Mackenzie Nicole On Why Her Album ‘The Edge’ is an ‘Invitation’ to Listeners
April 29, 2018Mackenzie Nicole On Why Her Album ‘The Edge’ is an ‘Invitation’ to Listeners
April 29, 2018 
Mackenzie Nicole’s album “The Edge” is finally here, and we’re guessing you’ll have this one on repeat for a long, long time.
We caught up with the 18-year-old artist about her “dark pop” sound, the real-time breakup documented in the album and why her music is “less of an announcement and more of an invitation.” Check it out!
TigerBeat: What role did music play in your life growing up?
Mackenzie: Music has always been at the core of my life, since I was essentially born into a record label. Strange Music started in the basement of my childhood home, and I spent my childhood going on tours across the country and recording songs with my label mates Tech N9ne. I’ve also been classically trained singing opera in several languages since I was six years old, and I play piano and a little bit of guitar.
“I didn’t realize until I got older how much music meant to me, because it was just like breathing.”
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TigerBeat: Do you remember your very first performance?
Mackenzie: I was three years old and my parents and I were at an Italian restaurant where there was a guy playing piano and singing. I raised my hand when he asked for volunteers to sing, and parents were like, “Are you sure you want to let her sing? She won’t come back if you give her the mic!” He took me up there, and he cut me off about six songs in, halfway through a show-stopping performance of “Little Bunny Foo Foo.” I think that’s further proof of how much I’ve loved performing my entire life.
TigerBeat: How would you describe your sound as an artist?
Mackenzie: I’m an opera singer on a hip-hop label named after a rock band and I’m making pop music. The best way to describe my sound is to steal a term my girl Dua Lipa used to describe her music: Dark Pop. It gives me the idea that she and Halsey and a bunch of other current artists are all in this coven of mystic pop princesses, and I kind of want to join it. I’m really trying to pay homage to my background while laying the foundation for the career I want to have in the future.
🖤 track # 6 "That Bad" from my album #TheEdge !! Which song is your favorite so far??
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TigerBeat: A lot of your dark edge comes from your lyrics. What inspires your songwriting?
Mackenzie: This album was definitely a stretch away from the typical writing I do. All of the songs, except for one, are about the same guy I was in a really messy two year relationship with. In 12 studio days, we recorded 12 songs, and during that time, this guy and were having one of our last on-and-off again moments. In the album, you can hear the stages of our relationship happening as the songs are being written. When I actually documented it all and looked back it on the album, it made me realize I hated this relationship more than I knew, and I deserved it less than I could have imagined.
“There are songs that people who know me will recognize, and people who don’t know me will identify with.”
#THEEDGE without even trying… 😏 11 days until my debut album (!!!)
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TigerBeat: What are you most excited about for this album release?
Mackenzie: Now that this era has come to fruition for me as an artist, I’m really excited to start working on how I’m going to craft the next one. I’m always excited to create and to see how exposing what we’re just created will inspire me to create more and learn from it. What I do is like a form of therapy. I talk about my problems or my feelings, and someone is listening. They respond to it, and what I get from that is a better understanding of the world, of my life and of their life. I’m excited for all the people this album could potentially introduce me to, because that’s my favorite thing about music. As an artist, there’s no way to describe the amount of love you get until you feel it.
“No one performs because they feel confident. You perform because you’re shouting into the void and hoping something echoes back.”
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TigerBeat: What is the message you hope people take away from the album?
Mackenzie: I don’t do art because I want to say something. I do art because I want to hear something back. I’m just trying to understand how to be a human being, like we all are, and the best way to do that is to interact with other human beings. I hope when they experience this album, it will start a dialogue and we can share and enjoy things together. The message of the album is less of an announcement and more of an invitation.
Check out the album on Spotify below!
More music: Watch Why Don’t We tell the true story behind “Trust Fund Baby.”