Madeline Lauer sings with a sultry heat that leaves you breathless. Her latest single, “Come Around,” sizzles with a soft R&B blaze that brings to mind the quieter, more seductive tracks from artists like Aaliyah and Prince. What makes her vocals so tantalizingly intense is what’s driving them. Madeline hasn’t created an exaggerated persona to stand out, the sensuality that ignites her music is a very real part of who she is.

“Thank you,” Madeline began. “I’m not a kid anymore. I know very much who I am. That’s the reason I am so ready to take on this really hard endeavor because I’m just so comfortable in who I am. That’s also why my upcoming album is called Open Book — I’ll say anything, admit anything, or talk about anything. I am very much an open book.”

Madeline speaks with an energetic sweetness, a little sparkle that contrasts the spice in her songs.

“I always say, ‘Don’t let my cute face fool you,'” she laughed. “Who am I? Sweet or spicy? I’m definitely a mix of both. It depends on the mood; it depends on the day. I’m not going to lie to you, I tend to see the sexuality in a lot of things, that’s just where my mind always goes. And I’m really comfortable with that side of myself. But I can also be very shy and reserved. I was brought up very well, but then when I moved out here to LA, I started exploring all the different sides of myself and I developed this night and day thing.”

One of five children, Madeline was raised in Columbus, Ohio. The day after she graduated high school, she moved to LA and started working on her first album. Upset that her producer was hiring people to write the songs for her, the young artist expressed that she wanted to be the one writing the words she sang. Unfortunately, Madeline quickly discovered she didn’t really know who she was or what she wanted to say, so she decided she needed to live a little and give herself some time to grow up.

 “I tried pretty much anything and everything that would come my way,” she recalled.

Madeline got mixed up with some Beverly Hills kids and began living a meandering kind of life that was void of responsibility. It wasn’t uncommon for her to just disappear for days at a time.

“It was obviously nothing I could make permanent. It wasn’t healthy and I wasn’t totally happy, but I let myself go that way for a little while and I had my adventures. Now, I feel like I’ve got something to say.”

“I keep a journal,” she added. “It’s on my computer. Whenever I’m feeling something too much and I have to let it out, I write. Any feeling. Even if I’m just really hungry, I write about it because I’m feeling it so much.”

As previously noted, Madeline’s latest single is “Come Around.” It is a steamy, hypnotic track about craving someone.

“Yes, it came from a specific person,” she revealed. “There was this guy that I saw every now and then, and whenever we saw each other, it was like this instant magnetic chemistry. It was insane, we couldn’t keep our hands off of each other. But the time in between us seeing each other was so prolonged. It was months and months and we didn’t really talk. The song is about, ‘When I see you next time, are you still mine? Are we still that?’ It’s about this longing and wondering.”

“I was watching a YouTube video of this man singing in the subway,” Madeline continued. “He was singing ‘Unchained Melody,’ and I was thinking about how that is one of the most amazing songs ever written. It’s so beautiful and bright. When he was singing the words ‘Time can do so much, are you still mine,’ I instantly thought of this guy and how time can change things and I began wondering if he was still mine. I’m not trying to pass that part off as my own, it’s a tribute and I’m hoping people recognize that. I kept that same kind of ’50’s feel, as much as I could without losing a modern touch, but that’s where the inspiration to ‘Come Around’ came from.”

Madeline Lauer is currently working on her video for “Come Around.” Her album, Open Book, will be available a little later this year. You can keep up with her career at www.madelinelauer.com. Also, be sure to like her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

Fun Fact: Madeline was the receptionist at Conway Recording Studios while The Weeknd was recording Starboy. Because of that special, behind-the-scenes connection, it has become one of her favorite albums.