Maddie & Tae burst onto the country music scene in 2014 with their debut single, "Girl in a Country Song," which quickly shot to No. 1 and became a platinum-selling hit -- an impressive start for the female duo, whose members were 18 years old when the song was all over the airwaves. Since then, Maddie Marlow and Tae Dye have matured, both as individuals and as artists, and as the two young women prepare to release their sophomore album, they are eager to show listeners their evolution.

"I feel like it’s even more special this time, because, the first album, we didn’t know what we were doing. But now, we really had to work, within a year, to make sure that we have captured this second chapter perfectly," Marlow tells The Boot. "We are weirdo perfectionists, so there’s a lot of anxiety and a lot of stress behind it to make sure we have the best music for our fans, because that’s what they deserve."

Adds Dye, "We’re so anxious though. We say this all the time, but we’re so appreciative of everyone being patient along the process, because I know that a lot of people wonder, ‘What are you guys doing?’ I promise, we’re trying to make this record as good as it can be.

"We’re at a new stage in our lives," Dye continues. "We’re 21 now ... We’re not full-grown adults, but we’re definitely at a different stage, and we’re experiencing different things. We’re both very much in love, and so we’re trying to capture that emotion."

Just as with Start Here, Maddie & Tae plan to write all of the songs on their next set of tunes.

"Writing is probably one of our favorite parts of the entire process, because it really is just us going into a room and telling our co-writers what’s going on in our lives and making a song about that, and it’s really special," explains Dye. "That’s one of the ways we get to connect with our fans, too. When we write a song and we send it to them, or it’s out on the album, and they tell us their story that relates to that, it’s so special.

"Right now, we’ve written every song on the second album," Dye adds. "We’ve always said, we’re not completely shut off to the idea of taking an outside song, but it has to really stop us dead in our tracks."

Marlow and Dye have also found another way to be involved in their fans' lives; a brand-new fashion line, AQUA x Maddie & Tae, at Bloomingdale's.

"It’s a different way to express yourself; it’s a different creative outlet," Marlow muses; explains Dye, "The clothes really represented us and our style and what we wear on a day-to-day basis."

A new album, tour and fashion line would be enough to keep any savvy entrepreneur busy, and that's especially true for Maddie & Tae. The business world, they admit, is one they're still trying to figure out.

"When you have great people around you, you make good decisions. But it is hard, just having that much -- we employ 15 people, and we’re in charge of all these different things," Malow admits. "It’s not just going onstage and performing ... We’re songwriters, and we have merch, we have the tour bus; we have all these different responsibilities -- which is awesome; that’s what we signed up for -- but it does get tricky sometimes.

"When you’re young, you don’t have as much experience, and that’s kind of what we struggled with the first year," Marlow continues. "We both are really intrigued by the business side, and we educate ourselves as much as we can. But after having two and a half years under our belt, we know how to communicate with people properly, and how to make the right decision, just to look at things from all different angles ... Sometimes, as artists, you’re super creative and super artsy, and so you’re only thinking in that way ... You have to gain wisdom from everyone around you, and trust that you’re doing the right thing."

Maddie & Tae hope to have a new single out this spring. Start Here is available for purchase on Amazon.

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