Just like most of us, Madison Kozak went back to her roots during the pandemic. Returning to her hometown of Ontario, Canada, she spent some much needed time with family and reconnected with her musical influences.
“I was still able to work and write over Zoom, but then go have dinner at the table with my family,” the 25-year-old told Celeb Secrets Country reporter Blakely McHugh during an exclusive interview.
For many people, working during the day and going home to your family at night is normal, but for Kozak, it’s something very special. She moved from her hometown to Nashville when she was just 14 years old, so it’s not everyday that she gets to do both. She says because of this, fans will notice an homage to where she comes from in her new music.
“The way I work, just whatever real life stuff is happening, that’s going to find its way into my music,” Kozak said. “I went home, basically, and then figured out what I want to do next.”
That’s exactly why she chose to release “If We Were A Country Song” via Songs & Daughters as her first song release after two and a half years.
In an Instagram post, she says she wrote the heart wrenching ballad with “two of [her] songwriting heroes,” Jon Randall and Gordie Sampson. It all started over coffee, thinking about the music that made them want to move to Nashville and pursue their dreams.
View this post on Instagram
That got her thinking about the music she grew up on – Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline and Johnny and June. She says this new release isn’t something fans have heard from her yet, but it follows the theme of returning to where she came from.
“There’s a couple of songs in the batch that I think would have been more predictable to start with but with this one we were just like, let’s shake them in their boots a little bit, play something they might not be expecting.’”
It seems the song is doing just that. “If We Were A Country Song” is Kozak’s highest performing music video on YouTube to date, with over 200K views in less than two weeks.
This is just the first of many songs Kozak will be dropping this year and she’s not stopping there. She’ll be hitting the road playing at festivals back in her home country and at CMA Fest 2022 happening next week in Downtown Nashville.
While the “First Last Name” singer has been to the CMA Fest before (she did a CMA Radio show at the Radio Disney Country Stage in 2019), this will be her first time at the four-day event with her own music out.
“I’m really grateful that I live in Nashville and so I get to see how awesome this community is and how much talent there is here,” Kozak said. “CMA Fest is really special because I feel like people come from all over and get to experience that.
She’ll be performing at the Spotlight Stage on Friday June 10 from 12:30-12:50PM CT.
“I’m really excited that this is my first experience getting to play for a festival audience.”
Madison Kozak via Instagram
In addition to writing her own music, Kozak has also started writing music for others– an activity she found she was passionate about during the pandemic.
“I realized throughout the pandemic, ‘I want to exercise this muscle more.’ I want to take my artists hat off and be able to get into the room with other folks who love what they’re doing and kind of get into their mindset.”
It’s always been important for Kozak to have a hand in writing the stories she was putting out there. You may not know this, but she signed a publishing deal with Big Loud before she even signed her record deal.
She says “finding community outside of just like me being an artist” has been extremely rewarding, and so has “getting to write for others.” Not only is she lending a hand to other artists’ creativity but she’s improving her craft as well.
“[It’s] been really fun.”
You can hear some of Kozak’s writing on one of MacKenzie Porter‘s last projects, including a Canadian artist named Sacha, and even with artists who are blowing up on TikTok.
Have you listened to “If We Were A Country Song?” Let us know what you think of it by leaving a reaction at the bottom of the article and sending us a tweet at @CS_Country.
