We have now some candy information for you, honey bees! Or ought to we are saying bittersweet? McKenna Grace has lastly launched her debut EP, Bittersweet 16, and we will not get sufficient! We had very excessive hopes for this undertaking due to how proficient McKenna is, and she or he far exceeded each single expectation.
One of many largest issues that stood out to us Bittersweet 16 on our first pay attention (and second pay attention, and third pay attention…) was simply how uncooked and highly effective every lyric is. From anger and confusion to uncertainty and anxiousness, there’s such a variety of feelings on this undertaking and McKenna nails each single one. Every track seems like a web page from a diary, with visuals bringing the tales to life and tugging at our heartstrings alongside the best way.
(Writing is) complete remedy and I simply put all of it on the market. Which may be very scary and terrifying as a result of I by no means discuss that type of factor in interviews or in my on a regular basis life. I am a really constructive and outgoing particular person and I at all times prefer to convey a number of positivity to what I do, however everybody has their moments.
McKenna Grace to The Honey POP
To have a good time Bittersweet 16 and McKenna’s unbelievable expertise, we wished to spherical up a few of our favourite lyrics from every track on the undertaking!
“I do know a woman too bitter, too candy / She’s mature for her age, however too younger for 16…”
Bittersweet 16 opens with the introspective “Ugly Crier”, which takes an nearly “I’ve this good friend…” angle that McKenna describes himself from a special perspective. In fact, we love that this lyric is a nod to the EP’s title, and we additionally love the way it showcases the excessive expectations society locations on youngsters (and folks normally) as they fight to determine who they’re. The world makes us really feel like we’re have to get all of it proper and be the right stability between all of the totally different qualities. We may solely think about how a lot stress being within the highlight McKenna provides on prime of that!
“You are such a liar, liar, phrases on fireplace / Hanging my coronary heart from a phone line…”
“Metropolis Leaver” brings us all post-breakup, heartbreak on a glitzy pop-rock platter, and we will not get sufficient! It is so satisfying to scream-sing alongside to this line, particularly with that one “liar”/”fireplace”/”thread” rhyme. We additionally love how the telephone twine imagery ties into the track’s long-distance theme and the way the destiny of this relationship actually held on a telephone twine as they (or a minimum of McKenna) tried to remain in contact.
“You destroyed parking tons and film snacks and photograph cubicles, think about that…”
This “Checkered Vans” lyric actually seems like just a little sister to McKenna’s April 2022 track “You Ruined Nirvana,” and we love the connections! That feeling after a breakup (romantic or platonic) when every thing reminds you of them is so painful, particularly if there are spots of enjoyable issues like photograph cubicles and popcorn. Our recommendation, although: plan an thrilling day with associates that entails going through a few of the “damaged” issues that scare you, so that you affiliate them with a greater reminiscence!
Talking of parking tons, this line ties into later observe “What If?”, and we love what number of connections there are between the songs on Bittersweet 16! It makes us need to play the EP 48597435 occasions to catch all of the references.
“Let me cry within the lavatory on my birthday…”
We’re torn between this line and the cathartic “you suck… the air out of the room,” however this textual content is so “All too effectively” coded that we could not resist. We all know McKenna is a Taylor Swift fan like us (she even wrote “Ugly Crier” a few evening she went to a elaborate get together sporting a folklore cardigan), so we simply needed to make that connection! “Do not cry in a celebration lavatory… turning 21 must be enjoyable” and “made me cry within the lavatory on my birthday” won’t ever fail to make us really feel concurrently devastated and offended on behalf of two of our favourite blondes.
“What should you by no means parked your automobile in that lot? Did you’re taking the keys out of the ignition or did you simply discover one other parking spot? / If my associates by no means known as to go to the mall, and I by no means walked by these entrance doorways the place you stood on the greenback retailer…”
We tried to slender down our choice for the “What if?” to a line on this episode, however it’s simply so flawless that we needed to put the entire thing! The track opens with McKenna recounting how she met the one who broke her coronary heart, and the best way she describes the scene sends us proper there along with her. The mall is supposed to be a enjoyable place to get pleasure from time with associates, discover cute garments, and eat tasty snacks!
An honorable point out is awarded “What should you by no means requested me out to the after get together, solely to depart me in the lounge the place I knew nobody?” for a way effectively it leads us into the subsequent observe, ‘Put up Social gathering Trauma!’ Talking of connections to different songs, did you catch how the car parking zone imagery goes again to our favourite lyric from “Checkered Vans?”
“I do not know why I attempt to be sincere in a room filled with sharks and piranhas…”
‘Put up Social gathering Trauma’ is for the introverted women on the market! It touches on how McKenna feels disregarded at events, and this line actually hits dwelling as a result of it has a type of double that means. You may take it as “I do not know why I attempt to be sincere” as in McKenna making an attempt to be true to herself when she seems like an outsider, or as “why I attempt, to be sincere,” like making an attempt normally. These lyrics make us really feel so understood on these nights after we do not feel like being social, or we get anxious after we’re out on what must be a enjoyable evening.
I simply hope I may help others really feel much less alone. I need to be certain that I am not seen as feeding the negativity, however for me, listening to music is a therapeutic outlet, the identical as writing it. That is what I hope folks can get out of my music. That they will discover one thing they relate to, cry and let it out, after which they will get again up and know that they’re okay and every thing goes to be okay.
McKenna Grace to The Honey POP
“Probably not positive should you’re human or only a heart-killing machine, as a result of I am making an attempt to see should you ever cared about me…”
To begin with: ouch. Second: we’re sending the most important digital hug to McKenna, as a result of this line from “Collapsing Stars” simply ripped our hearts proper out of our chests and stomped throughout it. We love the distinction between the pure imagery of the track (see the title lyrics and McKenna calling this particular person’s coronary heart a black gap) and the robotic nature of this particular person’s actions. Simply so effectively completed!
“Possibly I ought to get this life factor discovered…”
For the final lyric, we wished to choose a line that everybody can relate to, and just about everybody sooner or later seems like they do not know what they’re doing in life. You do not have to be 16 to really feel these lyrics from ‘Bittersweet 16’ all the way down to your bones! On the finish of the day, we’re all fairly misplaced and it does not make you any much less of an individual should you really feel uncertain about your self or your objectives.
What a textual content from Bittersweet 16 is your favourite? Is there a connection between songs we missed? Tell us within the feedback beneath or meet us on Fb, Instagram and Twitter! And for extra new music it is advisable hear, click on right here.
