Madalyn “Madz” Smith was born 20 years ago in Salt Lake City. At first glance she appears intimidating. Intricate linework tattoos wrap around her arms and golden piercings glimmer across her ears and face. Fiery red hair cascades over an Ice Nine Kills tour tee. But she sits calmly with wide eyes beating anxiously around the room. 

Both of Madz’s parents claim that she sang before she could even talk. She grew up surrounded by song, listening to Foo Fighters with her father and Taylor Swift with her mom.

Madz eagerly joined local youth music programs as soon as she could. She performed and wrote music starting at the age of 9 and taught herself any instrument she could possibly get her hands on.

In 2019 Madz was diagnosed with a chronic illness. She had five surgeries with the hope of improving her quality of life, which had become plagued by rare heart and kidney issues. At around this same time she was also escaping an emotionally abusive relationship. Madz channeled this sudden uncertainty in her life into music.

“I wanted to be able to put my story out in a way that felt less serious than getting into the details of everything I had been dealing with,” she said.

Madz’s debut album was completed and released in 2023 under the title “Black and White Thinking”. The album is an anthology of rebirth, coming of age and PTSD.

“Black and White Thinking” features light-hearted pop songs “Man!” and “Don’t Try to Date Your Friends,” which detail the joys of making new friends and having a crush. The album conveys this fiery positivity while also featuring soul-crushing ballads. “Anywhere but Here” and “The Man Who Went Free” confront medical trauma and abusive relationships.

Madz says that experiencing the nuance of these highs and lows is the namesake of her album. “Black and White Thinking” is a mindset where you think in absolute terms. I used to think that way a lot. Success or failure. Good or bad. Happy or sad … like no in between,” she said.

For Madz, creating and releasing music is catharsis. “Releasing the album felt like taking a deep breath after being underwater for a long time,” she said. “I had gone through so much mentally and physically to write, record, and release the album.”

But creation and release are not the end of Madz’s therapeutic musical process. What she finds most fulfilling is performing songs live.

“There’s nothing like being on stage and bringing your own stories to life.”

Madz has performed “Black and White Thinking” live many times. But her favorite show has always been the very first one she played after her album’s completion. At the time she was sick with a fever and cough. But the sold-out Salt Lake audience knew every lyric and sang when she physically couldn’t.

“Nothing compares to the emotional connection between you and the audience singing the songs you wrote crying in your bedroom at 16 … it made all the bad experiences I went through and wrote about worth it in some way.”

“Black and White Thinking” hit every goal Madz’s ever imagined for it. But she never plans on being done creating music.

“As long as I’m living life there will always be music to write.”