Bailee infuses her free spirit and silky vocals into a beautiful debut single!
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At 24, Bailee Madison has a film and TV credits list longer than most people’s CV at that age, and in 2024, she embarks on a journey into the music industry with release of debut single ‘Kinda Fun’.
Now, this doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise, as Bailee has been teasing music for the best part of seven years. She released a cover of Khalid’s ‘Location’ with friend (and former member of band The Tide) Drew Dirksen in 2017 and starred and sang in Christian musical movie ‘A Week Away’ in 2021. She expressed throughout the years that music was one of her greatest passions and upon releasing ‘Kinda Fun’ last month explained on Instagram how this was a dream she had had since she was a “baby Bailee”.
The song itself is just that, kinda fun. It exuberates a freedom and an excitement for life that so truly captures Bailee’s personality. The single art sets the mood for the song perfectly – it feels like you’re sat poolside, a couple mocktails or cocktails down, just enjoying life for what it is.
The chorus is extremely freeing both lyrically and sonically, “I know I’m drinking on the weekend / turns out my moves are pretty good / I’m trippin’ looking at the ceiling / you know I’m feeling like I should, and I’m feeling kinda fun”, and it truly encapsulates the feeling Bailee wanted to put out there. After a tough year with the SAG/AFTRA strikes, and her PLL reboot show halting production, she found herself feeling redudant, more prone to scrolling through the decades of hate speech directed at her… simply for being a kid. The song stands against that; it’s her saying she doesn’t care anymore, she’s above all that and she’s “in the midst of self bliss”.
The song was written with and produced by boyfriend Blake Richardson, a third of boyband New Hope Club, and it’s no secret the two have had a close relationship with music as a couple. After featuring in their 2019 music video ‘Love Again’, dating rumours began flying, which they shortly confirmed, followed up by Bailee making her directorial debut on the band’s only 2020 release after their album ‘Worse’. It was from here that keen fans began asking more and more for Bailee’s own original music, and to have it written and produced with the partner that music brought her to, makes the song all the better.
At the end of the day, the song is about self-discovery, self-fulfilment and the euphoria of just existing, and the production quality truly matches it. My only complaint… I want more! I think so much more could have been done for a bridge rather than just changing up the chorus, but truly this is only the beginning for Bailee and I cannot wait to see what the couple have in store for her next move!
‘Kinda Fun’ is out now via Red Van Records, check it out here:
