Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your childhood impacted your musical direction?
A: I grew up all over the place. From Atlanta, to Minneapolis, to The Philippines, it felt like my family was always on the move. It was exciting, and as hard as it was at times, the wanderlust and adventure from those years definitely makes itself apparent in my music today. My mother is a musician herself (a sax player and a DJ) with a wide music taste, which meant I grew up with a pretty thorough musical education. From 1950s Rock n Roll to Glam Rock, to 90s Alt, to good old fashioned Folk music, I heard it all. I used to love wandering around my wooded backyard and singing stories to myself – that’s where it all started for me. When I was around 8 years old I wrote one of those stories down for the first time. I think experiencing so many different people, places, and music as I was growing up has led me into a love affair with storytelling. There’s always something to be gained by really digging into the core of a thing and finding out why it is the way it is. That’s what drives my storytelling.
Q: How are you planning on growing your fan base and sharing your music with the world? What message do you have for anyone who is about to discover “Mackenzie Miller”?
A: I love doing live shows, and I believe that’s where my strength is. I would love to go on tour opening for other artists and connect with people out in the world. Personal connection is so important, and we’ve been missing it, I think. The main message that I’ve always wanted to get across is that you’re not alone. We all feel scared and lonely and even stupid sometimes, but those things feel a lot less intimidating when we’re connecting with each other through music.
Q: Who is the most inspiring artist for you right now? And where do you find inspiration for making music?
A: I’ve really been loving Sabrina Carpenter lately! Her music is so much fun and the sound of her older albums has been inspiring me lately. Inspiration is a funny thing though. It’s definitely something you have to chase around with a club and wrestle into submission sometimes! I look to nature a lot for my inspiration – there’s something so pure and ancient about water, trees, and sky. I feel like there’s a lot of wisdom there I can learn from and infuse into my writing.
Q: Can you tell us about the story or message behind the album, “Peninsula.”?
A: This album came out of an existential crisis where I felt like I had no direction in my life or music anymore. I spent a lot of time while in music school teaching myself how to write pop music for other people, which has never been my natural tendency. Suddenly I felt like I had no idea who I was and what I was even doing anymore. That’s when the word ‘peninsula’ seemed to magically come to me, and I knew it would be a project that would help me find my way back to myself. The album deals with themes of self discovery, vulnerability, questioning what the point is, and a little bit of heartbreak and longing for who you were before. The process of making the album was transformative to me, and I feel like a totally different person on the other side of it. It was 100% a healing experience and I just feel like this album needed to be made in order for me to move forward as an artist.
Q: How would you describe your sound in one word for potential listeners?
A: Shimmery
Q: Did you face any challenges while writing or recording “Peninsula”?
A: Absolutely! I think in any project there are bound to be challenges. Recording an album is a big feat, and there were definitely times I felt like giving up. My producer and I recorded most of the album in his apartment in Capitol Hill, Seattle in the dead of summer with no A/C. It was brutal! Jealousy was a hard one for us while we were arranging. I originally wrote the song on piano, but had envisioned it as a rock-leaning electric guitar led song. We worked it for weeks, and it just wasn’t sounding how we wanted it to sound. Eventually we took it back to the keyboard and it just worked.
Some songs tell you what they want to be, not the other way around. Jealousy 100% knew what it was meant to be!
Q: What is the message of your music? And what are your goals as an artist?
A: I think the message of my music is to find what makes you happy and then do it, be it, live it. Life is far too short to do anything you don’t love. My goals as an artist are to connect with people and touch as many lives with my music as I possibly can while I’m here on this earth. I would love to create a world where those of us who have always felt misunderstood can come together and be understood and heard for who they are.
Q: Who is your dream artist to collaborate with? (dead or alive)
A: Taylor Swift, no question. She’s my hero.
Q: What is your advice for people interested in pursuing music as a career or for those trying to enter the industry?
A: Make sure you have a clear vision of who you are before anything else. It’s so easy to lose sight of that, but you are your own guiding light. Be you and make what you love!
Q: If you could go back in time and give a younger you some words of wisdom, what would they be?
A: Listen to the people who care about you, and don’t give any attention to those who would see you fail.
