Latest news with #Immune
Gulf Today
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
McRae makes authentic folk-pop the internet can't resist
As the COVID-19 vaccine began distributing more widely in early 2021, California-raised singer-songwriter Jensen McRae affectionally joked in a tweet that Phoebe Bridgers would release a song in two years about 'hooking up in the car while waiting in line to get vaccinated at Dodger Stadium.' Bridgers didn't release the song, but McRae did. As the tweet took off, she threaded a video of herself singing 'a preemptive cover.' 'Immune,' penned by McRae in Bridgers' contemplative style, was released in full within two weeks. 'It was a perfect storm,' McRae, 27, said. 'I was parodying Phoebe Bridgers who was becoming world famous in that exact moment. ... I was also writing about this topic that everyone was thinking about constantly because we were in lockdowns.' Bridgers reposted the video, writing simply: 'oh my god.' The song preluded McRae's debut EP, released in 2021, and album, in 2022, which led to touring gigs with Muna and Noah Kahan. Last year, she signed with Dead Oceans, the same record label that represents Bridgers. McRae's sophomore album, the folk-pop 'I Don't Know How, But They Found Me!,' is out Friday. The title is a reference to 'Back to The Future,' her favourite movie. It's a line of dialogue said by scientist Doc Brown just before he falls in a hail of bullets, causing protagonist Marty McFly to flee back in time in Brown's rigged DeLorean. 'At the end of the movie — which, there's no spoilers, because this movie's 40 years old — you find out (Doc) was wearing a bulletproof vest the whole time. And that to me sort of is what my 20s have been like. There are all these events that are happening that feel like they should take me out, but I just keep standing up anyway,' McRae said. 'That's kind of the narrative of the album.' Resilience has long been a motif in McRae's songwriting. Her debut album, 'Are You Happy Now?', deftly tackled sexual predators and racist microaggressions with poetic meditations on identity, love, growth and beauty. On the album's most-streamed song, the ballad 'My Ego Dies in the End,' she sings, 'If I don't write about it, was it really worth it?' 'There's this quote that I can't cite, but someone said, as a writer, you've experienced enough by the age of 25 to have writing material for the rest of your life. I don't know if everyone agrees with that statement, but I certainly do,' McRae said. It's years of practice, and reflection, that have brought clarity to those experiences. 'I Don't Know How But They Found Me!' is composed of songs McRae wrote throughout her early 20s, in the wake of one relationship and the rise and fall of another. She finished the album last spring in North Carolina with producer Brad Cook, a collaborator of Bon Iver, Waxahatchee and Suki Waterhouse. The 10 days they spent on the record, McRae said, were 'a master class.' 'Jensen flat out blew me away on every single level,' said Cook, who met McRae for the first time when she arrived for the session. 'I got a master class from her as well, frankly. Jensen's just so organized, emotionally and spiritually, it was just really easy to go where the songs needed to go.' A video of McRae singing the first verse of her song ' Massachusetts,' accrued millions of TikTok views in the fall of 2023, well before it was released in full in July 2024. While the internet's interest in 'Immune' two years prior was momentarily destabilizing ('There's a meme of Patrick (from 'SpongeBob') coming home to his rock, and there are all these eyes poking out and he goes, 'Who are you people?' That was what I felt like,' McRae says), its embrace of 'Massachusetts' was confusing for other reasons. McRae was in the process of making this album, and the snippet she shared felt separate from the narrative she was constructing. Despite an onslaught of comments from listeners asking for the full song, she considered leaving it unreleased or tabling it for much later. Associated Press
Japan Today
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
Jensen McRae makes authentic folk-pop the internet can't resist
