Clownin’ at the Croc with Madilyn Mei
September 27, 2025 - Seattle, WA
The line for Madilyn Mei’s show at the Crocodile. Photo by Megan Lorich.
The Crocodile is no stranger to up-and-coming indie artists and their stringed acoustic instruments. Though Madilyn Mei’s success cannot be entirely attributed to TikTok, listeners familiar with the internet indie ukulele boom can clearly see the musical movement’s influence on Mei’s work. This framing was how I approached Mei’s show before arriving at the Crocodile. Mei’s most recent and touring album, A Thousand Songs About It All: Act 1, featured a clowncore aesthetic, ukulele on some of their older tracks, and medieval influence weaving its way throughout the entirety of their discography.
Based on these characteristics, I assumed that the crowd gathered for Mei’s show would be made up of mostly queer teenagers and young adults with active Tumblr profiles. Well, you know what they say about assuming things. While my perceived audience members were certainly a large portion of Mei’s crowd that night, there was also a surprising amount of young children, ranging from about ages six and up. This meant that parents were also plentiful at the show, with many of them dressed up in full clown garb alongside their youngsters. Some parents took a more laidback, casual approach – a favorite of mine being a Gen X dad wearing a hoodie that read “Clown Off Duty.” As mentioned, Mei’s clowncore aesthetic, particularly on Act 1, has become a mainstay of their persona and this tour. The crowd was a sea of clowns, making Mei’s “One Man Circus” obsolete.
I’m unsure if other stops on Mei’s tour were sold out, but the Crocodile show was. In fact, Mei stated at the beginning of the show that it was the biggest show they had ever headlined. During the pre-show, I was already squished like a sardine up against the bar, with more concertgoers arriving during the opener, Rabbitology. By the time Mei hit the stage, it was almost impossible to move.
Rabbitology performs at the Crocodile. Photo by Megan Lorich
Nat Timmerman, better known as Rabbitology**, thoroughly warmed up the crowd before Mei hit the stage. Accompanied by another musician on guitar and a launchpad, the majority of Rabbitology’s songs are looped. This highlights the lo-fi indie production that began Rabbitology’s career, from her roots producing music in her dorm at the University of Michigan. Her time at college is mentioned quite frequently throughout her set, like when she introduced her first song, “CANDLEBURN”. Per Rabbitology, the song gained popularity online because a film club she participated in played it over and over. It's no surprise that “CANDLEBURN” managed to enchant Rabbitology’s club mates with its lilty ethereal vocals and repetitive trance-like drums and bass. In fact, the first three songs of Rabbitology’s set are available on Spotify as Dorm Demos rather than fully produced tracks. This can be heard throughout her live performance, not just in “CANDLEBURN”, but in the similarly trance-inducing snaps, claps, and strings of “The Bog Bodies” and the backing instrumental of “FOXCRY”. For the latter track, Rabbitology teaches the audience the second half of a call-and-response. “Preybirds (Watcher Song)” sees more of a twang enter Rabbitology’s instrumentation. The song’s title is a clear pun to anyone who knows Rabbitology’s inspiration for the track, as she loosely based it on a poem about the second coming. Two newer titles from Rabbitology, “Wolf House” and “Who Shot the Bird Boy?” followed, with Timmerman taking care to explain the inspiration behind each track. Wolves are clearly an inspiration for the first track, whereas “Who Shot the Bird Boy?” feels almost like a folk song you’ve wandered into. From Rabbitology’s song titles and the name of the project, it’s clear that Timmerman is inspired by the darker aspects of nature. But in terms of musical influence, Rabbitology has a bit of bardic inspiration. It’s clear why Mei selected Rabbitology to accompany them on tour, as Mei’s older work specifically feels like a close musical cousin to Rabbitology’s discography.
“Millie Warm the Kettle” feels like the grand finale to the story Rabbitology built throughout her set. From the very beginning, Rabbitology established how important her college experience was to her musical development. This song was yet again introduced by a story about her time in school. Rabbitology was unable to record the ending of the song, as otherwise, her dorm would have likely called security. Based on the title of the track, it's very easy to surmise the ending. Rabbitology hits operatic high notes, becoming the whistle of the song's titular kettle. This is the track that really gets the crowd going, with the audience of clowns immediately joining in with the first lyrics of the song. At the end of her set, Timmerman thanked Seattle over and over, before concluding with “I can’t wait for Elio to see you!”
