On the Verge: Country girls Maddie & Tae flip the script
Ain't no way to treat the ladies: Maddie Marlow and Tae Dye may have grown up wanting to sing country songs, but they eventually decided they'd rather not be in them. After hearing guy after guy sing about nameless fantasy girls in cut-off denim, Maddie & Tae finally put their feeling into words.
"We used to get a little respect," the two 19-year-olds sing in Girl in a Country Song, "now we're lucky if we even get to climb up in your truck, keep my mouth shut and ride along." The song's sharp-pointed wit, plus a video featuring three guys dressed in the kind of skimpy outfits usually reserved for women in country videos, made it a critical phenomenon, then a radio success.
Not about the boys: Though the Girl in a Country Song lyrics allude to songs by Blake Shelton, Florida Georgia Line and Thomas Rhett, "we're not really criticizing the acts; it's more the trend we're poking fun at," Dye says. "The trend is irresponsible, and it makes women seem one-dimensional." Programmers and music buyers have responded: Girl in a Country Song is No. 7 on Paste BN's country airplay chart and has sold 327,000 downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
How they got together: Marlow hails from Sugar Land, Texas, while Dye grew up in Ada, Okla. The two met while taking lessons from the same vocal coach in Dallas. "I would take the two-hour drive two times a week," Dye says. "Maddie's drive was even longer." They bonded over a shared interest in songwriting and soon began making regular trips to Nashville, moving there after high school and living off advances from a song-publishing contract. "Whether it's in the writing room or performing, we bring out the best in each other," Dye says.
Country style: Maddie & Tae will release a self-titled EP Nov. 4 produced by Dann Huff, who also has worked with Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban and Martina McBride. The hip-hop-inspired production of Girl in a Country Song isn't typical, though. "Tae and I are inspired by a '90s country style, all the breezy, acoustic, fresh instruments — the mandolin, fiddle," Marlow says. "That's all over our music. We miss that sound." The duo plans to release a full-length album in 2015.
The luck of the Irish: The duo wrote Girl in a Country Song on St. Patrick's Day this year. A few days later, they were performing it in the office of Big Machine Label Group when CEO Scott Borchetta walked in. "He was just cracking, loved the song," Dye says. "That's what got us our deal."
Three's a crowd: The girls may not want to be girls in a country song, but that doesn't stop boys who like country songs from pursuing them. Only some of those boys may not be so bright. "The guys that are tweeting us now have this weird thing; they'll say, 'I want to marry Maddie & Tae,'" Dye says. "I don't know if they realize there are two of us, and that's kind of illegal."