Katie Kauss
NEED TO KNOW
Madde & Tae are going their separate ways, they tell PEOPLE exclusively
Tae Dye Kerr plans to focus on her family, while Maddie Marlow Font will launch a solo career
"We're leaving this so open-ended," Font says. "Absolutely," adds Kerr
Don't call it a breakup, sayMaddie Marlow FontandTae Dye Kerr. But after 15 years as Maddie & Tae, they are about to do something they've never done before: go their separate ways.
The platinum-selling duo share their big news with PEOPLE exclusively as they also reveal their individual plans. Kerr is placing her career on hold for the foreseeable future to focus on her family, which includes her husband, Grammy-winning songwriter-producerJosh Kerr,daughter Leighton,who turns 4 next month, andson Chapel,13 months. And Font is now laying the groundwork for a solo career as she continues to navigate life as a wife to stay-at-homehusband, Jonah Font,and mother to their2-year-old son, Forrest.
"We're leaving this so open-ended because, you know, we might make another record one day," Font, 30, says. "We might go do some tour dates one day."
"Absolutely," Kerr, 30, affirms.
"But just in this season," Font adds, "it doesn't feel aligned for us to do it together."
So is this a pause? A separation? A hiatus?
The two women are struggling with what to call it because, they say, while they may be excising the professional "&" between their names, they also offer wholehearted assurances that the personal "and" remains in place. Their connection, they say, is deep, firm and permanent.
"Even though we're not gonna go on this journey as Maddie & Tae together, we're still walking and doing life together outside of it," says Font. "And I think I'm really excited to just be best friends and nurture our friendship and not have to worry as much about the work and still get to raise our babies together. None of that changes."
Katie Kauss
Yet none of that, they know, takes away from the significance of this decision. There's no denying that this is an ending. And, they share, they have arrived at this place through no small amount of soul-searching and tear-soaked discussion.
"It's been such a hard, hard — honestly, heartbreaking — decision," Kerr confesses. "This was the only dream I've ever had since I exited the womb. I had a very specific vision of creating music and singing music. When we met at 15, that's what we set out to do, and we're both just so grateful that we've had the journey that we've had. This career has been everything we've ever wanted."
But ever since the arrival of their children, the two young moms have been open, in interviews and in song, about their day-to-day struggles to balance their personal and professional lives.
Notably, they channeled their conflicting emotions into "Chasing Babies & Raising Dreams," a standout track on their latest album,Love & Light: "It's tears rolling down backing out of the drive / It never gets easier saying goodbye / To sweet brown eyes begging, 'Momma, please stay' / It's hell on the heart to drive away."
Sometime last year, Font reveals, she felt her first inkling that the family sacrifices, especially on the road, were becoming too much for Kerr.
"I'm a mother, too, so I totally understand the pull," says Font. "We both were very aware of T's heart just not being in touring as much." Meanwhile, Font says, her passion to be onstage and make music remained strong.
Marisa Taylor
Their differences finally came to a head this past September during a phone call. Sensing a moment of truth was upon them, Font pressed Kerr.
"Maddie was just like, 'Tell me where your heart is,'" Kerr remembers. "And I was like, 'My heart is at home.' And she said, 'Okay. Then that's what we need to do.'"
The two women, Kerr says, sobbed through the rest of the conversation. Even today Font tears up as she listens to Kerr recount it.
"We both knew this conversation was coming eventually," says Kerr. "I never imagined it would be on the phone. I always thought we'd get to be in person and hug each other."
Calls to management followed the next day to share the news. "And we've kind of been sitting on this secret for months, which has been hard," Font admits.
Both women say their faith has played an enormous role in their decision-making.
"It's all been where we've been feeling led by God individually," says Kerr. "I think that's what makes it so hard. We've been attached at the hips since we were 15 years old, and we always felt God pull us in the same direction. All of our decisions have been easy."
The two women first met in 2010 through their vocal coach, who was based in Dallas, a halfway point for Font, who grew up in Sugar Land, Texas, and Kerr, who was raised in Ada, Oklahoma. That coach — and their mutual dream of a music career — were the least of what they shared: Together, their voices blended into an unmistakable blood harmony that usually comes with the same family name. Their personalities blended just as effortlessly.
The duo was fused and soon Nashville-bound. In 2014, at age 19, they scored their first No. 1 with their self-written debut single,"Girl in a Country Song,"a saucy sendup of the bro-country craze that had swept the genre.
They've since gone on to notch many more hit singles and a second chart-topper, 2019's"Die from a Broken Heart."Over the years, they've co-written and recorded four albums and four EPs, headlined several tours and supported major acts. Industry accolades have followed: 13 CMA nominations, including 11 for vocal duo of the year (and a win in 2015 for music video); 11 ACM nominations, including nine for duo of the year; and six CMT Awards nominations,winning in 2022 for group video. Just this past May, they achieved another career benchmark, headlining Nashville's Ryman Auditorium.
