Madison Beer has been in the public eye for so long that it’s easy to forget her career began when she was merely a teenager. After being discovered online, she spent over a decade exploring various styles of pop music. On her third studio album, “locket,” released Jan. 16, Beer focuses more on sharing emotions she relates to rather than trying to prove herself. Her honest lyrics make the album stand out, especially for listeners wrestling with their own feelings about attachment.
“Locket” follows up on Beer’s 2023 album “silence between songs,” which showed a clear move toward more thoughtful songwriting. Rather than moving away from that direction, “locket” builds on it, treating romance as something carried around without resolution. Beer repeatedly returns to relationships that linger longer than they should, framing love as a coping mechanism. Shifting between feeling in control and falling apart, she traces this tension across 11 songs.
“locket theme”
As the opening track, “locket theme” sets a calm tone for the album. The song uses a locket as a symbol for memories kept safe and suggests that heartbreak is best handled gently rather than with drama. Beer shows how distance can bring emotional clarity, especially in the chorus when she sings, “everything that I could ever need is within me.” This line marks a transition from seeking approval from others toward finding self-reliance. With this song, Beer starts an album that is less about romantic endings and more about finding inner balance.
“yes baby”
On “yes baby,” Madison Beer uses flirtation to show confidence, repeating lines in the chorus to maintain composure instead of just giving in. The song’s structure makes desire something she chooses and gets on her own terms. Her lyrics, with whispered lines and talk of a “dangerous kind of crush,” present intimacy as a careful risk, where being sure of herself matters more than being vulnerable. By putting herself at the center, Beer changes the usual pop story, making others work for her approval. The production features beats that keep the energy high but never reach a big climax, letting the tension drive the song. “Yes baby” stands out because it holds back, proving that restraint can make a song even more interesting.
“angel wings”
Beer’s “angel wings” come across as a personal ritual where she lets go of the past and opens up to new beginnings in her relationships. She describes heartbreak as dressing in “all black” and calls her former lover “dead to me.” Beer doesn’t say this to exaggerate her loss, but to show she’s ready to move on. It’s as if both people are carrying their own disappointments until they find clarity. The artist compares the hope she once had to the calm that follows acceptance. She says letting go is “easier pretending you have angel wings,” turning grief into motivation that helps her move forward without more pain. The song’s R&B-inspired sound adds to this sense of growing strength.
“for the night”
“For the night” takes a bold turn away from the sense of closure found earlier in the album and shows how quickly resolve can turn into loneliness. After the finality of “angel wings,” this song explores how distance can sometimes feel even harder than separation. Beer doesn’t offer healing or lasting answers. Instead, she looks for temporary comfort, even if it leads to complications. The lyrics about being “put back together” suggest that intimacy is just a short-term fix rather than a real solution. The song’s acoustic base and gentle drums create a mood that feels intimate. “For the night” sits in an emotional limbo, indicating that sometimes just getting by matters more than having all the answers.
“bad enough”
In “bad enough,” Beer explores why someone might stay in a relationship that never truly ends yet also never feels right. She says she’s “taken but it’s holding me back” and admits that being alone feels scarier than being unhappy with her partner. The song returns to this idea, demonstrating that the relationship isn’t satisfying but still feels safe. When she repeats that it’s “not bad enough to let my baby go,” it sounds like she’s trying to convince herself to stay. The soft harmonies make the song feel stuck. Rather than giving an answer, the song captures the quiet fear that comes with choosing someone you’re used to rather than someone new.
“healthy habit”
Both in sound and lyrics, “healthy habit” picks up where “bad enough” left off. The theme of missing a former partner runs through “locket,” but here, Beer thinks about trying to restart the relationship, which is different from what she expresses in the fourth track, “for the night.” Her sadness is so strong that she feels she must give in to it, choosing to risk things not working out rather than not trying at all. This is seen especially as she admits it’s “not a healthy habit,” likening her attachment to “smoking in the kitchen and romanticizing you.” That inner conflict repeats throughout the song as she repeatedly questions herself as she sings, “and I wonder if it’s worth doing it again.” As usual, Beer shows off her vocal range with quick octave shifts and high notes, all set against production that matches the bittersweet mood of the song’s lyrics.
“you’re still everything”
In the seventh track of “locket,” “you’re still everything,” Beer makes it clear she can’t see her ex-partner again, no matter how she feels. The song’s lyrics and production both carry a melancholy tone, and Beer’s vocals show how isolated she feels from someone she still loves, even though that love isn’t requited anymore, as she says in the line “I only exist in the moments you’re talking to me.” Her longing is paired with resignation as she confesses that if they can’t be together, she’ll “just go back to sleep.” Her storytelling stands out across the whole project, but it’s especially strong in this song, where she questions how she could mean so little to someone who still means everything to her. The sense of betrayal from a love no longer mutual is the heart of the song.
“bittersweet”
The musicians behind “bittersweet” work together to transform what would typically be a complementary production element—bass guitar chords—into an alt-pop synth that becomes the main focus of the overall sound. The choice pairs naturally with Beer’s writing skills, particularly with the main line of this track, “I know I should be bitter, but baby right now I’m bittersweet.” She channels her feelings about her past relationship throughout the album up to this point and uses the most fitting term to express feeling both certain and unsure about breaking up with her partner. The music video adds another layer of intrigue, featuring Sean Kaufman, known for playing Steven in “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” which helped garner attention for the track before its release. Following the song’s release, some listeners pointed out similarities between it and Ariana Grande’s “twilight zone,” which came out shortly before. This sparked online controversy. Thankfully, “bittersweet” lives up to the buzz.
“complexity”
Rather than easing in gently, the ninth track, “complexity,” immediately immerses listeners in a layered soundscape built from distorted vocal effects, making the song feel more like a sci-fi film soundtrack than a standard pop song. Beer recognizes the many flaws her past significant other displayed throughout their relationship, which is what led to their end and helped her realize why there is little chance it could ever resume again. This realization comes through most clearly when she asks, “How can I expect you to love me, when you don’t even love yourself?” reframing the breakup as an issue of emotional immaturity. She also turns inward, acknowledging her own patterns as she admits to having a tendency to stay with people who leave. With someone as toxic as that, she points out that this was a person not meant to be in relationships because of their selfishness.
“make you mine”
Serving as the lead single and penultimate track of “locket,” “make you mine” catapulted Beer even further into the album’s emotional core. More vocal effects, such as sampling and chopping, are used in production, which drew the attention of hundreds of millions of listeners to the track, alongside its nonstop, nightlife-esque beats. Beer’s vocals lean fully into desire and fixation, repeating her need to “feel the rush” and “taste the crush” as she sings about wanting someone she’s been longing for and making them hers. The song expands that emotion throughout the album and echoes the messages of other tracks like “yes baby” and “for the night.”
“nothing at all”
Closing out “locket,” “nothing at all” is a piano ballad that pairs with the recurring synths heard throughout the album, and a large part of Beer’s signature sound. The song carries a reflective weight, with Beer admitting she’s “afraid of getting better” and recognizing that happiness feels fragile and short-lived, especially in the line “the higher you rise, the further you fall.” Halfway through the song, a fast tempo beat is added, making it the perfect end to a record like this. It brings together all the primary components of the project into a closer that represents the album both sonically and emotionally while still standing out in the track list.
With “locket,” Madison Beer continues to refine a sound that feels more confident and deliberate. Her album explores emotional themes that see vulnerability as a constant rather than something to perform. “Locket” marks Beer’s ongoing growth as an artist.
