SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Nashville singer-songwriter Madi Diaz is known for her knack of storytelling through melodic folk and indie rock songs. The artist is a regular NPR Music favorite and has toured with artists like Kacey Musgraves and Harry Styles. And Diaz has a new album out today called "Fatal Optimist."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FATAL OPTIMIST")
MADI DIAZ: (Singing) I know exactly what this is. I'm a fatal optimist.
DETROW: For our New Music Friday segment, here to talk about the album is Celia Gregory of member station WNXP in Nashville. Hey, Celia.
CELIA GREGORY, BYLINE: Hey, Scott. Good to be with you.
DETROW: So for listeners who are not as familiar with Madi Diaz yet, what can you tell us about her and about this new album?
GREGORY: Well, Madi Diaz has been a recording artist in Nashville and also for a short stint in LA for several years. But in the past few, she's found breakthrough success with two albums that both deal with the theme of heartbreak. And this new one, "Fatal Optimist," could be considered the final chapter in this heartache trilogy.
DETROW: So is it true that Diaz wrote part of this album alone on an actual island? And if that is the case, how does that influence what it sounds like?
GREGORY: Well, yes. So she was in a relationship with someone she thought she'd marry. And when that relationship ended, she literally isolated herself, went to an island alone, purposefully, to sort through, you know, all the emotion.
DETROW: Something a lot of people thought about...
GREGORY: Yes.
DETROW: ...She actually did.
GREGORY: It's kind of #goals - right? - ...
DETROW: Yeah.
GREGORY: ...For breakups. So she sorted through all the emotions, found that the isolation was, in fact, really good for healing, for reflection and for writing these songs. So she brought that solitude, that self-soothing mode to the actual recording of the songs. So what you're going to hear on "Fatal Optimist" is mostly just Madi's voice and her acoustic guitar.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LONE WOLF")
DIAZ: (Singing) Tell me what you learned out there running through your head. Why did you come back home? Go on, do what you do best. Leave me alone. Whoa.
GREGORY: It's the most bare and spare that we've ever heard her. And especially, like, songs that are so honest, so raw, like on "Why Did You Have To Bring Me Flowers" (ph). She's singing how it's toughest to leave a good guy. She leads off with, my toxic trait is holding on. Your toxic trait is showing up.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHY'D YOU HAVE TO BRING ME FLOWERS")
DIAZ: (Singing) I moved out. I moved on. I picked myself off the ground. I wasn't angry till now. Why'd you have to bring me flowers? Why'd you have to say the right thing?
DETROW: Are there other particular songs on the album where you can feel that experience and that location, mentally and physically, of the songwriting?
GREGORY: Oh, yeah. I mean, she's just pouring it out. So I love the rawness of "Good Liar."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOOD LIAR")
DIAZ: (Singing) But it don't come natural to me to let my guard down.
GREGORY: She sort of longs for the ability to convincingly fake happy and fine post breakup. She sings, through these rose-colored glasses, I see what I want to. Is it really so bad to cover up the sad and be a good liar?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOOD LIAR")
DIAZ: (Singing) Through these rose-colored glasses I just see what I want to. Is it really all that bad to cover up the sad and be a good liar?
DETROW: And then you have what sounds like a very hard turn from that. You have a song titled "Heavy Metal," which is not exactly what you think of when you think Nashville singer-songwriter. What's going on there?
GREGORY: Right. It's a bit of a double entendre - an illusion. In "Heavy Metal" she admits she's really tough because her heart isn't made of gold, platinum or even silver, but more of a durable material - heavy metal.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEAVY METAL")
DIAZ: (Singing) I've been running so hard lately. Don't know how it doesn't break me. It's a good thing my heart is so heavy metal.
GREGORY: And it is - it's a sort of a tongue-in-cheek way 'cause she said she wanted to make a hard song and she just couldn't. It still comes out soft.
DETROW: So clearly this is an album about heartbreak, and yet it's titled, and the final track is titled, "Fatal Optimist." Where does this record leave us?
GREGORY: Oh, yes. Well, this might close out the sad-girl era that she launched with "History Of A Feeling," but she's really good at making these feelings so real. And it's not till the end of the album - you know, after exploring all this anger and grief and embarrassment, basically solo acoustic for 10 songs - the title track closer surprises you because she brings more instrumentation in. It's up-tempo compared to the rest. It's a much fuller sound that serves almost like a rebirth, a re-arrival at herself finally after, you know, singing and strumming through yet another heartbreak.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FATAL OPTIMIST")
DIAZ: (Singing) Forget I've ever been hurt. Forget the reasons why. Forget that I'm on Earth when I start looking at the sky.
DETROW: That is Celia Gregory from WNXP in Nashville. You can hear more from Celia on today's New Music Friday podcast from NPR Music. Madi Diaz's new album, "Fatal Optimist," is out now. Thank you so much.
GREGORY: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FATAL OPTIMIST")
DIAZ: (Singing) I hate being... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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