This final statement, while innocuous and sweet, leads to a debate by the parents standing behind me at the rail of the Crocodile’s bar. “Is Elio what Madilyn goes by?” one parent asks. “I think her stage name is Madilyn, but she goes by Elio,” the other replies. This parent is technically correct, minus Mei’s pronouns. While Mei has confirmed that they’re still fine with people calling them Madilyn, and variations on the name, it should be noted that Mei ultimately goes by Elio. While the parents may not be in the know about Mei’s identity, the kids and teens in the audience clearly do. Throughout the show, Mei is almost exclusively referred to as Elio by anyone under the age of twenty-five, which is most of the audience. In fact, a good chunk of the audience is queer. While tonight’s tour stop is in the LGBTQ+ safe haven of Seattle, it’s clear that these kids especially feel safe at this show. They are free to express themselves however they’d like, albeit using face paint and clown suits as their main medium. It’s comforting to know that Gen Alpha and the final years of Gen Z have found an outlet to express their weirdness. While the songs Mei sings are all chorused back by the audience, tracks about identity, derealization, and self-discovery are shouted back the loudest.
“Elio” was chanted over and over before Mei finally stepped onto the stage. They are overshadowed by two giant hands extending from the back of the venue, like a puppet pulling Mei’s strings. They began the show with “My Only Sense of Purpose”, one of many songs Mei will sing where some sort of anxiety is mentioned. In this track, Mei specifically ruminates over gifted kid burnout and fears about growing technology, also highlighted in the song’s chorus. The lyrics: “Gonna burn out/they gonna replace you/Replicate, AI generate you” are sung the loudest by the audience. Yet again, the age of this crowd is brought to mind. One would think that Gen Alpha and younger Gen Z, who are known for frequent use of generative AI, would not seem so fearful of this technology. But the way these lyrics are practically screamed would say otherwise. Mei then transitions into “One Man Circus”, with the audience doing call-and-responses with them, no demonstration required. Audience participation is similarly loud in the next song, “Can of Worms”. This slower waltzing ballad sees the audience swaying side to side, with the parents next to me singing along particularly loudly. Mei spins during the song’s interlude, a lonely clown on top of a music box for the audience to clap for as their sole bandmate croons on the accordion.
Madilyn Mei performs their acoustic set at the Crocodile. Photo by Megan Lorich.
Their bandmate switches back to the guitar for the next track, “Poppin Skittles”. Kids scream yet again at the song’s intro, and its repetitive Da-Da-Da’s are an easy tune to carry for any concert-goers unfamiliar with Mei’s discography. The volume of the crowd made me wish I had brought the heavy-duty earplugs I typically reserve for hardcore rock shows. Regardless of whether you think Mei’s music is any good, you cannot deny that their fanbase is dedicated. So dedicated, in fact, that the crowd raps the “Poppin Skittles” coffee rant with perfect diction. Mei clearly knows this song is a fan favorite, often pointing their microphone at the crowd to encourage them to sing along, like during the aforementioned coffee rant and Da-Da-Da’s, and jumping to the beat with the audience. The audience dies down a bit during “Velcro”, though people are clearly still singing along. Mei’s bandmate transitions from the guitar to a keyboard, likely cuing the fake toy piano instrumentation throughout. “Quarters” is even slower, allowing for many “I love you’s” from the crowd.
But the transition to slower songs in this part of Mei’s set is clearly a strategic move. Mei’s band moved off stage as they were given a ukulele for a quick two-song acoustic set. “To Exist With You” is such a sweet little ditty that your teeth will melt. Parents rock their children back and forth as they sing in unison: “I love to exist with you/I do, I do, I do.” It’s yet another love song that reflects on how lovely it is to be with someone as everything else collapses. “APPLE JUICE” acts as the closer of the acoustic set. Both of these songs, and their ukulele accompaniment, are staples of the early days of Mei’s discography. “APPLE JUICE” did not receive as much love from the crowd as “To Exist With You”, but their themes of companionship tie the two together in the set.
