Madeline Merlo Gets Candid About Heartache, Healing & Perspective In ‘One House Down (From The Girl Next Door)’ [Exclusive]

Heartache is a powerful emotion that can cause people to do and say a lot of things that’s outside of their character. Madeline Merlo draws from her own experience with this kind of pain and takes listeners on a journey through the different stages of grieving a relationship in her new EP, One House Down (From The Girl Next Door).

Merlo can honestly say that one of her strongest traits as a songwriter is her ability to feel her emotions on such a deep level. At the time these songs were written, Merlo was clearly experiencing so much sadness, and her vulnerability was at an all time high. However, now that she’s happily married, she can look back at these stories with so much empathy for her former self and offer a bit more perspective to anyone who might be going through the same thing. 

“I think in particular with these songs, feeling like I’m in a good healthy relationship now, looking back…I have so much perspective on them. ‘Bar Fight,’ for example, there’s so much desperation in that song. That was one specific night where I was just sad and desperate, and your mind is desperately trying to emotionally regulate your heart and your heart is just ready to just drop the whole thing off the track. Looking back on it, I just felt like I was able to understand the whole situation and find this thread of hope through all the songs.”

Finding The Brightness In A Dark Time

The female songstress believes that this project offers listeners a bird’s-eye view of the positives in this situation that the heartbroken person is often unable to see themselves, and the understanding that there is a reason for everything.

“I feel like the whole project is really like, ‘I know this is for the best, but it’s really hard and I know it’s going to make sense, but this is really hard.’ In ‘Good Grief,’ it’s like, ‘I’m going to look back one day and this goodbye’s going to be good grief.’ There’s a purpose in the pain. God knows what he’s doing and all that stuff. So I think as a songwriter, especially when I’m a little bit outside of the situation, I can just kind of evaluate all of the nitty gritty, sticky pieces and try to put it into a song ,” she explained. 

Exploring The Various Stages Of Heartbreak

This collection of six songs all co-written by Madeline Merlo takes that idea and offers an honest portrayal of passion that begins at the point where the separation from an ex is still fresh, illustrated through the song “Broken Heart Thing” feat. Dustin Lynch. She continues to the next stage with one of her favorite tracks, “Bar Fight,” a tender tune that finds the heartbroken party feeling torn between the emotions in their heart and the thoughts in their head. 

“I’m so proud of the composition of that song, truly. I had this idea, I literally had, ‘my heart and my mind are in a bar fight over you.’ And I was like, yes, okay, how can I tell the story?” she shared of “Bar Fight.” “You’re speaking about the heart and the mind as if they’re kind of their own people or something, you’re kind of explaining them as if they have their own personalities and their own wants and desires and they’re in this epic ugly battle and you’re stuck in the middle of this chaotic scene. That’s exactly how it feels sometimes when you’re like, ‘I shouldn’t do this and I shouldn’t do that’ and your brain is like, ‘Oh God, don’t do that. Don’t call him’ and your heart is like, ‘but I want to.’ It’s just so confusing.”

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Even though the sadness might be starting to fade, those memories with that person continue to live on in the small things, as depicted in “Same Car.” She then finds herself taking one step forward, two steps back as the loneliness starts to really sink in on “Middle of the Bed.” Merlo finally starts to see the light at the end of the tunnel with “Good Grief,” as she finds solace in knowing one day she will understand that the breakup was actually the best thing to happen to her.  

A Happy Ending

Finally, we reach the end of the project with the title track, “One House Down (From The Girl Next Door).” This clever song was penned by Madeline Merlo with Emily Weisband, James McNair and Seth Mosley and serves as an empowering anthem for anyone who has ever felt a bit out of place. Love finally starts to resurrect itself in this track, as shown through the uplifting tone featuring a Keith Urban guitar solo and the vibrancy of the Canadian singer/songwriter’s voice. 

“I had this idea written in my phone and I just resonated with it so much as just a person. It really symbolizes to me just feeling like a little left to center, a little on the outs, a little on the outside looking in. I feel like I felt like that my whole life and a lot of people can relate to that feeling. The hook of that song is ‘who knew you’d find everything you were looking for one house down from the girl next door,’ and meeting my husband was really feeling like he loved that part. He loved the parts of me that maybe I didn’t and [the fact that] I was different is what made me special and what made him interested in me.”

She continued, “So it’s just really about embracing who you are. And like I said, it’s the last song on the project because that’s where you end up; you end up finding the person you’re supposed to be with. I really resonated with the whole title. I feel like it describes this project, a lot of my songs, and then ultimately, I feel like it really describes me.” 

Merlo Was ‘Intentional’ and ‘Strategic’ About The Sequencing

Out of all the projects and all the singles Merlo has released throughout her career, she admitted to Country Now that this collection was the hardest to select songs for simply because she had so many incredible options to choose from. Even though they couldn’t all make the cut, she promises that they will get their chance to shine in the future. 

“I wrote my butt off for this project and I felt like it really came down to just being intentional and strategic about what story I was going to tell. And if you listen to it front to back, it takes you on a bit of a journey. You start off in one type of place and then by the end of it you end up where you’re supposed to be. So it really came down to that, but it was so hard leaving songs that I love so much out, but they’ll definitely come out eventually.” 

Grand Ole Opry Debut

In a few short days, Madeline Merlo will make her Grand Ole Opry debut on October 16. This momentous night will mark the first time she and Dustin Lynch will get to perform their collaboration, “Broken Heart Thing” live on stage. 

“I’ve been singing it a bunch and I mean, Dustin’s just so great and such a great energy too. So I think it’s going to be fun to have him there and get me all hyped up,” she shared. 

Merlo will then close out her epic year of touring with two dates in Sacramento, CA.