A Review of Lily Madison’s ‘This Is It’

‘This Is It’ is a promising, emotionally direct addition to Madison’s growing catalogue, and a strong marker of where her sound is heading next...

Lily Madison’s new single ‘This Is It’ arrived on 14th August as a confident statement from a young artist unafraid of emotional exposure. Rooted in the female-fronted soft rock of the 1990s, the track draws clear inspiration from The Sundays, The Cranberries and Fleetwood Mac, and wears those influences with clarity rather than imitation.

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At its centre is a familiar but effective tension, the fear and hope tied up in taking an emotional risk without knowing the outcome. That duality is reflected in the track’s title itself, which can read as either triumphant or devastating depending on how the story unfolds. It’s a clever conceptual anchor, and one Madison follows through with restraint rather than melodrama.

The instrumentation, guitars, bass, drums and tambourine, is unfussy and well-judged, giving space to the song’s mood without overcrowding it. There’s a clear debt to The Sundays in the chord choices, something Madison has spoken about studying closely while writing, and that influence lands as homage rather than pastiche. The overall effect is melancholic but hopeful, a difficult balance that the track manages with more assurance than its artist’s age might suggest.

What stands out most is the sense of a young songwriter developing a genuinely personal sound. Madison’s connection to her local gig scene and the honesty she brings to her writing give ‘This Is It’ a groundedness that elevates it beyond a simple genre exercise. As part of a wider campaign that includes further releases and a forthcoming EP, the single works well as an introduction, hinting at a fuller, more expansive body of work still to come.

Press Photo Credit: Sorin S.