“Are there any artists in the crowd?” Mei asks once their ukulele is taken off stage. “You’re all very pretty!” they [Mei] exclaim. “Well. Do you ever have that moment where you don’t want to be the artist, you want to be the muse?” The crowd screamed in response. “Yeah?” The crowd screamed again. “Me too!” The opening guitar of “Never The Muse” played in the background during the exchange, allowing Mei to immediately open with the lyrics: “Always the artist, never the muse.” If the screams didn’t make clear that the track was a favorite, the audience’s crooning along to it would make it crystal. The refrain of “I’m your muse,” was an easy line to pick out from the crowd, but the chorus was truly the loudest part of the audience’s rendition; “I wanna become all of the rays of the sun/Shining down on your face on a warm day/I wanna be the fresh ocean breeze/Fall to you knees at my feet.” While this song is not strictly about exploring identity, it does raise questions about how a person is perceived. It acts as a perfect marriage between two core themes of Mei’s work, identity, as mentioned earlier, and companionship.
If there’s a hall of fame for songs by Mei about identity, “Tho I’m A Tortoise” is certainly present. Like the set’s opener, “My Only Sense of Purpose”, the track not only tackles identity, but also burnout. Mei makes sure to prelude the song with a warning first. “Take a moment to breathe after burnout,” Mei says. “It’s not that serious, you guys. Whether you’re a tortoise or a hare, we’ve got nothing to prove.” Mei then blew a whistle, signaling the start of “Tho I’m A Tortoise’s” metaphorical race and also the beginning of the song. The song is a play on the Aesop fable about the legendary race between a tortoise and a hare. Mei argues that though they are a tortoise, therefore going slower than any hare in the race, they do not have anything to prove. We set our own pace. We run our own race. We march to the beat of our drum. It’s a cute song, with a good core moment, and plenty of fun moments. I saw multiple concert goers take off their clown party hats and wave them in the air as Mei sang the line: “Bury me in my favorite hat.”
Madilyn Mei performs “The Milk Carton” at The Crocodile. Photo by Megan Lorich.
“Who here likes screaming?” Mei asks. Everyone screamed, as they had been since the set started. “I can tell! Yell on three,” Mei requests. They are referring to a count of “1, 2, 1, 2, 3” they will say later in the song. Preluding the scream that the entire room is now anticipating, Mei vocally glides over the bardic chords of “Kleptomaniacrow”. “Side Quest Song”, the following song, features similar rustic instrumentation. The tune actually appears on an EP by Mei called The Bard, though “Kleptomaniacrow” only exists as a single. Mei’s bandmate took his phone out and turned his flashlight on, causing the audience to quickly follow suit. A concertgoer in front of me takes out his DS to use as a flashlight instead. While taking DS’s to concerts has been a TikTok trend for quite some time, this action truly showed how chronically online most of the teens in the room are. The song quietly ends, but a six-word question from Mei quickly had the crowd shrieking.
“Who wants to be a cowboy?” Mei asks. They receive a thunderous “Yes” from the crowd in the form of, you guessed it, more screaming. But it’s quickly followed by the audience repeating the refrain: “Yippee-ki-yay/Yee-haw/One of those days/Hee-Haw/Yippee-ki-yay/Yee-haw/One of those days.” This is the introduction to yet another song that belongs in the aforementioned “Madilyn Mei Songs About Identity Hall of Fame” – “At Least I’d Be A Cowboy!”. The song not only touches on dealing with swampy mental health, but finding an identity. Mei refutes becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, knowing where the road will take them. Being a cowboy may not change where they end up, but at least it would be a change. It is this chorus that acts as the other line the audience truly embraces: “If I were a cowboy/it wouldn’t change a thing/But at least I’d be a cowboy/At least I’d be a cowboy.” One mom next to me sang this down to her two daughters, rocking them back and forth to the song’s country rattling percussion. This moment, which will likely serve as a core memory for these young girls, seemed like a way for the mom to reassure her daughters that no matter where they end up and who they become, they have someone with them.
There’s subtext in this song that needs to be addressed. While Mei has not specifically announced any gender identity, and should not feel pressured to do so, Mei does use all pronouns (with he/they specifically listed on social media). This means that Mei is part of the LGBTQ+ community, influencing readings of “Cowboy!” to be about the trans experience. Regardless of their intent with the track and their personal identity, Mei has created a song that their very queer audience can relate to. With so many children in the audience with their parents, it is incredibly encouraging to know that not only do parents feel comfortable letting kids be in openly queer spaces, but that they are encouraged to engage with openly queer content.
