Ace is the third[b] studio album by American musician Madison Cunningham. It was released on October 10, 2025,[2] through Verve Forecast Records. The album was produced by Cunningham alongside Robbie Lackritz. "My Full Name" was released as the album's lead single on August 15, 2025, followed by "Wake" (featuring Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes) on September 12.[3][4]
An official album "bio" for Ace states that the majority of the songs on the album were written in August 2024 following a period of writer's block, and deal with themes of heartbreak, betrayal, and falling in and out of love.[6] Additionally, Cunningham described the album as "the first record that's ever felt like mine from start to finish. It was as light to make as its subject matter was heavy."[7] Cunningham performed much of the new material live throughout early 2025, before the album had been announced.[8]
Cunningham wrote "Wake" while in Nashville during a blizzard in January; the song stemmed from experimentation with a new alternate tuning on guitar. The final recording is a duet with Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes and also features prominent upright bass played by Daniel Rhine.[9] Cunningham described the track as a "song about reflection, about looking in the rearview mirror and seeing someone wasn't right for you all along."[10]
Lead single "My Full Name" was included on "best songs of the week" lists published by Consequence and Paste. Consequence called the song "as warm as it is sad", praising it as "delicate" and "absolutely lovely".[2] Writing for Paste, Camryn Teder praised the lyrics, calling them "as simultaneously sprawling and intimate as an ancient work of poetry", while declaring the song as a whole to be "swelling with heart and emotion".[16]
Upon release, Ace received positive reviews from critics. Writing for Paste, Caroline Nieto gave the album a rating of 8 out of 10, declaring it to be Cunningham's best release to date.[14]
↑ Strings recorded at Smilo Sound in Brooklyn, NY.
↑ Ace is officially considered to be Cunningham's third studio album. However, it is her fourth if her since-deleted 2014 album Authenticity is included.
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