How 'Outer Banks' Star Madison Bailey Finally Found Her Voice

You may know Madison Bailey as the free-spirited Kiara on Outer Banks, but the 25-year-old actress possesses another skill set you haven’t yet seen onscreen.

Growing up, her true passion was creating and writing music. But then she “kind of fell into acting” as a teenager, landed a recurring role in the DC superhero drama Black Lightning, then skyrocketed to fame with a starring role in Netflix’s hit series Outer Banks, which released part one of its fourth season on Oct. 10. She also has her movie, Time Cut, dropping on Oct. 30.

Now, five years after Outer Banks first premiered, Bailey is returning to her first love, sharing her voice with the world. She released her first single, “The Grey,” last month, a song she describes as being about “your true self and living life as free and without the world’s limitations as possible.”

Below, Bailey gets candid about navigating the spotlight after the success of Outer Banks, why it’s important for her to be “unapologetically me and unapologetically queer,” and where she hopes to take her passion for music and acting in the future.

What made you want to be an actor initially?

I realized that it could be something that I could love forever after visiting my first acting class. When you’re 15 and you’re a teenager, everything is embarrassing at that age. And I remember sitting in this room, like a class of eight people and they were doing an airplane scene. So they’re just sitting in this room pretending they’re on a plane. And I was like, this is a little silly, but there’s not a single person here that’s embarrassed. I’m more embarrassed watching it. And I was like, if I could be even half as comfortable as these people, like that for me was what I think drew me to it. It was just like a group of people just shamelessly expressing themselves.

How did your earlier acting projects, such as playing Wendy Hernandez on the DC superhero drama Black Lightning, prepare you for the success and time commitment of Outer Banks?

I don’t think anything could have prepared me for Outer Banks. Now, Outer Banks has been half of my acting career, which is so crazy. I’ve been on the show for five years. Nothing could have prepared me for the craziness. I think a lot of people in acting will tell you that the best experience and best preparation is just doing it and just being there. And it was my first time as a series regular, so it was my first time doing it and really creating a family out of a cast and crew. 

Jumping over to music, what has it been like entering a new creative space with your first single, “The Grey”?

It’s been incredible. For me, it’s less of jumping to it and more of revisiting this lifelong dream before acting was even in my mind. Music is honestly the passion that raised me. I saw myself as a storyteller and for the majority of my life, music is how I wanted to tell my stories and to express myself and getting the opportunity in between projects and all of the craziness to make it happen, it’s a dream come true to even be making the music, let alone sharing it with the world, which is crazy and something I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to do. 

What do you hope your fans and listeners overall take away from the song?

I think this first single is a good representation of what the rest of my music will be and what my message as an artist is, which is being your true self and living life as free and without the world’s limitations as possible. And I think “The Grey” encapsulates that perfectly. The whole message is about living in a gray area and accepting that and how it’s not just the in-between, but like if you’re in the in-between, you’re free.

What’s your ultimate goal with your music and how far would you like to take it?

As far as it as it takes me, honestly. This is such an air sign answer (Laughs). I’m like, wherever the wind takes me. But I really do believe in timing and this is the timing for that. And I will make music for as long as I can really. It’s so new and I’m very much learning right now. I’m in my sponge era and I can’t wait to grow with this. If you asked me 10 years ago how long I’d be acting like I couldn’t answer that, and it’s the same. I don’t know if I have an answer for that, but hopefully a long, long time. 

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve overcome to get to where you are now?

My biggest thing that I’ve overcome is myself, like your own self-doubts of feeling like there are other people that are more talented than you, other people who might know someone who knows someone and fighting that. And getting validation along the way via Outer Banks, via the other projects that I’m doing, have really just shown light to that. Once you get yourself out of the way, you’re like your own worst enemy.

What are ways you kind of disconnect from social media, work and life overall?

I’ve gotta be split down the middle, introvert and extrovert. I love my alone time, like my TLC time. I think the look good, feel good expression will be as timeless as it feels. And I would say that my family and my friends are a huge part of that, but it’s also not just about decompressing but to reground yourself. Like what we were talking about earlier, I am a real person, like I call my family and and I’m like, oh, I’m just y’all’s little sister or I’m to 10 kids, someone’s really corny auntie (Laughs). And that is like the most refreshing thing and these kids will humble you. 

If you have a day off from everything, was does the perfect free day look like for you?

The perfect free day is literally sitting in my house and doing nothing, turning on reality shows and disassociating a little. But if I’m going to leave the house, a massage really is my go to. And hanging out with friends. I try to hang out with my friends on all my off days and just do something fun, like an escape room or bowling or just a game night at the house. 

As someone who has been an open voice within the LGBTQ community, what is it like having people look up to you while also still learning and growing as a person yourself?

I think I have a different relationship with it now than I did when I first was given this platform and was told, “Hi, all these people look up to you,” and I was like, “Oh, OK [nervous tone].” I think over the years I’ve found the way of taking that pressure off is just knowing that I’m just myself and I’ve always been unapologetically me and obviously, unapologetically queer. I’m grateful and when you looking at a number, let’s say like followers, you’re not having a face to put to it so it can seem like very ambiguous hearing that people are looking up to you or that you are someone’s role model. And for me, I think the grounding thing and putting the face to the [followers] is looking to my nieces and nephews. And really how I want to inspire them, and I think I was saying that whatever message I would preach to them is what I feel comfortable presenting to other people. 

I think being honest is really, really important. I don’t think you get anywhere by telling people that you got here because you were like the most confident, the most put together, the most anything. And I’m like, no, I’ve been a mess this whole time. I’ve just been very, very passionate and very consistent. It’s a message that I always wanted to see when I was looking up to people and when I wanted to be in this industry. People like Jennifer Lawrence would just get in an interview and you felt how much they were being themselves and that’s something I always looked up to. It’s how I always imagined I would be in the public eye.

What would you tell younger Madison seeing what all you have accomplished so far? 

I think at first be like, “We said we would and we did it!” I think I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, there’s nothing that I could tell my younger self. I need advice from her. The confidence that I had like, it makes no sense. It’s really driven me to be where I’m at and I believed in myself like no other. So I think I would just ask my younger self, “How did you know without a shadow of a doubt that we’d be here?” And then I think she’d be like, “Well told you so.” 

If you had to describe what makes Madison Bailey, Madison Bailey, what would you say?

I would say passion and family has just made me who I am. My family is a huge part of me and a huge part of pushing me to be myself. And I think growing up where I didn’t have to apologize so much for being a loud voice, benefited me in ways that I didn’t even understand at the time.