After a heartbroken hiatus of five or six years, Nashville-based songwriter Madi Diaz made a stirring return last month with “Man In Me”, and she continues her route to recovery with today’s new single “New Person, Old Place”. While still meditating on similar themes, the new song shows Diaz in a healthier place. She says:
“This was a moment I realized I wanted to start to learn how to do it not better, not worse, but just different… and then something shied. Something in my heart finally knocked loose and I was breathing deeper. It’s hard as hell, breaking patterns and unlearning all the old shit, trying to shut all the doors that I used to open to let all the same hurt happen over and over. I’m at least learning to find new doors. ‘New Person, Old Place’ is a mantra. A line that I’m casting into the future so that I have something to guide me forward. It’s something of a reminder that if my heart is the house that I carry with me wherever I go, I can take it somewhere new, or I can do the same old thing I always do but backwards or with a cartwheel, and I can repaint and I can rearrange the furniture. I can clean the mirrors so I see myself true and clear.”
Diaz begins “New Person, Old Place” by reflecting on the unhealthy habits she had in the wake of this trying relationship – staying up late hoping for a phone call, sifting through old photos – and she doesn’t hide from the trauma she experienced: “You used to be able to dictate each feeling inside my head / Drag me through every trauma over and over again.” However, now that she’s in a place of more stability, she can look back on it with fresh eyes, and in the chorus she affirms “What used to hurt doesn’t hurt anymore / What used to work doesn’t work anymore.” As she moves from strength to strength lyrically, “New Person, Old Place” builds with warming strings to a satisfyingly sturdy alt-country sound that soundtracks the singer’s growth into a more self-sufficient person – a heart-swelling and undeniably moving success.
You can watch the video for “New Person, Old Place”, directed by $eck, below – or listen to the song on streaming platforms.
Madi Diaz’s “New Person, Old Place” is out via Anti-, and with hopefully some news about an album coming soon you should make sure to follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
