Today we’d like to introduce you to McKenna Michels.
Hi McKenna, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember. I remember listening to the original cast recording of Phantom of the Opera in the car with my grandma as a toddler, being in awe of the range and depth of the voices I was hearing through the car stereo. I dreamed of singing anywhere and everywhere, to anyone that would listen. When I was old enough, I was always in choir, playing piano, and doing musical theater. The discovery of artists such as Lady Gaga and Adele inspired my decision to pursue a career in music and made me especially passionate about writing my own songs.
I took piano lessons briefly as a kid, but was primarily teaching myself to play by the time I was nine. I wrote my first song with a friend when I was 11, and didn’t try again until high school, as an assignment for my choir class. That opened the creative door for songwriting in the future. In 2017, I performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., through a program with the Washington National Opera. I ended up settling in Austin after being recruited to the University of Texas Women’s Division I rowing program. There I studied Management Information Systems at the McCombs School of Business, graduating in three years.
I began my path to a professional music career following a back injury that left me unable to continue rowing. I was depressed as a business student. I was unable to pursue opera, and had no creative outlet. This is when I started taking songwriting seriously. I remember a moment in the midst of my pain where the music started flowing out of me. One night, there was an event for the rowing team at a restaurant near Mozart’s Coffee Roasters. I’d seen a musician playing there a few weeks earlier. I’d only written a few songs and had extremely low self-confidence, but something told me to walk over there and ask about playing a show. I remember having this ultimatum in my head: ‘If I get a gig here, I’ll pursue a career in music. If I don’t, I’ll go work in corporate or be a lawyer.’
I introduced myself to the owner, and she told me to send her a couple of demos. I went home and recorded the two songs I’d written, and ‘Hello’ by Adele. I sent them off, and to my surprise, she wrote back and asked if I could play the following day. That was Mother’s Day, 2019. After that, I started playing gigs anywhere and everywhere; open mics to showcase and refine my songwriting, or back to back three hour cover song shows. I maintained a great relationship with Mozart’s. Just before the pandemic, their booking agent at the time introduced me to Jon Muq, who became my producer, and John “Moose” Dismukes, who is now my manager.
During the pandemic, with live shows not a possibility, I began working as a Software Product Manager at Dell Technologies. My team there was supportive of my musical career, and a lot of my global coworkers were musicians as well. When I had enough songs to make Renaissance, my first EP, they gave me two months of paid time off, to record the songs and music videos. While I ended up leaving my position there shortly after this, my team at Dell still follows along and supports my music. I wouldn’t be where I am now without the support they gave me in those early days, especially in the middle of the pandemic.
After the release and success of Renaissance, I was lucky enough to create my first full-length album “Enlightenment”, also produced by Jon Muq. “Born To Die,” the second video from Enlightenment, got over a million hits on various platforms and won over 15 Best Music Video awards at various film festivals throughout the 2022-23 season. Another track, “Survivor,” made Spotify’s list of Top Heartbreak Songs of 2023 and “Broken Like This” landed at #20 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Charts.
“Survivor” is accompanied by a comic book that tells the story of Michelle (@mishi.chu,) a good friend of mine, who has had a lifelong battle with epilepsy. It was created by Terry Parr and Marvel Comic artist John Lucas to depict the intersection of reality and fantasy in Michelle’s life. The comic has been supported by The National Epilepsy Foundation, the In Your Shoes Foundation, which supports children and families dealing with Congenital Heart Defects, The Texas Autism Society and CASA, which helps children who have survived abusive situations and/or are in the foster care system. A second comic in the series will support “Monster,” from the Revolution EP, and a third is in the works for “Queen of Venom.”
In November 2023, I embarked on my first European tour with “Echosmith”, widely known for their single “Cool Kids.” In 2024, I was fortunate enough to return to the EU/UK to open for artists WizTheMC, EMEI, and Andi. Most recently, I was back in Europe with Spencer Sutherland as his first opening act for roughly a month, playing several rooms of nearly 2000 people for the first time in my career.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I feel like my biggest obstacle has been my own self doubts. There are times when I get overwhelmed and don’t know how to move forward in a way that keeps momentum going in my career without sacrificing my own mental health/wellbeing. Social media has been a major struggle for me in this regard, as I constantly feel immense pressure from society/the way the music industry currently functions to overextend myself for the sake of success. Recently I’ve been better about setting boundaries with this, but for a long time the constant need to post had created a lot of anxiety and stress for me.