John Shearer/WireImage
It's a stellar list of accomplishments in the male-dominated country field, made all the more extraordinary given their choice to have children in their 20s, something few successful female country artists have done at their age. Yet they wouldn't have had it any other way.
"I couldn't imagine not having my family," says Font. "Both of us couldn't imagine not choosing that. Babies in your family — there's nothing that tops it. … Our goal was never to be the biggest stars in the world. Our goal was to make music that mattered and impacted people, and we accomplished that …"
"… while having a healthy home life," adds Kerr, ever Font's harmonizer, in conversation, as well as song. "That was always success to us."
Still, Kerr continues, she couldn't help but feel her priorities gradually shifting as she mothered her children. "Life changes, and there're seasons where your family needs you more," she says. "I feel very, very grateful that I am in the position that I get to now choose to stay home and be with my family."
Kyleigh Roberts
If anything, say both women, they hope their own fork in the road will inspire other mothers to feel free to embrace whatever life they lead.
"Motherhood is so hard and so beautiful, and there's no one right way to do it," says Font. "I think it's incredible to decide to take a step back from your career and be a stay-at-home mom. I think it's incredible to be a working mom and still nurture your family and find that balance. We have this opportunity to be an example of both sides, both beautiful and wonderful … "
".. and worth being celebrated," Kerr adds.
"Yes," Font concurs. "No shame."
Today, Kerr's new dream is "becoming the best wife and mother and homemaker that I can," which, she admits, also includes finally learning to cook. "I don't know how," she confesses. "I am genuinely bad. You can ask Josh. He's like, 'You have to pay attention to things when they're cooking.' I either burn them or they're undercooked."
What Kerr looks forward to the most is giving her undivided attention to her son and daughter. "Every single day they're learning something new, doing something new," she says. "And I'm just trying to soak it all up."
When Kerr thinks about the day when Leighton is old enough to understand the choices that women have to face, she says she knows how she will explain this decision: "I'll tell her that I had a really, really big dream that God put on my heart, and I chased it down to the best of my abilities with my very best friend in the world. And then one day I saw that she was growing up right in front of my eyes, and I just couldn't miss another second."
Kyleigh Roberts
Meanwhile, Font expresses as much anticipation over the working-mom path she's about to chart. "I keep saying I have a fire the size of Texas under my ass that just will not go out," she says. "And I think that's what keeps me going."
As her family's primary breadwinner, Font also has a more practical incentive to pursue a solo career: "Momma gotta make some money!" She readily acknowledges that her husband's decision to carry the weight of their domestic responsibilities allows her to "keep doing what I love."
Font is now writing songs for her first solo project with new releases anticipated "sometime next year," she says.
Though she grants that much of the music will have echoes of the duo's pop-country sound, she also says, "I'm dipping my toe in some gospel sounds and a little bit of that R&B-soul thing that I love. But I think my heart is just in making impactful music that reaches people."
Marisa Taylor
Of course, what will be missing from the new music is Kerr's seamless harmonies, though Font says they'll never be too distant. "With writing, I naturally hear what T would sing," she says. "The spirit of T is gonna be in everything I do."
She also reveals she's already asked Kerr if she'd consider making a guest appearance in the recording studio. "Of course I said yes,'" says Kerr.
Still, Kerr says, most of her singing will be reserved for her family's ears. "Bath time is my showtime," she says with a laugh. "Between my husband and me and my daughter, we're constantly singing. We live in a musical home."
While songwriting is more compatible with an at-home lifestyle, Kerr says she's also planning to backburner that activity for the time being. "Whatever God presents to me, I'm open," she says. "I might hop on some of my husband's projects. That would be so fun."
Courtesy Maddie & Tae
With the sharing of this life-changing news, Font and Kerr are now bracing themselves for their fans' reaction — something they consider among the hardest parts of this chapter-ending process.
"I just want to make sure that our fans know how much we love them and how grateful we are for them," says Font. "We have kept doing this for so long because of them. They have been the gasoline in our tank."
Knowing there will be "a lot of disappointment," as Kerr says, the two are already planning "some fun surprises" on the duo's final dates. They still have about a dozen shows on their calendar through mid-June.
But, Font says, they won't be calling it a "farewell" tour, which "feels a little too dramatic."
Courtesy Maddie & Tae
If anything, the two women have prided themselves over the years in creating their own no-drama zone, which is one of the reasons they have resisted calling this a "breakup."
"It sounds so dramatic, and we don't want it to feel that way," Font says. "You've seen other duos that break up, and they hate each other and blah-blah-blah. I know the world's probably ready for us to hate each other, especially because we're women. That just happens for some reason. And that's why we want to do it this way, to show what it looks like to be two strong, independent, loving women that …"
"… are embarking on separate journeys," Kerr says, once again seamlessly finishing her best friend's thought. Then, poignantly, she adds: "But still together."
Courtesy Maddie & Tae
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