We recently connected with MACKGRACE and have shared our conversation below.
Hi MACKGRACE, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I grew up in Northern New Jersey, in an 100 year-old home, overlooking the distant skyline of New York City. My hometown is called Glen Ridge. It is quiet and idyllic, serving as an escape from the hustle-and-bustle of the city.
I was an only-child in my house, despite having two half-sisters that came from my dad’s previous marriage.
We always had a good relationship, but they never lived close by, since they were in their twenties by the time I was born.
The majority of my upbringing consisted of me and my mom, but not by choice.
The trajectory of our lives changed when we suffered the sudden loss of my dad, a month before I turned 6 years-old.
In the summer of ’05, my mom and I came home from a day at the pool to my dad, unconscious on our back porch.
We did what we could to wake him, called an ambulance, and rushed him to the hospital.
To our misfortune, we were too late. He passed away in the hospital after suffering from a heart attack that evening.
When I think of resilience, I am reminded of this day and of my mother.
The way she carried herself through grief, while supporting and raising me is something that I will never forget.
I know life must have been tremendously difficult for her at the time, and yet somehow, she pushed through with strength and grace, all while giving me a childhood full of adventure and experiences that allowed me to discover my passion for music.
Watching her bounce back from life’s most difficult moments has taught me to never let the bad things stop me from pushing forward. Every time I face something hard, I remember that one of the only things I can control is how I respond.
In my mind, I have no choice but to be resilient, especially when pursuing a career in music, in a city like Los Angeles.
Here, I use the resilience that my mom showed me like a super power.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am a pop music artist and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. My artist name is “MACKGRACE,” which is derived from my real name, Mackenzie Grace Johnson.
Coming up with this name felt very natural to me. Everyone who knows me calls me “Mack,” with the exception of some stragglers who invent silly nicknames I wouldn’t use for this.
The “Grace” portion of my alias, you can already guess, is inspired by my middle name, which was also my grandmother’s first name. I never got to meet her, but I have always been told that she had a beautiful voice.
Including “Grace” in my artist name is my way of paying homage to her.
I found my passion for music at a very young age.
I feel like I was thrown into every sport, activity, and artistic pursuit you could think of as a child. I gave my all to everything that I tried, until I burnt out and moved onto the next.
One of the main things I poured myself into was figure skating. I was a competitive figure skater for about 4 years, starting at age 6, and even wanted to train for the olympics.
In the midst of that pursuit, I remember telling people that my dream was to be a figure skater and a singer.
Through the years of intense training and competitions, I always stayed consistent with that statement, until singing eventually won my attention.
The day I told my mom I wanted to quit figure skating to pursue singing is one that is etched into my memory. She was disappointed and initially questioned my decision, but supported me at the end of the day. Soon after, I began taking lessons that kickstarted my journey as a musician.
Fast-forward to today, living as an independent artist in Los Angeles.
I feel really grateful to have the support of my family and friends behind me, while I create my own path in the music industry.
I find the entire process of being an artist exciting and special. It is challenging, but I like to focus on the positives in my day-to-day.
Over the past year, I have been in the studio, writing and recording new songs for my own artist project, that I will be releasing consistently in the new year. My main goal right now is to bank as many songs as possible, so that I can release more often, and start focusing on booking live performances.
My life right now consists of having between 1-3 writing sessions a week, shooting video content and photos for social media, practicing my repertoire for live performances, and making release plans for the upcoming year.
I am mainly focused on releasing two new singles in the next few months that I am really excited about. They’re called “chameleon (the one)” and “scared of spiders.”
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think when pursuing a career in music, you have to understand that it takes a lot of time, and you have to be willing to potentially live in discomfort. Since I am playing the long game and am determined to put in the work, I have had to focus on maintaining a healthy mindset to keep me going.
Three of the most important things that have impacted me are discipline, persistence, and patience.
Discipline is a skill that has always gotten me the results I have needed, and I think is the most important. It’s definitely a skill you should never stop developing.
Persistence and patience are qualities I pride myself on the most.
Persistence is the reason I have continued to put myself out there, even at the risk of looking stupid, and patience gives me the strength to wait for the good things to come.
If I had to give advice on how to develop these things, I would say to take it one day at a time and to stay consistent. Get out of your head and remind yourself how you want your life to look, and use that as your fuel.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
I am the kind of person who gets in their head a lot because I have a hard time breaking down the big picture into small pieces. It has been something I have had to work on for a long time, so I feel like this is the perfect question for me.
When I am feeling overwhelmed, I have to remind myself that I am living in the current moment, and that the future hasn’t happened yet. It helps me remember that I have time between now and when the thing I am worried about needs to be done or happens. Sometimes, I have to close my eyes and breathe deeply to calm myself down.
I make sure to avoid things like my phone, music, moving around too much, clutter, etc., so I don’t become too over-stimulated and stress myself out more.
After I do that, I write down everything I am thinking about on a piece of paper, without organizing it, so it can get everything out of my head. From there, I can narrow down what I am able to do on that day, and take it step-by-step.
The motto “one day at a time” has never failed to help me in those moments.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mackgrace_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mackenziejmusic/
- Twitter: https://x.com/mackgrxce
- Other: https://linktr.ee/mackgrace_