“The Milk Carton” is probably Mei’s most iconic track. It’s the most-streamed song in their discography on Spotify, reaching almost twenty million streams. Mei is no longer just accompanied by their bandmate, but by two puppets on each hand – a coyote and a cat. The song ramps up in speed, its tempo mimicking the chase mentioned in the song’s lyrics. As Mei sings faster and faster, they encourage the audience to clap along faster and faster. “Sing it! Louder!” the crowd demands. Mei and the audience both yell the final: “Faster!” concluding the song. There is no introduction for “Partner in Crime”, Mei’s second most-streamed song on Spotify. Like many times before during the show, the audience knows exactly when to interact with the song, coming in as though they were queued to laugh evilly. They continue to sing, with certain lines sticking out more than others, though “Partner in Crime” seems to be more “sang-through” than some of the other songs in the set.
“What’s Going On?!” is the true closer of the show, though the concluding track of Act 1, “Intermission (Adieu Until Act 2)”, technically closes out the show. The stage lights redirected and shone down on the crowd, another loud banger for the audience to crow. “What’s Going On?!” is an incredibly wacky track, at least in terms of instrumentation, with its whirling synthesizer. If one focuses solely on lyrics, a deeper meaning is revealed from behind the instrumentation’s hijinks. Mei begins with “I am an alien/My rocket ship is made from human bone and skin.” It immediately sets the tone not just for how metaphorical the song is, but for how disconnected Mei feels from others. Identity as a theme yet again rears its head in Mei’s discography, with a queer reading also being apt for this track. It is singlehandedly the loudest song of the night, several hundred teenagers singing at the top of their lungs this song about not fitting in. The audience was so loud that Mei would later post a recording of that night’s performance of “What’s Going On?!” to their TikTok.
This moment brought me back to the pre-show. As I stood, waiting for Rabbitology to take the stage, I was instantly body-slammed by nostalgia when the opening chords of “Holding on to You” by Twenty One Pilots blasted over the speakers. I had not heard that song since middle school, my angstiest years by far. One line in particular from the track was a life boat for me during the rocky waves of puberty: “Fight it, take the pain, ignite it/Tie a noose around your mind, loose enough to breathe fine and tie it/To a tree, tell it, ‘You belong to me/ This ain’t a noose, this is a leash/And I have news for you, you must obey me.’” Hearing that song for the first time in almost a decade, combined with seeing a crowd of young people who likely feel a similar safety in Mei’s music, stirred some emotion within me. “Why do I feel alien?!” the audience cried with Mei. “We all feel alien at that age,” my brain supplied. But I still screamed the lyrics along with the crowd. Still got to see elementary, middle, and high schoolers feel like they were in a safe place to express how unsafe they felt.
Madilyn Mei has created a beautiful community with their music. Gen Alpha, and to an extent, younger Gen Z, has been stereotyped as a generation of brain rot, of iPad babies, of generative AI. I would argue that the kids present at Mei’s show prove otherwise. I don’t know how their parents have raised them, or if my theory holds any weight, but these parents clearly feel comfortable enough for their children to learn Mei’s lyrics. With parents singing along, they obviously know the big emotions tied to these songs. The crowd of clowns present at the Crocodile show is proof that space is being held for the text, that these kids are forming their own opinions about music, and are learning to be creative on their own. Mei may not know who they are, what’s going on, or where they’ll end up. But from what I’ve seen, they’re an excellent role model for the audience they’ve cultivated. I can’t wait to return to the One Man Circus for Act 2.
Images of parents with their children before, during, and after Madilyn Mei’s performance at the Crocodile. Photos by Megan Lorich, with permission.
*Mei uses they/he pronouns. This article uses “they/them” for consistency. Additionally, “Madilyn Mei” acts as their stage name on all branding, but Mei ultimately goes by “Elio Mei.” Per writing style, this article refers to them by their last name for consistency.
**Rabbitology uses she/they pronouns. This article uses “she/her” for consistency.
