Maad*Moiselle Is Basically the 2016 Diana Ross
Maad*Moiselle is the coolest funk singer you’ve never heard.
And she’s also the hardest working. In addition to modeling and DJing on the side, she’s currently working on an EP and has released two singles. After it’s out, she’ll gauge everyone’s reactions and then put together a full-length album.
“It’s funk, it’s pop, it’s sexy, it’s groovy,” she told me at Galore’s NYC HQ. “My heart and soul, I swear, was meant to be in the 70s.”
I couldn’t help but notice when speaking with the poised and graceful Maad that she’s a dead ringer for Diana Ross. And her music, with all its orgasmic vocal layers, is like a perfect 2016 update to Miss Ross’s oeuvre.
“Don’t even tell me that,” she smiled when I told her how much she looks like Ross. “I’ve just wanted to be Diana forever. Her moment in Central Park with that little white jumpsuit had my heart.”
Maad isn’t just a singer and a model, though. She’s also a super talented songwriter — so talented, in fact, that she’s currently competing on a team of songwriters in a contest sponsored by ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
The New Jersey native also, incredibly, comes to the NYC music scene by way of Germany. She’s huge in Deutschland, which not many model-slash-DJs can say. So how’d that happen? Maad was working with a German production duo a few years ago when they asked her to do a sample of on a song. It took her only 15 minutes and she bounced. A week later, the group decided they loved her singing and wanted to keep her on the song. Soon, they were asking her to start performing with them, and she was flying back and forth between New York and Germany.
Before long, she was performing on “The X-Factor” in Germany as part of Madcon ft. Maad*Moiselle — and then flying back to New York to keep working retail.
“I loved it, because it was humbling,” she said. “I was on tour and I worked at a store. To be an artist, you have to go through those times. The way the internet is now, it makes it seem like people have their shit together [from the beginning].”
Nowadays, she’s a full-time DJ, model, and musician. She got to that point when she realized she couldn’t deal with working for other people anymore — and luckily, learning how to DJ made it possible for her to be a full-time artist — “DJing definitely opened so many doors for my music,” Maad said.
And hey, pro tip for other aspiring musicians out there: if you’re also a DJ, you can play your own music at your gigs. Apart from voguing-friendly Jersey and Baltimore club music, one of Maad’s favorite tracks to get the party going is her own song, “Sweet ‘n’ Low.”
“Yeah, if someone asks you what the record is, it’s like, ‘It’s mine!'” she said with a laugh. “I’m an artist first.”
Listening to her distinctive audio style makes that abundantly clear.
“If I make stuff I genuinely love, other people will get into it too,” Maad said. “You can’t make stuff for everybody, because not everybody’s gonna like what you do. But if you make something that’s real to you, other people will latch on and get it.”
Learn more about Maad*Moiselle and check out her live schedule here — and watch out for her forthcoming EP, Le Funk.
Commes des Garçons shirt | Topshop skirt | Jeremy Scott boots
Topshop cami | Jeremy Scott boots | Topshop skirt | Denim jacket stylist’s own
Phlemuns crop top | Phlemuns denim pants | Chiara Ferragni Collection boots
Photos by Amber Asaly
Styled by Christine Nicolson
Makeup by Tenelle V
