Big Loud Records
Release Date: April 26th 2024
Reviewed by: Joshua Andre
MacKenzie Porter– Nobody’s Born With A Broken Heart (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- Easy To Miss
- Young At Heart
- Bet You Break My Heart
- Pay Me Back In Change
- Rough Ride For A Cowboy
- Coming Home To You
- Strong Things
- Confession
- Wrong One Yet
- Pickup
- Nightingale
- Have Your Beer
- Sucker Punch
- Walk Away
- Foreclosure
- Less Is More
- Along Those Lines
- Chasing Tornadoes
- Nobody’s Born With A Broken Heart
Ever since 2019 when my brother Jon and I branched out into different types of music (because of this still-on-hiatus-but-still-ongoing blog series about influential artists); I’ve been always on the lookout for new music. The ongoing blog series has pushed me out of my comfort zone musically; but more than that, it’s made me realise that I’m really limiting what kind of music speaks to my soul and my spirit if I just listen to CCM. Fast forward to 2024, and these days, I listen to all kinds of music (aside from the metal genre, and most mainstream rap!), and I have many playlists on Spotify- some curated by Spotify and some created by myself. Anyway, it was through one of these playlists that I found out about rising country singer Mackenzie Porter. Mackenzie, a pop/country singer from Canada, is a rising country star and an actor as well; and one look at her discography and filmography on Wikipedia will garner quite a bit of interest. Mackenzie’s collaboration with Cheat Codes called “One Night Left” was actually one of the first few songs we’ve heard. And aside from a few EP’s here and there; Mackenzie’s discography prior to her debut album (the 19 track Nobody’s Born With A Broken Heart which we are reviewing right now!) still isn’t the biggest. But what Mackenzie lacks in number of songs (aside from this full length debut project!) is what she makes up for in her passion and her big heart. Vocally, Mackenzie is incredibly impressive, and a joy to listen to (a country version of Avril Lavigne?); and though Mackenzie has just released her label debut album; I truly believe that she will be one of the biggest stars within the next few months and years- within the country music scene and also beyond that as well, along with fellow country stars Rachel Wammack and Hannah Ellis.
19 tracks on an album seems like a lot. But the album flows seamlessly, and Mackenzie’s enthusiasm, charm, passion, and contagious joy permeates through this entire album; making the debut project a joy to listen to, saviour and ruminate on, as Mackenzie delves deep into a myriad of issues, each one of them relevant to today’s society – Mackenzie co-wrote 9 of the 19 tracks, and there’s that sense of vulnerability, authenticity, credibility, and believability there. Album opener “Easy To Miss” is an acoustic guitar led powerful melody that is one of the many melodies that delves into the theme of heartbreak, and the aftermath of a breakup. Mackenzie is happily married, however her ease at channelling someone who is still in love with an ex and trying to get over a break-up is commendable: Every time I tell people that [the album is about heartbreak], they’re like, ‘well, you’re in a relationship and you’re happy.’ I am, of course, but there’s a lot of different elements of heartbreak in life [including devastating career lows, my mother’s breast cancer diagnosis, and the rollercoaster of marriage]. I’m a dramatic person by nature, so when I think about writing, I go back to those moments of being hurt that I remember so viscerally, and that’s how the songs come out. “Easy To Miss” speaks about how a first love or event a recent love isn’t that hard to ‘get over’ and is in fact easy to always miss all the time and rather easy to think about and wonder whether they’re still thinking of you; while the rather poppier “Young At Heart” painfully details the notion that no matter how old we are, heartbreak still hurts the same and that the ending of a long-term or even short-term relationship can cause us to be jaded about the world, and can maybe encourage us to do some things that are irrational and unlike how we would normally act. Emotions and feelings can get the bets of us, and Mackenzie brilliantly highlights in this song (and the entire album), that someone with a broken heart can lash out in their heightened state, and that we need to give these people grace and make extra allowances for them.
