Latest news with #JensenMcRae
NZ Herald
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Music: Jensen McRae, Jenny Hval and Car Seat Headrest reviewed
Growing up black and Jewish in Los Angeles, singer-songwriter Jensen McRae looked to mature writers (Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Alicia Keys) as role models as she sought to sidestep expectations she'd be just another R'n'B artist.
Scoop
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Jensen McRae Releases Sophomore Album
Folk's modern muse, Jensen McRae, has released her sophomore album, I Don't Know How But They Found Me! via Dead Oceans. Throughout the project, McRae explores the emotional aftershocks of intimacy and the deeper process of reclaiming the self. Her voice — airy, textured, and undeniably expressive — embodies both the heartbreak of being left and the strength it takes to leave. The album title, drawn from her favourite film Back to the Future, captures that resilience: 'I could've easily collapsed beneath the weight of what happened to me, but I didn't. I was bulletproof the whole time.' The album holds space for pain and power in equal measure, tracing each feeling with unflinching honesty. I Don't Know How But They Found Me! was recorded in North Carolina with Brad Cook (Waxahatchee, Bon Iver), featuring contributions from Nathan Stocker (Hippo Campus), Matthew McCaughan (Bon Iver) and her brother Holden McRae. The album opens with 'The Rearranger', a track that shimmers with a nostalgic gleam, even as it suggests trouble in paradise. Another stand-out track, 'Let Me Be Wrong', is about giving oneself permission to knowingly do the wrong thing because sometimes the only way to learn is through mistakes. The project marks McRae's transformation into self-assuredness, looking back at heartbreak from a new, more sure-footed and powerful vantage point. In addition to the story of healing after heartbreak, I Don't Know How But They Found Me! reaffirms McRae's defiance of expectations as she deepens her singer-songwriter identity and claims space for young Black women in the genre. Advertisement - scroll to continue reading McRae shares, "More than anything, I am grateful to have made this album as a record of my transition into real womanhood. It's me processing girlhood, with all its attendant naïveté and guilelessness and resistance to change, and emerging as an adult who is capable of forgiveness and transformation and measured optimism." Accompanying the recent singles 'Savannah', 'Praying For Your Downfall', and viral hit 'Massachusetts', the eleven-track album marks an evolution for McRae, blending poignant lyrics with familiar pop melodies. 'Savannah' is a hauntingly beautiful anthem of liberation and self-discovery that finds McRae reflecting on leaving a toxic relationship, only to be confronted by her past at every turn. Partnered with the dreamy music video directed by Rena Johnson, 'Savannah' has earned praise from Rolling Stone, ELLE, Consequence, FLOOD and BET. The penultimate track 'Praying For Your Downfall' oozes snark and charm, cutting down a lover who's no longer worth the ill will she once wished. The beloved 'Massachusetts' shines longer than the viral snippet we first heard as an authentic and cohesive closing track. At just 27, Jensen McRae has already toured with Noah Kahan, MUNA, Amos Lee, and Corinne Bailey Rae, graced a Times Square billboard, and served as the cover of Spotify's Today's Singer-Songwriters playlist. Recently named Deezer's Global Artist to Watch for April, Jensen continues to build momentum as a fearless storyteller, weaving raw vulnerability and poetic lyricism into songs that explore love, loss, and the complexities of life. A graduate of USC's Thornton School of Music and a GRAMMY Camp alum, McRae is carving out space for young Black women in the folk genre with unflinching honesty and raw lyricism. Recent single 'Savannah' has earned widespread acclaim from McRae released her debut album, Are You Happy Now?, in 2022, featuring viral singles like 'Immune' and 'Wolves', and has earned widespread acclaim from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vulture, UPROXX, Billboard, and Stereogum. She's been spotlighted in PAPER, DORK, and Wonderland Magazine, with the latter declaring, 'The future is just beginning for Jensen McRae'. A recent feature in The New York Times reflected on the songs of I Don't Know How But They Found Me! as working through 'tangled emotions and phases: hope, disillusion, ambivalence, deceptions, negotiations, ruptures and stubborn memories.' This week, Jensen made her late night TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Performing album tentpole and viral hit ''Massachusetts' - WATCH HERE: Inspired by the likes of Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman, McRae's voice—both literal and lyrical—resonates deeply, personifying the human experience with rare vulnerability and grace. With a sound that blends introspection and artistry, she's a lifetime artist here to stay.
