Singer Maddie Zahm’s raw, musical confession is inspiring others to come out this Pride.
Zahm previously auditioned for American Idol season 16 where she made it through a few rounds before being eliminated. The Idaho native has since been pouring her heart out in her music, even nabbing a TikTok hit with her song about body acceptance, “Fat Funny Friend.” But in May, she struck another chord with her followers when she dropped a snippet of the life-changing single “You Might Not Like Her.”
“Hi TikTok, watch the moment I finally admit to myself things I’ve been hiding too long,” Zahm wrote.
Zahm lip-synced to her own song, and the lyrics were a cathartic gut-punch:
“Someday you’ll kiss a girl, and you’ll panic / Some guy will break your heart, and you’ll feel manic / Then you’ll learn to let people have their opinions / And talk about your traumas / And like the body you live in.”
“Someday you’ll learn to keep your own secrets / Say you’re doing OK and really mean it / You’ll lose your faith a bit and question if she’s you / And for a while, you might not like her / But I do.”
In the comment section, she made the perfect joke about the yet-to-be-released bop, “This song may not be out, but at least I am.”
TikTokers have embraced Zahm’s song as the perfect soundtrack to their own experiences of coming out. It has been used in over 8,600 videos.
“I was married to my ex-husband for 6 months before I told him I was a lesbian,” Anna Muller said in a video. “We had been together for 6 years prior. We had a baby and created a life and family together. I did everything society told me to. I followed the rules I saw in my environment, and even though I knew I liked girls, I didn’t consider not liking men was an option.”
She explained after an “identity crisis,” she split from her husband, and now she gets to take herself to Pride.
“This song made me emotional thinking back on my self-discovery journey, so I figured I’d take you guys with me,” @ericavotta said in a video.
“This song is the healing therapy I needed for Pride month,” @pipercj wrote in a caption.
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