What do you do when you’re sixteen and in quarantine? If you’re Jo Mackenzie, you’re working on new music!
Jo Mackenzie is a 16-year-old singer, songwriter, and producer from Kansas City. Citing inspiration from her father at a young age and watching Disney Channel’s Austin & Ally, Jo began to write music at the age of seven. She kept progressing, and started to play live shows in 2017.
Music has been an outlet for Jo to express herself, especially in these unpredictable times. On Friday, Jo released her latest single “Lose My Face”, a song that serves as a reminder to just enjoy yourself!
Jo recalls being backstage at a show, getting ready to perform. While being around others that she admired, Jo says “the whole time I was so stuck in my head feeling like ‘Oh, I’m so stupid. I’m so bad at music. These people don’t want to hang out with me’ and I totally ruined the experience for myself because I kept getting in my own head. The song is an expression of how I wished I had just gotten over that and had a good time. So ‘Lose My Face’ means just be someone in the crowd, dance, and have a good time.”
“Lose My Face” is much faster paced than many of Jo’s previous offerings. When creating the song, Jo taught herself how to rap, which she admitted was a bit of a challenge.
One of the biggest challenges Jo has faced as an artist has been “Not caring about what other people think and letting your creative self be. If you’re so obsessed with thinking ‘Will my friends like this song? Will my parents like this song?’, you’re not going to be able to express what you’re truly feeling because you’re so preoccupied with hoping it’ll fit the idea of someone else and what they want. It gets so stuck in your head and then it becomes this whole thing, and it’s not fun anymore.“
Challenges were meant to be tackled, and Jo has continued to persevere. She advised, “One of the things I try to do is put it in perspective. If you fail, or whatever that’s supposed to mean, it’s probably not that big of a deal. I also try to distract myself by thinking about something else. At the point when you get those pre-show butterflies, you probably can’t do anything about it. You can’t practice more, so you might as well enjoy it.”
For Jo, meeting new people has been one of her favorite parts of her journey. “I know I’ve definitely gotten to play with some really extraordinary people,” she shared. “I met this girl, she’s a drummer named Miki P and I love her. She’s like my best music friend, she’s so talented and always pushes me. But besides that, I’ve gotten to perform with really cool people like Greyson Chance. I thought that was so cool! There’s also this really talented band from where I’m from which is Kansas called The Greeting Committee. I’ve become friends with them and played with them and that was really awesome.”
Even though it may be a while until Jo gets to hit the stage again, she believes that nothing will replace experiencing live music in person.“There’s so much work that goes into performing”, she confessed. “You have to practice a bunch, you have to get dressed up and be so energetic, but my favorite part of performing is dancing around on stage. I love just getting into the song, and after it’s over the adrenaline takes over and you’re like ‘How did that even happen?’. It’s the most fun because that’s when I’m able to let go of all the anxiety that I have about performing.”
Better days lie ahead, and one can be sure Jo is at home prepping the soundtrack for those days.
Be sure to check out “Lose My Face” below, and say hi to Jo MacKenzie on Instagram @thejomackenzie!
