My Ears Through the Years with Madeline Chapman
It’s time for another instalment of My Ears Through the Years! The series where we ask amazing individuals in the industry to soundtrack their life in music. The bops, the bangers, the belters, and everything in between.
Up next with their mixtape is freelance agency producer, the brilliant Madeline Chapman. With over a decade of experience in production at agencies such as Saatchi&Saatchi, Creature, BBH, and Wieden+Kennedy, along with three years as executive producer at post house OkayStudio, Madeline was also named in the Inaugural Pitch 100 Superwomen. But what’s playing in a freelance producer’s headphones? Let’s find out…
Q> Hi Madeline! Tell us, what is your first memory of music…
Madeline> I was obsessed with Mary Poppins as a young child and the music has always stayed with me. These days I can’t listen to ‘Let’s Go Fly a Kite’ without bawling. The whole score and soundtrack is a masterpiece.
Q> Your first gig?
Madeline> I think* it was The Eagles with my parents at Wembley. I must have been about 10? Don Henley’s voice still gives me chills. (*It may have actually been Steps...)
Q> What’s the first song that comes into your head at any given moment…
Madeline> ‘Martha, My Dear’ by The Beatles. We named our daughter after the song and since she was born it’s never been far from my mind.
Q> A song you grew up with…
Madeline> ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’. I remember going on holiday to Devon with my parents and grandparents. There was a piano in the house we were staying in and I found the sheet music for that song and proceeded to teach myself how to play it over the course of the week. I would highly recommend ‘The Harmony Game’ documentary for fellow Simon and Garfunkel fans.
Q> Your dancefloor anthem…
Madeline> So many. We had a lot of fun making the playlist for our wedding. I’ll go for Aretha Franklin - Rock Steady. Oh! Or ‘Stand on the Word’ by the Joubert Singers (Larry Levan Mix).
Q> Your go-to karaoke track…
Madeline> It’s got to be a duet - George Michael & Elton John – ‘Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me’
Q> Your musical guilty pleasure...
Madeline> I have always loved ‘Y.M.C.A’ and I will never apologise for it.
Q> A song that reminds you of home, family, or friends…
Madeline> ‘Life During Wartime’ by Talking Heads. Actually anything from their album ‘Stop Making Sense’, but crucially, the live version. I used to love watching the concert film with my Dad and copying David Byrne’s dance moves.
Q> How has your musical taste evolved…
Madeline> I never used to give any sort of jazz the time of day, but I’ve recently been enjoying Duke Ellington’s ‘Reflections in D’. I would love to be able to play the piano like that. ‘The Charlie Brown Christmas Album’ by Vince Guaraldi trio is a Christmas staple in our house now, along with ‘A Very Swingin’ Basie Christmas’ by Count Basie & his Orchestra.
Q> A song you wish you wrote…
Madeline> Self Esteem – ‘I Do This All the Time’. I think Rebecca Lucy Taylor has written an anthem for our time, that I know resonates with so many women of my generation. Some of the lyrics in that song reflect such specific experiences, and yet it manages to be somehow universal and completely relatable. I would love to be able to write like that.
Q> Your unpopular musical opinion…
Madeline> I may never work in advertising again after admitting this but I’m sorry, I just can’t get on board with Radiohead.
Q> An artist you think is underrated…
Madeline> Is Sampha underrated? If he is, then Sampha. We saw him a couple of weeks ago at Alexandra Palace and he put on such a brilliant show. Ghetts, Jessie Ware and Little Simz (!!!) each came out for an appearance, it was electric.
Q> A song you want played at your funeral…
Madeline> Diana Ross – ‘Remember Me’, or Pink Floyd – ‘The Great Gig In The Sky’, or ‘Let’s Go Fly A Kite’ from Mary Poppins, that would be nice and circular.
Q> Best sync moment…
Madeline> I’m enjoying the music in Fallout and the way the innocent sounding '50s classics juxtapose with the grim and violent dystopia of 2296 California.
Q> Music that made an ad campaign…
Madeline> Nike ‘Nothing Beats a Londoner’. Huge amount of respect for John Connon at Mr Pape for what must have been an absolute mammoth slog, he tells me 13 tracks were synced (sunk?) - no small feat.
Q> Best theme song…
Madeline> The White Lotus theme was mad wasn’t it? I really liked it.
Q> Favourite film soundtrack / score…
Madeline> Impossible to single one out! I loved the soundtrack for Booksmart, I thought that was super cool. The Boogie Nights soundtrack is rammed full of classics. I just saw Challengers and the music was amazing, I think it’s going to be the soundtrack of the summer.