Another obstacle is the general inconsistency of the music industry. Sometimes, I feel like every day is jam packed with activities, interviews, shows, or networking events. Other times, there will be months at a time with little to nothing happening, and it can cause feelings of hopelessness or anxiety that nothing I’m doing matters. I find these feelings incredibly important to talk about and share with my audience, as mental health transparency is a massive part of my platform and songwriting. I’ve found the more I talk about it, the more I realize I’m not alone, and that in itself gives me the strength to keep going and persist on my path.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an Austin-based musician who uses my platform to raise awareness for childhood abuse/Trauma survivors, as well as share my experiences as an autistic and bisexual woman. I found out I was autistic a few years ago, and it saved my life. When I was younger, autism wasn’t generally considered as a diagnosis for young girls, unless their autism mimicked the stereotypical autistic traits seen and studied in boys. Now, there’s research showing a lot of differences between the way autism presents in people assigned female at birth, which in retrospect make a lot of sense for the way I existed as a child. I always had a really hard time socially and never quite fit in anywhere, and that was really difficult for me. Now, with the knowledge that I’m autistic, I have been able to find better ways to navigate through life as an autistic person and the challenges that come with that.
I discovered that I was bisexual right before high school, though I had earlier signs growing up that I didn’t fit into the hetero-normative spectrum. I talk so openly about being bi, because there’s a part of the general population, and even the gay community, that doesn’t consider bisexuality to be valid. If I’m in a straight-passing relationship, people assume I’m straight. If I’m in a gay-passing relationship, I’m automatically a lesbian. People make a lot of generalizations, depending on appearances. My goal is to break down a lot of the stereotypes and stigmas surrounding bisexuality.
I also had an abusive situation in my childhood that led to CPS becoming involved when I was 15. While I’m lucky enough to have a positive relationship with my family now, it took about 10 years of healing and therapy to get to that point. A lot of my songs are reflective of the healing journey I’ve been on, and the ups and downs and inconsistencies in emotional stability that I’ve had to deal with as a result of what I went through in my childhood. Music, most especially being able to write songs about my situation, has given me a positive outlet for the negativity of my past, and has helped me heal tremendously.
I feel like what sets me apart is the level of transparency and authenticity I bring to my audience, and in return they give the same. I have an incredible and meaningful relationship with my fans, and their stories keep me going in the darkest times. I’m most proud of being able to support and raise awareness for organizations with causes greater than myself, such as The National Epilepsy Foundation, the In Your Shoes Foundation, which supports children and families dealing with Congenital Heart Defects, The Texas Autism Society and CASA, which helps children who have survived abusive situations and/or are in the foster care system. With recent funding changes from the Federal Government, a lot of these types of organizations are in jeopardy, and now more than ever I seek to use my voice and music to bring support to their incredible causes.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
As a musician, everything I do involves risk. In this industry, there is no chance of success without risk, but it’s not for the faint of heart. It can be terrifying, but if you love something enough, whatever industry you choose to be in, taking risks is necessary and the only way to get high reward. That being said, when taking risks it is important to weigh the pros and cons of each potential outcome of your choices. There have been plenty of times I’ve taken a risk and failed massively, but most of the time if I take careful consideration, there has been a favorable outcome. One such example is taking the risk to leave my stable corporate job to pursue music full-time, and that has led me to worldwide tours and connections that I never would have dreamed of having 5 years ago.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mckennamichelsmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mckennamichelsmusic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mckennamichelsmusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mckennamichelsmusic
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1uVRHgv3goG9wHKjot4ZVA?si=EJnW1FSFTKSY11ZA4xgkDw
Image Credits
Armor Photo by Carson Nicely
Performance Photos by Max Rowley
