Alt-pop artist Mackenzie Day is an upcoming singer-songwriter who hopes to empower and heal others through her therapeutic songwriting process. The Boston-based, San Diego raised artist believes in the power of art and the power of words and tries to incorporate other artists’ gifts into her own art.
The 22-year-old is authentic, non-conforming, and an open book who is unfiltered and unapologetic with a lot to say. Furthermore, she doesn’t shy away from subjects like waking up from denial, promoting self-worth, and toxic relationships. Her sound is reminiscent of Miley Cyrus and Avril Lavinge with commanding vocals accompanied by authentic lyricism.
Mackenzie grew up in a household where the music of alt/rock bands like Green Day, Van Halen, Foo Fighters, and others was playing constantly. Her father and grandfather would also play live sets in their backyard. The drums caught Mackenzie’s attention at age 7 after watching her father’s band. They were the first instrument she took lessons for. She was in an all-girl band by age nine and her father taught her guitar at age 14. But her favorite instrument is the piano because it draws her in and helps her to convey her deeper emotions when she’s conflicted.
The recent Berklee School of Music graduate released the lead single, My Psychic Said, from her forthcoming sophomore album on May 1st. The song, inspired by a reoccurring dream, is a story of a runaway bride who shapes her own destiny. Mackenzie says the song feels like it’s the first step to bringing her childhood into her music. Her previous single, Breathe Out, written with best friend Lizzy McAlpine, racked up almost 86K streams, making it one of her most-streamed songs in her catalog.
I recently interviewed Mackenzie about the inspiration behind her latest single, working with industry-recognized assistant engineer/vocal engineer Travis Heidelman, the biggest challenge in her career so far, writing Breathe Out with Lizzy McAlpine, healing and empowering others through her therapeutic songwriting, her musical icon inspirations, and so much more.
Congratulations on the release of your new single, “My Psychic Said”! Tell us more about the recurring dream that inspired you to write the song. What is the message that you would like for listeners to take away from it?
I was having a bunch of dreams about my ex-boyfriend during the thick of the pandemic in the summer of 2020. Specifically, there was one dream that kept cycling for what felt like a month. I was having multiple dreams where we were in a car just screaming at each other, and it was happening so much I truly felt something needed to be done. It’s actually what prompted me to reach out to my ex again during that time too.
I reached out to my friend whose mom was friends with a psychic, and the psychic told me recurring dreams typically mean there’s shared energy between two people. A year later, I had a class at Berklee where we were assigned to write a song based on another student’s song, and one of the girls in my class had this line about how dreams can tell the future. It instantly took me back to the conversation I had with my psychic about my dreams, and it fully inspired the start of all the ideas.
This new song was produced by Travis Heidelman, the Assistant Engineer/Vocal Engineer for Claire Rosinkranz, who is “recognized and lauded by industry professionals”. Describe your experience working with Travis.
It truly feels like a blessing to have met Travis. We were both selected to take a class at Berklee where songwriter, Kara Dioguardi, hand-picked songwriters, and producers to be in a collaborative environment where we had weekly co-writes and brought fully-produced songs to class the next week. When Travis and I met, there was this instant understanding of friendship, as well as someone I felt could be an amazing collaborator.
Travis’s ability to make an already emotional song more emotional, and tell a story with the production stuck out to me. From the moment I met him, I knew in my gut he was someone who could be a great producer on a lot of my songs. He’s been a killer producer, mixer, and such an overall help for my entire album project I’ve been working on this past year.
Since Travis and I have also built a friendship, we’re able to be fully transparent and honest when it comes to both of our visions. It’s just been such a blessing to have gotten to know him and work with him. Something we’ve always said to each other is that we only make bangers together, and I have to agree with that.
How does “My Psychic Said”, the lead single from your forthcoming sophomore album, rush in a new era of music for you as a songwriter?
“My Psychic Said” feels like my first step toward bringing my childhood into my music. I grew up with alternative/rock bands constantly playing in my house — Green Day, Van Halen, Foo Fighters, etc. One of my professors at Berklee talked about the importance of bringing all of the parts of ourselves into our art, and it took me all four years to finally figure that out for myself. The act of including all of my past and influences into one inspired piece of music has been my favorite part of this project.
You and your best friend Lizzy McAlpine collaborated on your previous track, “Breathe Out”, which to date has racked up almost 86K streams. Describe your collaboration process from developing song ideas to writing to recording together.
“Breathe Out” was such a fun song to create. I remember being inspired lyrically by a song by Sam Smith and Yebba called “No Peace.” I came to Lizzy with all the lyrics I had started writing, and we went to a Berklee College of Music practice room to work on it more together. She started playing the piano and I started improvising my lyrics to melody with what she was doing. It was a super fast process where she laid down keys and her authentic Lizzy chord progressions, and I put my lyrics on top and a song was just created. I feel so blessed to have that memory from my Freshman year, and now “Breathe Out” is one of the most-streamed songs in my catalog!
Explain your production process.
Recently, I’ve become so much more aware of production elements than I used to be. As a writer, when I create, it’s always me and an instrument, usually either piano or guitar. However, as I’ve been growing and developing into the artist I’ve been trying to find within myself, I’ve found that when I write a song, I already have some sort of idea of where I want the direction of the production to go. Travis knew exactly how to convey my message and story through production in “My Psychic Said.”
What is your favorite microphone or instrument to use in the studio or on stage and why?
My favorite instrument that I tend to find myself pulled to the most is the piano. I love playing my grandma’s grand piano every time I’m home. There’s something really raw and beautiful about a grand or upright piano, and to me, it just feels emotional. It seems like the perfect instrument to help me convey my deeper emotions when I feel conflicted.
Take us through your songwriting process from an idea to the finished song.
