Madison Cunningham on Dealing the Cards of Heartbreak, Loss, and Rediscovery

Ace. The beginning and the end. Inception and termination. Birth and rebirth. Grammy Award-winner Madison Cunningham has graced the music industry with her unparalleled artistry in singing and songwriting. Her most recent release, Ace, serves as a case study of that sentiment.

At first listen, the instrumental arrangements tell a story while the words don’t quite register yet. Piano for anticipation and narration, guitar for the quiet moments. A complex listen, Cunningham’s poetic nature beautifully articulates the cobweb of emotions that loss brings.

Madison Cunningham. (2025, August 4). https://www.madisoncunningham.com/ 

Ace conjures the intangible, inexplicable experience of unrequited love and heartbreak, longing and loss. Singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham marries the idea that love and loss can coexist, and may even be two sides of the same coin, or, in this case, the Ace within a deck of cards. Ace, symbolizing both beginnings and conclusions, serves as a double entendre. Ace allows room for the idea that in order to love again, loss is inevitable, a necessary evil. 

“You can scale the Great Wall / but you can't turn to face me / I see those patterns printed all / over myself too / but I keep pushing that boulder / uphill 'til something moves / and I thought we were getting older / but you're right where I left you.”

-Madison Cunningham, Invisible Chalk

Months after its release, Ace stands the test of time.  The 14-track studio album takes listeners on a journey of the ebbs and flows of the conclusion of a union. In Invisible Chalk, Cunningham grapples with the reality of leaving a lover and the life you had with them behind.

In her conspicuous style of allegorical wordplay, Cunningham’s signature songwriting comes to the forefront. Coined by her peers as “a musician’s musician”, Cunningham spells out the words left unspoken. On healing after heartbreak, she told Tranzient Journalz, “Being able to name feelings and hurt, to put words behind that is a step forward.  To have said it and say all that I can say, and now I have to give my body and spirit to the healing process and trust that that’s also going to be a non-linear thing”. 

“Did I get your love at the cost of my mind? / Did I get your love at the price of my heart?” 

-Madison Cunningham, Skeletree

Madison Cunningham’s Ace allows listeners to take on the role of a bystander, observing her thoughts and feelings about the grief of heartbreak. This album is certainly introspective, as we witness Cunningham’s vulnerability through her feelings of limerence, yearning, and a search for answers about a union that once was.

Available now on all major music platforms, Madison Cunningham’s Ace.

Join us in our next journey in music, 

Tranzient Journalz

By: Jourdan Mathis

Works Cited

Madison Cunningham. (2025, August 4). https://www.madisoncunningham.com/ 

Madison Cunningham lyrics, songs, and albums | genius. Genius. (2025). https://genius.com/artists/Madison-cunningham