Madison Cunningham finds renewal in motion on Ace, a luminous third album that transforms creative burnout into fearless reinvention.

If Grammy-winning Revealer introduced Madison Cunningham as a staple in the music and songwriting world, her new album Ace cements her place as one of its leading champions. Released on October 10, 2025, by Verve Forecast Records, Ace, her third album, embodies Cunningham's creative and personal evolution. The album combines raw lyricism with lush melodies, guiding listeners through a journey of heartbreak and reinvention.

Together with her long-time bandmates, Cunningham showcases a sharper vision, perfecting her sound while venturing into new sonic territories. She layers her signature guitar work with piano-based arrangements, strings, and woodwind textures, crafting a more intimate and immersive experience. The album also features a collaboration with Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, who lends his vocals to the track “Wake,” where Cunningham's virtuoso finger-picking shines.

The album is raw and revealing, evoking the intensity of heartbreak and emotional turmoil, while ultimately assuring listeners they are not alone in the struggle.

I caught up with Madison Cunningham to talk about the album while she was driving on the I-5 returning from Big Sur (one of the most beautiful places in California).

When Ace finally arrived on October 10th, the moment felt strangely bittersweet for Cunningham. “It’s a mixed bag of relief,” they admitted, “and then also this sort of sadness that comes from the buildup being over.” After months of anticipation, releasing the record was both a release and a reckoning. A moment to let go of something deeply personal and hope it found its place in the world. “I’m not going to tour for a couple of months,” Cunningham said, “so that’s kind of a nice reprieve. But I also feel this dread of wondering what’s next, you kind of just wish the album luck and hope you did everything you could to support it.”

It’s remarkable to think that Ace was written in roughly a month, or two, as Cunningham clarified, especially given the period of creative drought that preceded it. She said she was already working on a few songs but the turnaround began with a move to a new apartment, which sparked what Cunningham called “a real spiritual turn.” She added it was “a real breaking open of the language around what I wanted to say.”

Coupled with being a part of a small, close knit songwriter group, Cunningham found some “high stakes” inspiration. “We were challenging each other to do a song a week. And the rule was like, if you didn't submit anything, then you would get kicked off of the group chat,” said Cunningham with a laugh, “So the stakes are pretty high, something about that pressure pushed me off the cliff in the way that I needed to be pushed.”

The first song to emerge from that challenge was ‘Skeletal,’ which ended up on the album. “I just felt like the whole thing was fully formed as an arrangement and as a concept,” Cunningham recalled. “It was the start of an avalanche of other ideas. I felt relieved that there were still words left, that there was still something to say.”

From there, things picked up quickly. Cunningham and her band began rehearsing weekly in bassist Daniel Ryan’s sweltering downtown Los Angeles practice room. “It was the middle of summer, so it was really brutal,” Cunningham said, “But for the most part, I was bringing in full arrangements. That was something I hadn’t done before, rehearsing with the same band I’d record with. It saved so much time because we had all this muscle memory.”

Musically, Ace draws from a wide range of influences, but Cunningham credits Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks and Iron & Wine’s Light Verse as the most formative. “I was really enamored by how Dylan dances around general, universal ideas and pairs them with intimate, specific details,” they said. “That marriage between those two things is staggering. I wanted my songs to feel that way too. Sometimes general, sometimes deeply intimate.”

The album also features Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, who joined on the track ‘‘Wake.’ “I was so amazed by Robin,” Cunningham said. “He studied the harmony I’d written and came into the studio completely prepared. He wanted to match my exact cadence, tone, and volume. It really revealed how much of a vocal genius he is. The way he hears music and creates feeling from his voice, it’s very classic, very special. He made the whole thing fly for me.”

Not long after the album’s release, Cunningham took Ace to late-night television with a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! After watching the video, which looked seamless and colorful, I asked her about how the experience was. “There was no audience,” Cunningham said. “The clip doesn’t lead you to believe that, but it was strange. There were a lot of people moving around and talking while we were trying to make music, so it felt a little chaotic.” Still, the end result made Cunningham proud. The set itself was a creative collaboration with director Nick Steinhardt, inspired by live performance videos the pair had made earlier in the summer. “We collaged ideas from all three of those videos into that Kimmel stage set,” Cunningham explained.

Looking ahead to the upcoming tour, Cunningham spoke on what she’s most excited for on the UK/European leg. “I’m looking forward to Ireland and always Paris,” Cunningham said, “Europe very much excites me in general. I’m excited to be there and to have good food, good drinks.” After going on a short tangent, nerding out on guitars and describing the glorious amount of guitar shops in London, I had a final question for her. The one lyric from ‘Best of Us’, “I drive faster when the music’s good, it drives me open like talking never could” sparked a final question: what songs make Cunningham feel that way?

“‘Fast as You Can’ by Fiona Apple. That one really gets my blood flowing every time.” She describes a freeway near her house. It’s a rare Los Angeles road that’s never backed up and a perfect setting to listen to that song. To be free to go a little faster. Which I argue is somewhat synonymous with the themes of Ace. The rawness of struggle and then seeing the opening, the rapid ascent to self liberation.

Though not on a rare empty Californian freeway overlooking the ocean, I listened to ‘Fast as You Can’ while on my Northern line commute to class the next day. Cunningham was right. It felt a bit faster I think.

Madison Cunningham will be taking Ace on the road starting early 2026, with a stop at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush on March 4th.