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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New York Times
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Meet Jensen McRae and 3 Other Artists on the Rise
They come from different coasts and countries, with sounds ranging from folk pop to hard-nosed rap to otherworldly electronics. And this year, they're all releasing new music, going on tour or both. Jon Pareles, the chief pop music critic at The New York Times, spotlights four ascendant artists: Jensen McRae, J Noa, Oklou and Mei Semones. The New York Times Audio app is home to journalism and storytelling, and provides news, depth and serendipity. If you haven't already, download it here — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
The Independent
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Justin Bieber in good spirits as he jams with rising star Jensen McRae
Justin Bieber shared a vulnerable confession with his followers this weekend, while posting a clip of himself during a fun session with musicians including rising talent Jensen McRae. The Canadian pop star, 31, appeared to be in good spirits as he was seen jamming on a keyboard while a friend played the drums, with more instruments strewn around a room with a large pool table in the middle. Another artist messed around on synths, while friends in the garden also wandered over to watch. Singer-songwriter and poet Jensen McRae, known for her singles 'White Boy' and 'Wolves', as well as her new track 'Praying For Your Downfall', could be seen enjoying the session and later posted a selfie with Bieber to her Instagram page. The American artist has been named as one to watch by a number of music publications and is currently preparing for a major tour this summer, which will include stops in London, Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester and Bristol. Bieber's footage appears to have been filmed at the singer's $26m Beverley Hills estate, which boasts seven bedrooms, a tennis court, koi pond and outdoor dining areas, plus 2.5 acres of land. Bieber and his wife, Hailey Bieber, were reported to have purchased the home – located in one of the most sought-after gated communities in the area – back in 2021. Bieber captioned the post: 'I think I hate myself sometimes when I feel myself start to become inauthentic. 'Then I remember we're all being made to think we're not enough but I still hate when I change myself to please people.' A number of his followers praised him both for the clip and for his honesty, with one fan writing: 'Thank you for staying true to yourself, for being so honest and vulnerable because we know It's not always easy to be open. Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial 'It's exhausting to be in a world that makes us question if we're enough, and even more exhausting to fight against that pressure every day. But you're aware of it, and that awareness is powerful. You're not just going along with it — you're pushing back. And that says a lot about the kind of person you are.' The 'Peaches' singer has been frank about his negative associations with fame, having been thrown under the global spotlight when he was just 16 years old. Last week, he shared a candid post about feeling as though he 'wasn't allowed' to express hate, which in turn made him feel like he has been 'drowning feeling unsafe to acknowledge it'. 'I think we can only let hate go by first acknowledging it's there,' he wrote. 'How couldn't we feel hate from all of the hurt we have experienced?' In another reflective post shared earlier this month, he confessed that he frequently feels like a 'fraud', as he opened up about his tussle with imposter syndrome. 'People told me my whole life, 'Wow Justin u deserve that,'' he wrote, 'and I personally have always felt unworthy. Like I was a fraud. 'Like when people told me I deserve something, it made me feel sneaky like, damn if they only knew my thoughts… how judgemental I am, how selfish I really am, they wouldn't be saying this.' He continued: 'I say all this to say, if you feel sneaky welcome to the club. I definitely feel unequipped and unqualified most days.' amid concern over the singer's disheveled appearance in New York last month. TMZ reported that the sources said Bieber had in fact been working in the studio all night 'which is why he looked a bit worse for wear'.