By ELISE RYAN As the COVID-19 vaccine began distributing more widely in early 2021, California-raised singer-songwriter Jensen McRae affectionally joked in a tweet that Phoebe Bridgers would release a song in two years about 'hooking up in the car while waiting in line to get vaccinated at Dodger Stadium.' Bridgers didn't release the song, but McRae did. As the tweet took off, she threaded a video of herself singing 'a preemptive cover." 'Immune,' penned by McRae in Bridgers' contemplative style, was released in full within two weeks. 'It was a perfect storm,' McRae, 27, told The Associated Press. 'I was parodying Phoebe Bridgers who was becoming world famous in that exact moment. ... I was also writing about this topic that everyone was thinking about constantly because we were in lockdowns." Bridgers reposted the video, writing simply: 'oh my god.' The song preluded McRae's debut EP, released in 2021, and album, in 2022, which led to touring gigs with Muna and Noah Kahan. Last year, she signed with Dead Oceans, the same record label that represents Bridgers. McRae's sophomore album, the folk-pop 'I Don't Know How, But They Found Me!,' is out Friday. The title is a reference to 'Back to The Future,' her favorite movie. It's a line of dialogue said by scientist Doc Brown just before he falls in a hail of bullets, causing protagonist Marty McFly to flee back in time in Brown's rigged DeLorean. 'At the end of the movie — which, there's no spoilers, because this movie's 40 years old — you find out (Doc) was wearing a bulletproof vest the whole time. And that to me sort of is what my 20s have been like. There are all these events that are happening that feel like they should take me out, but I just keep standing up anyway," McRae said. 'That's kind of the narrative of the album.' Resilience has long been a motif in McRae's songwriting. Her debut album, 'Are You Happy Now?', deftly tackled sexual predators and racist microaggressions with poetic meditations on identity, love, growth and beauty. On the album's most-streamed song, the ballad 'My Ego Dies in the End,' she sings, 'If I don't write about it, was it really worth it?' "There's this quote that I can't cite, but someone said, as a writer, you've experienced enough by the age of 25 to have writing material for the rest of your life. I don't know if everyone agrees with that statement, but I certainly do,' McRae said. It's years of practice, and reflection, that have brought clarity to those experiences. 'I Don't Know How But They Found Me!' is composed of songs McRae wrote throughout her early 20s, in the wake of one relationship and the rise and fall of another. She finished the album last spring in North Carolina with producer Brad Cook, a collaborator of Bon Iver, Waxahatchee and Suki Waterhouse. The 10 days they spent on the record, McRae said, were 'a master class.' 'Jensen flat out blew me away on every single level," said Cook, who met McRae for the first time when she arrived for the session. 'I got a master class from her as well, frankly. Jensen's just so organized, emotionally and spiritually, it was just really easy to go where the songs needed to go." A video of McRae singing the first verse of her song ' Massachusetts," accrued millions of TikTok views in the fall of 2023, well before it was released in full in July 2024. While the internet's interest in 'Immune" two years prior was momentarily destabilizing ('There's a meme of Patrick (from 'SpongeBob') coming home to his rock, and there are all these eyes poking out and he goes, 'Who are you people?' That was what I felt like,' McRae says), its embrace of 'Massachusetts' was confusing for other reasons. McRae was in the process of making this album, and the snippet she shared felt separate from the narrative she was constructing. Despite an onslaught of comments from listeners asking for the full song, she considered leaving it unreleased or tabling it for much later. Then she got a huge cosign. 'When Justin Bieber posted about it, I was like, well, you forced my hand," McRae laughs. 'So then I changed course.' The solution, she realized, was that 'Massachusetts" — a song about the specific memories that don't leave you when a relationship ends — would be the conclusion to the album's story. Cook kept the song's production minimal, centering McRae's vocals and acoustic guitar. 'Every rhythm just reinforces that,' he said. 