After beginning their career with Big Machine Label Group, Maddie & Tae are now part of the Universal Music Group family. The country duo shared the news with The Boot at the 2017 Taste of Country Music Festival.

Maddie & Tae's new record deal hasn't officially been announced yet, but it is official. Maddie Marlow and Tae Dye are playing a UMG Nashville show at the 2017 CMA Music Festival on Saturday (June 10), and a press release is coming soon.

"We kind of had to, like, be in hiding for a little while," Marlow tells The Boot. "Whenever you're leaving some place and going to another place, it's just -- it gets a little crazy."

Maddie & Tae's new record deal is good news for fans who have been waiting for the duo's sophomore album, too. Marlow and Dye have been meeting with the UMG Nashville team, "just talking about the direction for the second album," Dye says; they've also been writing and will continue to do so "up until the last minute when we go into the recording studio."

There's no set timeline, yet, for Maddie & Tae's sophomore album, though they'd "love" to have something out this year and are "working as hard as we can," Dye says. She and Marlow have been thinking about possible first singles, however. Their favorite contenders change daily, Marlow says: "They're all your babies," she explains, "and you love 'em equally."

Late last year, Marlow and Dye began sharing new songs during their live shows; most recently, they played an unreleased song called "Somebody Will" at the Grand Ole Opry. The two artists admit that they were hoping to have a single out at the beginning of this year, "and then, you know, sometimes things just happen, and your plan kind of gets interrupted," Marlow says.

"But in a great way," Marlow is quick to add. "Our team [at UMG Nashville] is really allowing us to grow up and not shy away from the more mature side of us."

Maddie & Tae released their freshman album, Start Here, in August of 2015.

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