It’s honestly always different. Most of the time, I have to go to my piano or guitar due to the fact I’m feeling some sort of overpowering emotion. A lot of the time, I write because I need an outlet to help me convey the way I’m feeling about something, and by writing about it, the release follows. I’ll often just sit with my instrument and improvise — improvisation is a huge part of my writing. Other times, words and thoughts just come to me from nowhere, and I’m always writing things down in those moments because you never know what you could turn into a song. I tend to like writing alone because to me it’s such a personal, vulnerable experience, and I feel able to express my truth within my music a lot more when it’s just me, myself, and the piano.
Tell us about your musical journey from when you first got interested in music up through the present.
Music has always been a part of me for as long as I can remember, and I feel beyond grateful for that. I grew up in a musical household where my dad was constantly blasting rock-n-roll tunes in the living room or playing live sets with my grandpa in the backyard. It’s funny because when I watched my dad’s band, the instrument that most intrigued me at seven years old was the drums! That was the first instrument I took lessons for, and eventually, I played drums in an all-girls band called the “M Girls” when I was nine.
I began writing songs all the time as a little girl — singing around the house, making up words, and writing them down in my journals. Since drums were the only instrument I knew how to play at first, a lot of my first songs were a capella. It wasn’t until I was fourteen in 8th grade that my dad started teaching me the guitar, and that truly began my entire songwriting adventure.
At that same time, things around the house were becoming a lot different, and my parents were going to therapy, so I used writing music as literally my own therapy. It’s been the only way I know how to confront my emotions and even try to understand them myself. It was when I was seventeen that I learned Berklee College of Music was a thing and had a songwriting major. I knew I had to go, and I’m fortunate enough to say I went and just recently graduated.
Describe how you like to incorporate other artists’ gifts within your own art.
I truly believe a big part of music’s power is within collaboration. It’s important to include people in your art who connect with it because they have a different perspective and could end up bringing something into the music you couldn’t even imagine.
As individuals and creatives, we all bring new experiences, perspectives, and ideas to the table, so with that, I love to give people the freedom to do their own creative thing within my own.
For example, in my upcoming album, most of my friends are all incorporated in some way, either playing sax, keys, guitars, drums, bass, etc. I communicate my vision but I’m also curious to hear what they hear based on what I’ve given them. I like to allow their own vision to shine through within mine, and create art by adding lots of other minds and ideas to my music.
Give specific examples of how you draw your inspiration from Amy Winehouse, Miley Cyrus, Jazmine Sullivan.
Amy Winehouse was always so inspiring to me as a young girl in high school. It feels like I grew up listening to her. I loved the way her lyrics seemed so personal and authentic to her and who she was as a writer. I’m a very lyric-driven artist, and Amy (Winehouse) inspired me to step out of my comfort zone and get real with what it is I have to say.
Miley Cyrus is an evolving artist, and I watched her find her sound throughout my childhood. Cyrus has inspired me a lot with her new project “Plastic Hearts,” where she fully stepped away from what everyone else wanted to put out the sound she wanted. That’s how I feel about my new music and where I’m going with my sound. I think it’s important to remember that even our influences are constantly evolving, and their sound does too.
Jazmine Sullivan is part of the R&B influence that I find creeps into my music, her lyrics, her melodies — her power. Overall, I find so many different sounds and genres I connect with and yearn to include in my own sound.
How do you hope to be able to heal and empower others through your therapeutic writing process?
I think music is a universal gift and something we’re all able to connect with, sing to, dance to, and cry to. As my writing is my own form of therapy, I bring that authentic presence to my music, and I hope my realness and raw approach to songwriting carries a strength people will connect with. Art is so powerful; it’s what has kept so many people alive, and it’s kept the world from completely losing it at moments. I hope to leave some sort of imprint within the music I create and the way people perceive and understand it themselves.
Other than the pandemic, what has been the biggest challenge or obstacle of your music career so far? How did you overcome it?
It’s important to reconcile the kinds of people you’ll meet along the way, including people who will want to make you feel small or less than. I dealt with a really uncomfortable situation with a prior producer who was basically a gross dude, and at the end of the day, he probably didn’t even work with me for the music purpose. Sometimes, men within or even beyond this industry sexualize or use women. I was very manipulated and used by this guy who was my producer for a prior project, and it was a really uncomfortable position and situation to be in.
How do you think women artists can be better supported in the indie music industry?
Stream, post, share, and support your women artists period. It’s that simple, and I wish more people realized how much work women are putting into their music and HAVE to put in due to being in a male-dominated music industry.
What does it mean to you personally to be an indie music woman artist?
It means stepping out of the box people wanted to put you in and creating an authentic sound to you. It also means not being afraid of what people will think of your music, because you love it and you love the sound you’ve created through finding different parts of you and combining them into one sound. It’s to create music without fear and truly throw yourself into your art
What advice would you give to young women who are thinking about a career in music?
Do it and don’t give up. You can accomplish anything if you don’t give up on yourself because if you don’t give up on yourself, you can create anything for yourself. Stop listening to everyone else who thinks they should have an opinion on what you can and can’t do and just go fucking do it.
What are your plans for a tour or have any upcoming performances?
I’ve been hyper-focused on my upcoming album, and my main focus has become finishing the production and all the details and final touches. I’m still finalizing my performance plans, but I hope to be performing everywhere and anywhere I can once I move to LA at the end of this summer.
What other projects are you working on this year?
I’ve been writing a lot this entire year, so I already have an idea for the next project of songs I want to release. What I know for sure is with each day and each song, I’m finding myself and the kind of music and statements I want to be making as an independent artist a bit more.
Keep up to date with and follow Mackenzie on her Website, Spotify Artists Page, Instagram, YouTube, and Apple Music