Nobody’s Born With A Broken Heart is an intense yet therapeutic journey, as Mackenzie highlights songs about loss, heartbreak, happiness and the ups and downs of life. The rather intense and no-holds-barred “Bet You Break My Heart” is a ‘fun-sounding’ pop song in which the lyrics are anything but- as Mackenzie superbly outlines that the persona is entering into a relationship knowing that the other person will break her heart one day, and yet she still goes in: Heartbreak is something we all experience. We’ve all fallen for someone or something knowing it would probably end up hurting us. Taking that risk is both the most exciting and scary feeling, and I love that this song is able to put words to the back in forth you have in your head throughout those types of relationships. On the flipside, the piano led ballad “Pay Me Back In Change”, sung with ‘money’ references and then concluding that the persona should be able to change and make an effort in the relationship, speaks about the same type of relationship that’s on the edge and precipice of breaking up, with the persona giving her partner an ultimatum, that ‘…you can’t pay me back in sorry, can’t pay me back with what you say, all those pretty words lose meaning, if I’m still lonely the next day, can’t pay me back with breakfast in bed or Sunday matinée, the only thing that’ll settle this debt is if you pay me back in change…’. Guitar led rocker “Rough Ride For A Cowboy” details with no uncertain terms what Mackenzie (or the persona) is going to do to her ex (give him a taste of his own medicine in leaving him with no warning), hence making it a rough ride; while the albums’ first foray into a sweet love song is “Coming Home To You”, where Mackenzie dispels the illusion of a bigger and better and fancier life with more money, instead declaring and proclaiming that ‘…if we never get rich, you’ll still make me laugh, your kiss will still drive me insane, I’ll still hold you and love you the same, there’s always gonna be bigger houses, longer driveways with nicer cars, there’s always gonna be whiter fences, redder roses and a greener yard, most people would kill for a higher up hill, looking down on a better view, but I don’t want no bigger house if I ain’t coming home to you…’.
The acoustic guitar led quasi-ballad “Strong Things”, a melody about drinking away the pain and the hurt just after a breakup, also delves into the concept of trying to run away from your feelings instead of confronting them and facing them head on; while the piano led reflective and confessional melody “Confession” is one of the songs where Mackenzie shines the most vocally, where she eloquently and earnestly admits her love/fondness/adoration for her first love. And as this melody isn’t autobiographical, Mackenzie sings in the point of view of someone she knows, or someone who isn’t able to get over the first love so easily, and is holding a candle for them; while the strings and piano prominent track “Wrong One Yet” has Mackenzie singing about the persona in the early days of a burgeoning relationship, and her outlining to her mother that this person is sweet and isn’t ‘the wrong one yet’. “Pickup”, one of the most ‘poppy’ songs on the album, speaks about how sometimes the appearance of a prominent object, or maybe listening to a song or eating a certain food, can bring you back to the good times of a past relationship (in the case of this song, it’s the persona seeing a pickup truck and wondering ‘…whose hand’s out the window when the window’s down? Who’s turning up the radio way too loud? Who’s beer bottle buzzin’ on that bench seat, got you parking lot parking like you’re seventeen, whose new perfume is fading mine out? Who’s that pickup picking up now?…’.