'This whole record, I would say, is a lesson in getting out of the way of the song as much as you're reinforcing it.' McRae hasn't been able to diagnose exactly why fans online are drawn to certain songs like 'Massachusetts" over others. Cook says it's the same amorphous quality that drives all good music: honesty. 'I think that the beauty of authenticity is it's just so powerful that you don't know why,' he said. In any case, McRae has worked to keep her brushes with internet fame from swaying her creative process. 'Every decision I'm making about this is like, 'Do I want this?' And 'Is this going to be a good move for my career?'' she said. 'Because eventually, no matter what I do, the viral moment passes.' But fans' reactions have helped her recognize what makes her deeply personal songs relatable — especially as she, too, considers the project with fresh ears and new perspective ahead of an upcoming tour. 'When you're going through something difficult, intellectually, you know you're not the first person to whom it's happened. But it feels that way," McRae said. 'Revisiting it now — one or two or three years after having written the song — I have an appreciation for how, like, of course people are going to have these songs resonate with them. Because of course I'm not the only person who's gone through these feelings.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
South China Morning Post
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Who is Jensen McRae? Justin Bieber is a fan, Phoebe Bridgers reposted the singer's video
As the Covid-19 vaccine began spreading more widely in early 2021, singer-songwriter Jensen McRae joked in a tweet that fellow US singer Phoebe Bridgers would release a song in two years about 'hooking up in the car while waiting in line to get vaccinated at Dodger Stadium', a ballpark in Los Angeles in the US state of California. Advertisement Bridgers did not release the song, but McRae did. As the tweet took off, she threaded a video of herself singing 'a pre-emptive cover'. 'Immune', penned by McRae in Bridgers' contemplative style, was released in full within two weeks. 'It was a perfect storm,' McRae, 27, says. 'I was parodying Phoebe Bridgers who was becoming world famous in that exact moment … I was also writing about this topic that everyone was thinking about constantly because we were in lockdowns.' Bridgers reposted the video, writing simply: 'oh my god'. Phoebe Bridgers at the Coachella festival in 2023. A song penned by Jensen McRae parodied Bridgers' music style. Photo: AP The song preluded McRae's debut EP, released in 2021, and album, in 2022, which led to touring gigs with indie pop band Muna and singer-songwriter Noah Kahan. Last year, she signed with Dead Oceans, the same record label that represents Bridgers. McRae's second album, the folk-pop I Don't Know How, But They Found Me!, is out this week.
New Indian Express
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Jensen McRae makes authentic folk-pop the internet can't resist
NEW YORK: As the COVID-19 vaccine began distributing more widely in early 2021, California-raised singer-songwriter Jensen McRae affectionally joked in a tweet that Phoebe Bridgers would release a song in two years about 'hooking up in the car while waiting in line to get vaccinated at Dodger Stadium.' Bridgers didn't release the song, but McRae did. As the tweet took off, she threaded a video of herself singing 'a preemptive cover.' 'Immune,' penned by McRae in Bridgers' contemplative style, was released in full within two weeks. 'It was a perfect storm,' McRae, 27, told The Associated Press. 'I was parodying Phoebe Bridgers who was becoming world famous in that exact moment. ... I was also writing about this topic that everyone was thinking about constantly because we were in lockdowns.' Bridgers reposted the video, writing simply: 'oh my god.' The song preluded McRae's debut EP, released in 2021, and album, in 2022, which led to touring gigs with Muna and Noah Kahan. Last year, she signed with Dead Oceans, the same record label that represents Bridgers. McRae's sophomore album, the folk-pop 'I Don't Know How, But They Found Me!,' is out Friday. The title is a reference to 'Back to The Future,' her favorite movie. It's a line of dialogue said by scientist Doc Brown just before he falls in a hail of bullets, causing protagonist Marty McFly to flee back in time in Brown's rigged DeLorean. 