Photography: Chris Stanley.
Madeleine Harrop is a gifted songwriter who’s carving an impressive path for herself, despite living with the challenges of Tourette’s syndrome, autism, anxiety and ADHD. When Woman’s Day catches up with the 25-year-old at her family home in North Otago, Mads is fresh off a tour of Auckland and the Bay of Plenty to celebrate the release of her new single Skyline.
Yet singing in public hasn’t always come so easily for the music student. After enrolling at the University of Otago to study for a Bachelor of Music Production and Composition, she developed Tourette’s in her first year.
Mads started finding that when she was nervous in public places, she’d experience verbal tics and coprolalia (compulsive swearing).
“I was 19 and when it started, my tics were bad,” she recalls.
“But I had amazing support from my parents, healthcare professionals, friends and teachers… Even strangers were kind. I’m doing really well now.”
Mads has a unique gift of being able to find the positives, even when life is tough.
“One advantage of having autism is I come at things from a different perspective,” she shares.
“My ADHD makes me hyperfocused and anxiety gives me the drive to do things properly. “Time management, fresh air and exercise all help me stay on top of things, and music is like therapy – it calms me.”
A creative household
Born in Paris to artist mum Fenella Barry and award-winning musician Steve Harrop, the family moved back to Aotearoa when Mads’ little sister Cass was a baby. After spending a few years in Auckland, they settled in North Otago. Fenella and Steve then set up Sublime Lodge on their beautiful Otiake farm, complete with a vineyard, boutique accommodation and a recording studio.
“I started singing and playing around on the piano when I was little, so my parents got me into lessons quite young,” Mads says of her early years, when her parents noticed their daughter was developing some quirks, which led to her diagnoses.
Boarding school struggles and anxiety
But it wasn’t until she went to board at St Kevins College in nearby Ōamaru that she really started to struggle.
“In Year 9, my anxiety would keep me up at night,” she remembers.
“I’d worry the taps in the bathroom weren’t properly turned off and I’d get up 50 times a night to check.”
The issue ran so deep that the school almost asked her to leave, but with strong support and teachers who believed in her, Mads stayed.
A lifelong love of music
Throughout her teenage years, she’s grateful that Steve – who wrote and recorded the bass line on Strawpeople’s iconic hit Sweet Disorder – exposed her to a broad range of music.
“The first time Dad played me Children Of The Revolution by T Rex, I was so blown away, I wrote part of my song Mad, Mad Woman,” she says.
“When I played it to him, he thought it was great and that’s when I decided I wanted to write songs and be a musician.”
Naturally, Mads ended up recording at Sublime’s studio and set her sights on heading to the University of Otago to study.
Music as a sanctuary
“Music is something I have inside me,” she enthuses.
“It gives me a voice and a sense of purpose. When you’re a kid, you want to blend in, but that’s so much harder when you have autism. I did sometimes feel like an outsider. When I’m focused on music or writing, it’s as if the outside world fades away.”
She credits the unwavering faith of her parents and sister, who were pivotal in making sure she could successfully pull off her promotional tour at the end of last year. Mads says her musical style crosses different genres.
A genre-bending sound
“It’s everything from hard rock and prog rock, to psychedelic pop, indie and glam rock. I love it when people say they feel things when they listen to my songs. “Like my uncle Kevin – his favourite song of mine is Lost For Words, which for me is a sad song about my Tourette’s. But for him, it’s sad in another light as it helped him when he lost his wife.”
Now with her Masters in Music Production nearly complete, Mads’ next adventure sees her heading back to Auckland to do an internship at Bigpop Studios. Beyond that, she’s focusing on writing songs, playing music, and carving out a career as a producer and sound engineer.
For anyone else facing their own big challenges, Mads has some simple advice. “Just hang in there and trust that life will get better as the years go by.”
Skyline is available now on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp and Soundcloud.
