An Inspired Chat with McKenna Alicia of Glendale, CA

McKenna Alicia shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Hi McKenna , thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
I think for the first time in my life, I am being really called to share my art in a different capacity. I have been a musician and song-writer for 10+ years, and I have been sharing my creativity for most of that time, but I always felt like I had a block somewhere. I think I would push myself to release things because I felt like it was what I should be doing, but I am not sure I believed that I could do it. This past year, I finally realized that the only thing missing was my own belief. And it has taken years to build that confidence; working on myself, developing a stronger sense of who I am outside of my art, to be able to feel this way now. Of course I still have moments of doubt, but my calling to keep creating and to keep sharing feels bigger than that now. Music has been the greatest love of my life thus far, it is who I am and how I express myself and I believe that what I create can impact someone and thats the whole point.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is McKenna Alicia. I am a singer-songwriter from the bay area, who has been living in Los Angeles since 2019. I have developed my own freelance business here doing vocal coaching, vocal engineering & production, as well as songwriting, top-lining, and vocal recording. I love to create songs, it is my passion and while I have a few projects of my own, it is very fulfilling for me to contribute and be a part of other people learning how to express themselves and bringing their visions to life. My back-round is in Jazz, but I would characterize my sound these days as more indie R&B, pop, and neosoul with even some indie rock influence in there at times.

I have released a string of singles this year, and am currently finishing up a handful more to keep this momentum going. These songs feel the most me out of anything I’ve ever released and I am really excited to keep sharing it.

Okay, so here’s a deep one: What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
I have always struggled with finding confidence in this industry. It is so easy to compare and there is so much music being released into the world everyday, that sometimes its hard to maintain the level of confidence you must have in yourself to do this for a career. But, this doesn’t help ultimately, and this is the part of myself that must be released. I think that not wanting to really put myself out there served the purpose of protecting me a little while I really found my sound and the music that was me. But at some point you just have to do it. If I don’t believe, then who will? At some point you have to step into the version of yourself you want to be even if it’s not you yet.

What fear has held you back the most in your life?
I think the fear of being misperceived. I have this much less now that I have developed more confidence and compassion for myself. You start to accept that people perceive things based off of their own experiences and their lives, and it is completely out of our control. All we can do is show up in ways that feel in alignment with ourselves, and hope that it’s taken in the way it’s intended. And especially with art, you have to let that fear go or you will be making art for others and not for yourself first.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
The biggest lies my industry being the music industry tells itself is that music is meant to be pumped out like a machine, for quick consumption and for money. We don’t value true artistry much these days, or albums, or long songs. It is really tough because musicians are underpaid and undervalued, and we used to appreciate artists who took years to make an album because they were pouring themselves into it. But now we want fast music, fast consumption and that is hard to keep up with as an artist. We fear if we don’t always have the next thing ready, we will be forgotten about before we even really got started. To make meaningful music I believe it requires living, experiencing. Some people can do this faster than others, but it takes time to make songs and thats the beautiful thing! Music is timeless, there have been songs I have listened to for 15+ years that the second I hear them I am transported back to a certain time or feeling. That is what art is, and it needs to be given room to breathe. There are definitely people in this industry that still value and fight for this, and I just hope we can find a way to shift back to this appreciation for artists and appreciation for the process of making music.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
That leading with the intention to capitalize upon everything or make a profit off everything you do, ruins the true essence of these things. Maybe this isn’t true for everyone, but I think living in LA is hard at times because theres a lot of talk of putting prices to everything. Yes of course we all need to make money and our skills deserve to be valued, but at the same time I am in a creative field and while I do make a living off of music, I don’t do music first to make money. I do music because I truly love it and it’s really been the only thing I have ever done, and I am lucky enough to be able to support myself within this industry in some capacity. But, there are times when creativity is ruined if the goal is only to make money, it ruins it for me at least because it becomes about monetizing versus sharing vulnerability and connecting. I think there is a way to do both, while keeping the latter intention in the forefront, and that is what I strive to do otherwise it feels misaligned.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mckennaaliciamusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mckennaaliciamusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McKennaAliciaMusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gN5Saib1ZU

Image Credits
Alia Becker