'At the end of the movie — which, there's no spoilers, because this movie's 40 years old — you find out (Doc) was wearing a bulletproof vest the whole time. And that to me sort of is what my 20s have been like. There are all these events that are happening that feel like they should take me out, but I just keep standing up anyway,' McRae said. 'That's kind of the narrative of the album.' Resilience has long been a motif in McRae's songwriting. Her debut album, 'Are You Happy Now?', deftly tackled sexual predators and racist microaggressions with poetic meditations on identity, love, growth and beauty. On the album's most-streamed song, the ballad 'My Ego Dies in the End,' she sings, 'If I don't write about it, was it really worth it?' 'There's this quote that I can't cite, but someone said, as a writer, you've experienced enough by the age of 25 to have writing material for the rest of your life. I don't know if everyone agrees with that statement, but I certainly do,' McRae said. It's years of practice, and reflection, that have brought clarity to those experiences. 'I Don't Know How But They Found Me!' is composed of songs McRae wrote throughout her early 20s, in the wake of one relationship and the rise and fall of another. She finished the album last spring in North Carolina with producer Brad Cook, a collaborator of Bon Iver, Waxahatchee and Suki Waterhouse. The 10 days they spent on the record, McRae said, were 'a master class.' 'Jensen flat out blew me away on every single level,' said Cook, who met McRae for the first time when she arrived for the session. 'I got a master class from her as well, frankly. Jensen's just so organized, emotionally and spiritually, it was just really easy to go where the songs needed to go.' A video of McRae singing the first verse of her song ' Massachusetts,' accrued millions of TikTok views in the fall of 2023, well before it was released in full in July 2024. While the internet's interest in 'Immune' two years prior was momentarily destabilizing ('There's a meme of Patrick (from 'SpongeBob') coming home to his rock, and there are all these eyes poking out and he goes, 'Who are you people?' That was what I felt like,' McRae says), its embrace of 'Massachusetts' was confusing for other reasons. McRae was in the process of making this album, and the snippet she shared felt separate from the narrative she was constructing. Despite an onslaught of comments from listeners asking for the full song, she considered leaving it unreleased or tabling it for much later. Then she got a huge cosign. 'When Justin Bieber posted about it, I was like, well, you forced my hand,' McRae laughs. 'So then I changed course.' The solution, she realized, was that 'Massachusetts' — a song about the specific memories that don't leave you when a relationship ends — would be the conclusion to the album's story. Cook kept the song's production minimal, centering McRae's vocals and acoustic guitar. 'Every rhythm just reinforces that,' he said. 'This whole record, I would say, is a lesson in getting out of the way of the song as much as you're reinforcing it.' McRae hasn't been able to diagnose exactly why fans online are drawn to certain songs like 'Massachusetts' over others. Cook says it's the same amorphous quality that drives all good music: honesty. 'I think that the beauty of authenticity is it's just so powerful that you don't know why,' he said. In any case, McRae has worked to keep her brushes with internet fame from swaying her creative process. 'Every decision I'm making about this is like, 'Do I want this?' And 'Is this going to be a good move for my career?'' she said. 'Because eventually, no matter what I do, the viral moment passes.' But fans' reactions have helped her recognize what makes her deeply personal songs relatable — especially as she, too, considers the project with fresh ears and new perspective ahead of an upcoming tour. 'When you're going through something difficult, intellectually, you know you're not the first person to whom it's happened. But it feels that way,' McRae said. 'Revisiting it now — one or two or three years after having written the song — I have an appreciation for how, like, of course people are going to have these songs resonate with them. Because of course I'm not the only person who's gone through these feelings.'
