On a scale from one to 10, how bad do you want it?” When she replied “Eight,” he said, “Talk to me again when it’s 11.” 

Just four years later, Haven’s passion for singing and dedication to hard work resulted in an extraordinary run into the Top 8 of American Idol Season 21, beginning with an audition featuring her heartfelt original song, “Fifteen,” that blew away judges Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, and her longtime idol, Katy Perry. One of the great highlights of Haven’s time on the show was her season finale viral duet with Perry on “Still Need You,” the poignant ballad Haven wrote about her brother Avery’s battle against depression and suicide. 

“Sitting across from Katy and singing with her was surreal, because growing up, my brother and I were obsessed with her and even made our own video for ‘Roar’,” the 18-year-old Haven says. “I got such amazing feedback on that song, including from some who said it kept them alive. It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to create music that makes people feel less alone. I’m happy to say that Avery is doing very well. He’s ridiculously talented and he’s now my drummer.” 

Fueled by her success on Idol, Haven immediately returned to Nashville to get to work on a fresh batch of songs, including the five she shares on the EP. With the release of “Sky Up,” her first track from the EP, the song was co-written and produced by Dave Pittenger – co-writer of the Grammy nominated Gayle song “ABCDEFU” – the intensely emotional, piano driven ballad reflects the trademark personal, no holds barred confessional songwriting that infuses the entire EP. “‘Sky Up’ was one of those songs that came together as if it were always in my bones waiting to be discovered,” says Haven. “From the moment I listened to the demo till now, it continues to move me like no other song I have written. In the past, I always struggled with vulnerability and put walls up to protect myself from being judged and criticized. Music became the outlet for me to express the things I couldn’t say. What I was afraid to say out loud, I could share in song. When I sang ‘Still Need You’ on TV, that was my breakthrough where I finally felt brave enough to sing my inner truths.”

The EP title, Turn Off All The Lights, comes from a key line in her piano driven song “Claw Marks,” the track Haven credits for changing everything as far as her label 19 Recordings/BMG’s perception of her potential as an artist, shifting the mentality of the release structure and adding a sense of belief in her. She sings: “When they turn out all the lights, you go home and you’ll be fine/I’m the only one who can’t escape.” The imagery extends to her feeling that once the proverbial lights were turned off on her Idol journey, with the pressures and filters off, so to speak, it was time to get to work on getting in the studio, writing songs, and developing her artistry.

The two other co-writes with Pittenger are the explosive, lyrically incisive “Kiss the Ground” and the dark, edgy anthem “Monster.” “Kiss the Ground” is something of a personal take on the “Mean Girls” aesthetic, with Haven blasting those who constantly criticize her out of jealousy and spite, reminding them how hard she works for everything she has and how diminished they are when they level up to her. “Monster” is a fiery confession that yes, she’s to blame for the breakup of a relationship – but so is the party claiming innocence is the one who made her lose control. “How You Like Me Now,” a co-write by Haven, Eric Arjes and Mary Cutter, is a playful track addressing those who have knocked her down in the past – including an ex’s mom who didn’t like the lyrics of her songs. Now that she’s thriving, she defiantly asks them the title question, as if to say, your nastiness only made me stronger.

Growing up on the road as the daughter of a touring artist, Haven enjoyed a fascinating, offbeat childhood in which she says she “lived on a tour bus for the first seven years of my life” and was homeschooled on the road. She has fond memories of riding her bright pink razor scooter alongside her brother in parking lots and playgrounds around the churches and arenas. To this day, she claims she sleeps more soundly on a bus than in her own bed at home. She started singing as soon as she could make noise with her mouth, and felt like her creative life started when, upon learning to use a pen for the first time, she wrote a song about Santa Claus.

Committed to making sure his kids grew up knowing music, her father educated her on classic rock, from Billy Joel and ZZ Top to Spin Doctors, Foo Fighters, Hall & Oates, and Rob Thomas. Her mom, Cortini, whom the singer calls “the peacekeeper who adds normalcy to this family adventure,” got her into Mariah Carey, and British singer Rag’n’Bone Man. On the bus, Haven was always listening to Katy, Olivia, and older Taylor Swift songs. She also loves Sabrina Carpenter and sees a little of herself in country singer Megan Moroney. 

“I had a lot of diverse influences, but you could always tell what my future genre would be by the way my eyes lit up when pop music blasted out of the bus speakers,” says Haven. “The most important goal in my career is that I continue to make music that makes people feel something – even if it’s bad. It’s like the Lumineers once sang in ‘Stubborn Love,’ ‘It’s better to feel pain than nothing at all.’”