In today’s episode of ‘How It Went Down,’ actress and singer McKenna Grace shares what inspired her to write her song “Gentleman,” why she decided to have so many dogs in the music video and more!
McKenna Grace
Hi, I’m McKenna Grace and this is how it went down from my single “Gentleman.” I always have like little reference playlists or vibe playlists for the day whenever I get in the studio it’s kind of the most pop I’ve ever leaned and I it’s not something I’d usually like do but it was really fun to explore and play with. I think it was more just so a feeling. I was like, oh, there’s a “Gentleman.” I know. It’s just I love it. Oh, you know, it was just like being a girl. A boy treated me really nice. And so I wanted to write a bunch of songs about it. And actually, of course, it was so fun and silly and nice to be able to create and make something positive and upbeat. I mean, it was just a fun writing process. I just got in there and gushed for a couple hours and then wrote a nice song about a gentleman. We had our own little gentleman in the studio, there was this dog, his name was Woodstock. It’s our producer’s dog, he was adorable. And my heart, my gentlemen, is that dog, I always do this. It does not matter how long it’s been since I wrote the song or if the vocal sound great. I will always go back in the studio and redo my vocals before the song comes out. I don’t know why. Maybe I get like demo-itis or something. And I’m like, I hate these vocals. Like they sound wrong. I need to do it again. Maybe my voice has changed in a week. And so like whenever we decide that we’re going to put the song out I went back in for another couple hours and recorded some vocals. For the music video. I’m a really big movie watcher. I love movies. Who would have guessed, what? Yeah, I really really love movies. I did that for a music video. Before I recreated scenes from ‘Scott Pilgrim.’ I’m I always feel so weird making music videos about situations that like happened in my life. And I was like, I don’t want to hire like a guy to come and play this guy. Like, that felt to weird to me. So I was like, I don’t wanna have a boy in this music video. But how am I supposed to recreate these romance movies? Because that’s how it feels to me that I want to do something fun and light. So I was just like, oh, you know, I know a gentleman and he’s downstairs in my living room probably rolling around on my rug, my dog, Gizmo. And so I was like, Oh, I could write a music video for me and I spiraled out of control. And I was like, I have to have as many dogs like I just want to have a bunch of dogs in this and recreate scenes from movies and just have a good time. I just wanted it to feel authentic and fun and silly and match with the songs vibe and so I feel like this music video is probably one of the most knee music videos I have out there. So it’s really it’s just movies and puppies. And that’s me.