If you were lucky enough to get yourself a ticket for Madison Beer’s sold out show this past Tuesday at Theatre of Living Arts (and if you had the foresight to show up a little early for the direct support slot), you’ve already heard Maggie Lindemann’s latest single, “She Knows It,” which just officially dropped hours ago. Although Lindemann entered the music world as a teen pop star, in recent years she’s reestablished herself as an icon of teen angst who looks and sounds straight off of the mainstage of Warped Tour 2002. She’s collaborated with the likes of Travis Barker, Kellin Quinn, and Chase Atlantic, and her PARANOIA EP, released earlier this year, boasts hyper-moody power pop begging to be blasted inside of Alternative Press-plastered walls of suburban bedrooms across the world. Keeping with that lovely trajectory, “She Knows It” (which you can see and hear below) transports us to the wonderfully wild world of queer love amongst your favorite high school mall goth clique. Earlier this week I got to chance to chat with Maggie about her latest vibes and how she’s enjoying being an alternative badass.
Izzy Cihak: Your first official release, the PARANOIA EP, dropped earlier this year. Have you had any favorite reactions to it?
Maggie Lindemann: My overall favorite reaction has been from new fans and from my peers. Seeing people that weren’t fans before become fans and have people I’ve listened to growing up reach out and tell me they loved the EP. It’s had such a good response all around, I’m super thankful.
Izzy: You just kicked off a tour with Madison Beer. How have those dates gone so far? The two of you kind of seem like perfect tour partners.
Maggie: They’ve gone really well! The beginning of a tour is always the transitional period so it’s been getting better every show.
Izzy: What can be expected of your live show on this tour?
Maggie: A lot of energy. Please get up and jump with me, lol.
Izzy: I understand that you have a new track, “She Knows It,” that drops October 29th. What can fans expect of the track?
Maggie: Big gay vibes.
Izzy: This is a really huge question, but what have been some of the highlights of your career? Despite still being relatively young, you’ve been at this for a while and achieved quite a bit, in addition to just getting to play and record alongside some pretty amazing people.
Maggie: There’s been so many. The show I did in Norway, releasing my EP, working with Kellin Quinn, shooting with Rolling Stone, finally feeling freedom to be who I wanna be and create what I want, becoming friends with people I’ve always idolized.
Izzy: On a related note, is there anybody that you dream of one day collaborating with or getting to share a stage with?
Maggie: It was always Kellin and now I have a song with him, haha. So that’s insane. Probably Dance Gavin Dance, Bring Me the Horizon, Avril Lavigne, Hayley Williams.
Izzy: This is another really big question but, is there anything you think is especially important for fans to know about you, whether relating to your background or your aim as an artist? You’ve sort of transitioned from the world of pop to something a little more edgy, alternative, and heavy in recent years.
Maggie: Hmmmm, not anything necessarily about me but I guess just never feel like you can’t change. I felt so stuck in who I was and I thought it was too late to be myself but it’s never too late to be who you want to be.
Izzy: I’ve heard that your favorite era of music is the alt rock of the early 2000s, so I’m curious what are some of your favorite albums, whether things that fall under that umbrella, or more recent stuff that you’ve been digging?
Maggie: One of my earliest memories of my favorite albums were The Sickness by Disturbed and Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt. Also Away From the Sun by 3 Doors Down, Dirt by Alice in Chains. I grew up on a lot of dad rock, haha. But when I got into it on my own it was AM by Arctic Monkeys, Suicide Season by Bring Me the Horizon, Let’s Cheers to This by Sleeping with Sirens, El Camino by The Black Keys, Riot! by Paramore… I could go on forever.
Izzy: Finally, not to detract from your music, but you also have really amazing style. What is it that that draws inspiration from? Do you have any particularly significant style icons?
Maggie: I take inspo from the 2000/2010s a lot and kinda mix that with modern stuff. Taylor Momsen is a big inspo on this tour for me, I always loved her tour outfits. Avril Lavigne, Amy Lee, my friends inspire my style. IDK, I’m always inspired by fashion all around me.
Izzy: Okay, one more, but it’s really just a second part to the last question: Is there anything that you’d love to see fans wear out to your shows? I imagine most of your fans have pretty great style as well.
Maggie: I love when I see people wearing Swixxz, my brand. That always makes me smile. But nah, wear whatever you want. I get happy seeing people expressing themselves freely. So be yourself.