Toronto Sun
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Jensen McRae makes authentic folk-pop internet can't resist
Published Apr 25, 2025 • 4 minute read Singer-songwriter Jensen McRae poses for a portrait on Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. Photo by Chris Pizzello / AP Photo Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. NEW YORK — As the COVID-19 vaccine began distributing more widely in early 2021, California-raised singer-songwriter Jensen McRae affectionally joked in a tweet that Phoebe Bridgers would release a song in two years about 'hooking up in the car while waiting in line to get vaccinated at Dodger Stadium.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Bridgers didn't release the song, but McRae did. As the tweet took off, she threaded a video of herself singing 'a preemptive cover.' 'Immune,' penned by McRae in Bridgers' contemplative style, was released in full within two weeks. 'It was a perfect storm,' McRae, 27, told The Associated Press. 'I was parodying Phoebe Bridgers who was becoming world famous in that exact moment. … I was also writing about this topic that everyone was thinking about constantly because we were in lockdowns.' Bridgers reposted the video, writing simply: 'oh my god.' The song preluded McRae's debut EP, released in 2021, and album, in 2022, which led to touring gigs with Muna and Noah Kahan. Last year, she signed with Dead Oceans, the same record label that represents Bridgers. McRae's sophomore album, the folk-pop 'I Don't Know How, But They Found Me!,' is out Friday. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The title is a reference to 'Back to The Future,' her favorite movie. It's a line of dialogue said by scientist Doc Brown just before he falls in a hail of bullets, causing protagonist Marty McFly to flee back in time in Brown's rigged DeLorean. 'At the end of the movie — which, there's no spoilers, because this movie's 40 years old — you find out (Doc) was wearing a bulletproof vest the whole time. And that to me sort of is what my 20s have been like. There are all these events that are happening that feel like they should take me out, but I just keep standing up anyway,' McRae said. 'That's kind of the narrative of the album.' Resilience has long been a motif in McRae's songwriting. Her debut album, 'Are You Happy Now?', deftly tackled sexual predators and racist microaggressions with poetic meditations on identity, love, growth and beauty. On the album's most-streamed song, the ballad 'My Ego Dies in the End,' she sings, 'If I don't write about it, was it really worth it?' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'There's this quote that I can't cite, but someone said, as a writer, you've experienced enough by the age of 25 to have writing material for the rest of your life. I don't know if everyone agrees with that statement, but I certainly do,' McRae said. It's years of practice, and reflection, that have brought clarity to those experiences. 'I Don't Know How But They Found Me!' is composed of songs McRae wrote throughout her early 20s, in the wake of one relationship and the rise and fall of another. She finished the album last spring in North Carolina with producer Brad Cook, a collaborator of Bon Iver, Waxahatchee and Suki Waterhouse. The 10 days they spent on the record, McRae said, were 'a master class.' 'Jensen flat out blew me away on every single level,' said Cook, who met McRae for the first time when she arrived for the session. 'I got a master class from her as well, frankly. Jensen's just so organized, emotionally and spiritually, it was just really easy to go where the songs needed to go.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. A video of McRae singing the first verse of her song ' Massachusetts,' accrued millions of TikTok views in the fall of 2023, well before it was released in full in July 2024. While the internet's interest in 'Immune' two years prior was momentarily destabilizing ('There's a meme of Patrick (from 'SpongeBob') coming home to his rock, and there are all these eyes poking out and he goes, 'Who are you people?' That was what I felt like,' McRae says), its embrace of 'Massachusetts' was confusing for other reasons. McRae was in the process of making this album, and the snippet she shared felt separate from the narrative she was constructing. Despite an onslaught of comments from listeners asking for the full song, she considered leaving it unreleased or tabling it for much later. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Then she got a huge cosign. 'When Justin Bieber posted about it, I was like, well, you forced my hand,' McRae laughs. 'So then I changed course.' The solution, she realized, was that 'Massachusetts' — a song about the specific memories that don't leave you when a relationship ends — would be the conclusion to the album's story. Cook kept the song's production minimal, centering McRae's vocals and acoustic guitar. 'Every rhythm just reinforces that,' he said. 'This whole record, I would say, is a lesson in getting out of the way of the song as much as you're reinforcing it.' McRae hasn't been able to diagnose exactly why fans online are drawn to certain songs like 'Massachusetts' over others. Cook says it's the same amorphous quality that drives all good music: honesty. 'I think that the beauty of authenticity is it's just so powerful that you don't know why,' he said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In any case, McRae has worked to keep her brushes with internet fame from swaying her creative process. 'Every decision I'm making about this is like, 'Do I want this?' And 'Is this going to be a good move for my career?'' she said. 'Because eventually, no matter what I do, the viral moment passes.' But fans' reactions have helped her recognize what makes her deeply personal songs relatable — especially as she, too, considers the project with fresh ears and new perspective ahead of an upcoming tour. 'When you're going through something difficult, intellectually, you know you're not the first person to whom it's happened. But it feels that way,' McRae said. 'Revisiting it now _ one or two or three years after having written the song — I have an appreciation for how, like, of course people are going to have these songs resonate with them. Because of course I'm not the only person who's gone through these feelings.' 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