Maddie & Tae scored the opening gig of a lifetime last year, when they were invited to join Carrie Underwood on her Cry Pretty Tour 360. The duo, made up of Madison Marlowe and Taylor Dye, took plenty of notes from the reigning superstar of country music, applying everything they learned in their lives and career now.
“I think we’re just always pushing ourselves,” Maddie told People. “It’s just the whole thing of not getting complacent. That’s something we learned from Carrie. She’s always learning something new, writing something new, trying something new, and she really inspired us to do that.”
Maddie & Tae not only got to get close with their tour boss, but they also got to perform in front of massive crowds, which in many ways became a baptism by fire for the pair.
“We really learned how to entertain a crowd, how to put a full-blown show together,” Maddie said “We learned moments of connection between the two of us that got the crowd excited.”
“[It] was just falling back in love with performing, in general, and falling back in love with the connection with fans,” added Taylor. “That connection is real, and that’s what I tried to soak up.”
Much has changed for both women in their personal lives since the Cry Pretty Tour 360, with both of them getting married after the tour wrapped. Maddie married her high school sweetheart, Jonah Font, last November, while Taylor wed songwriter Josh Kerr in February, neither woman expecting to spend so much time with their husbands as they have this year, due to COVID-19.
“I haven’t had this much time with my husband since we were in high school dating,” Maddie said. “So we’ve had the best time, and he’s my favorite person to hang out with.”
“We got to go on our honeymoon [to the Caribbean island of Grenada], and now we’re kind of still on our honeymoon,” continued Taylor. “We haven’t left the house in five months. It’s been nice.”
Maddie & Tae have another reason to celebrate besides their newlywed status. They just scored their second No. 1 hit with “Die From a Broken Heart,” from their sophomore The Way It Feels record.
“It’s more of a win for who we are as humans and our character-building process as women,” Maddie said. “There is a confidence — when you’ve gotten through some really tough stuff and come out on the other side stronger — that no one in the world can take away from you.”