Matilda Aileen recording her music.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
NORTHAMPTON — At just 10 years old, Northampton’s own Matilda Aileen is already making waves in the music world.
Her debut single “Rude Boy,” now streaming on Apple Music and Spotify, isn’t just a catchy tune—it’s a powerful message born out of a personal experience.
“I’m really excited about it,” Aileen said. “I wrote the song because I just got tired of listening to a bully at my school who would, and still does, bully me and my friends. So I wrote a song about my anger, kind of to take it out in a non-aggressive way towards him. And to send a message to him, and all bullies, that that kind of behavior is not okay.”
The track is the product of months of work and collaboration. Aileen teamed up with Nashville-based singer-songwriter Jackie Bristow, who helped shape her ideas into a full composition. “The most fun part was working with Jackie Bristow, who wrote the music, and then when we recorded it at her studio,” she said. “The process of writing the song was long. I brought my ideas to Jackie. I wanted to write a song about my bully because I was upset, and songwriting has always been an outlet for me. Jackie said, ‘Hey, I’ve got some music that could go with that!’ We had a really fun time working together.”
While the music came together smoothly, Aileen admits one unexpected challenge: the cover art. “The hardest part about making the song was finding an image for the cover art,” she explained. “My mom, her boyfriend and I went back and forth a lot with ChatGPT/Sora, and finally found something that worked. I wanted the girl in the picture to be reflecting her light, the light of the sun, back at the bully.”
When the single finally launched online, Aileen said it felt like a dream come true. “I felt like we did it. We finally did it! I wrote and recorded the song last summer, when I was 9 years old. The wait to get it online was long. I was super excited the first time I heard it was out. My mom came to get me off the school bus. She told me and we hugged, jumped up and down, and both cried happy tears.”
Her musical inspirations include some of today’s biggest stars. “I have always been inspired by Taylor Swift’s storytelling, also how much she writes and how she takes everything in her life and turns it into music. Tate McCrae’s voice is really inspiring to me. Olivia Rodrigo’s style of music, her rhythms and how she sometimes shows her strength by using her voice to belt out the lyrics is all very inspiring to me.”
For now, Aileen is dreaming big, but also close to home. “If I could perform my song anywhere, it would be in my hometown of Northampton, because I know that the most people would come to support me here!”
Already working on new material, she hopes to continue writing and performing. “Recently, I started writing a new song about good feelings and love. I want to keep writing songs and singing forever. I am also really focused on learning to play my instruments, piano and guitar, better.”
And the impact of her first song is already clear. “I now have over 1,000 listens on Spotify. My friends say that the song is amazing and they love it and that they can’t stop listening to it, which feels really good. The song helps me and my friends feel stronger when we are faced with a bully, and I hope it can do that for whoever listens to it.”
With her first single out in the world and her heart full of new ideas, it seems safe to say that Matilda Aileen’s journey as a musician has only just begun.