The ‘country’ then is dialled up to eleven in the violin prominent “Nightingale”, where Mackenzie delivers an inspirational song directed to herself or maybe to the younger generation, as she powerfully declares ‘…the world’s like the sky, so big and so high, there’s a risk you might fall, but a chance you might fly, keep the sun on your face, and the wind in your sails, ‘cause that’s where you belong, keep singing your song, nightingale…’; while Mackenzie vocally channels a younger Taylor Swift or Carrie Underwood in “Have Your Beer” and delivers a sassy song about the hard facts of life that someone can’t break up with someone and then try to get back together again on a casual basis- it’s like ‘having your beer’ and drinking it too! “Sucker Punch”, an emotional and powerful piano led track, speaks about never knowing that your partner might be cheating until it’s too late, with Mackenzie also outlining the vivid and in detail emotions that come along with that betrayal; while country/rock track “Walk Away” is next and details what one should do when faced with a situation of someone cheating- walk away from them and leave them to try to find someone else who respects you a whole lot more. The haunting and melancholy piano led song “Foreclosure”, probably one of the most depressing melodies on the album lyrically, speaks in detail about a relationship that is on the brink and can’t be salvaged, and is essentially a ‘warning’ song, encouraging us all to make an active effort to keep and maintain and sustain our romantic relationships with our spouses/partners; while thankfulness and gratitude is highlighted in the powerful and emotional “Less Is More”, where Mackenzie details her life of contentment and satisfaction with her husband and her daughter, as she fervently cries out ‘…oh, ’cause we got a few more ruts in the red clay mud than they do on the highway, couple little sips from a pickle jar glass that’ll get you sideways, few more bonfires together, sunsets off a pinewood porch, I’m thinking I must stay right here with you where less is more, a couple good buds that’ll get you unstuck with a winch and a chain link, a little farm house in a little small town, sitting pretty good, ain’t we? Young love, we stay together, 19 ’til 94, I’m thinking I must stay right here with you where less is more, out here where less is more…’.
Gratitude and an appreciation for the possibility of being in love with your forever person is what the next song “Along Those Lines” is about, as Mackenzie sings from the perspective of someone just starting a new relationship and all of the butterflies that go along with that; while the penultimate song on the already inspiring and near-flawless tracklist is “Chasing Tornadoes”, a Lainey Wilson penned country/rock anthem with a picturesque music video, about being someone with a nomadic lifestyle, and being appreciative and accepting of the fact that you can be a headstrong person and can go your own way wherever the journey of life takes you- ‘…’cause baby, I’m a sidewinder, storm rider, I’m goin’ down like a telephone wire, you’re a Mustang runaway, two-lane drifter, I must have a thing for twisters, hot as Arizona, cold as Colorado, tryna catch that feeling like lightnin’ in a bottle, I’m gonna go where the wild wind blows, tearin’ up the road, chasin’ tornadoes…’. The most emotional, honest, vulnerable and heartfelt melody ends Nobody’s Born With A Broken Heart. The title track is the heartbeat of the album, and is sung to Mackenzie’s daughter, and also to her younger self: I wanted a song that literally started the day I was born until today and spanned the story of my life, [as I’ve detailed my own journey from innocence to being gradually wrecked by the weight of the world – and becoming all the better for it]. My little girl is gonna come into this world with no negative thoughts or preconceived notions, and she’s going to have relationships and experience heartbreak. And I hope she does, because that’s what shows that you loved and that you lived. And as Mackenzie imparts invaluable and inspiring life lessons to us all, through thought-provoking melodies; we are met with one of the most musically, vocally and lyrically strongest albums of the entire year thus far! A 5/5? I wouldn’t go that far, at least for a debut album… maybe the next album!
Mackenzie Porter is a rising star and an artist that will undoubtedly be on everyone’s lips within the coming weeks, months, and years. There’s nothing much more I need to say about Mackenzie… because you all should listen to this beautiful, emotional, and personable debut country album… and then Mackenzie’s entire discography. I may have heard about Mackenzie from previous songs here and there. But from this impressive body of work detailing a slew of relatable and relevant topics for the year of 2024; Mackenzie is a bonafide burgeoning artist and one to definitely look out for in the future. Well done Mackenzie for this real, comforting, powerful, comforting and impacting album, guaranteed to gift us solace, peace, and a sense of belonging! I can’t wait to hear what’s next in store for you in the future! Perhaps a Christmas album? A live project or maybe a covers album?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kaXZ5wURe18eWNO97AefaocGNTQGqd604
6 songs to listen to: Easy To Miss, Coming Home To You, Nightingale, Less Is More, Chasing Tornadoes, Nobody’s Born With A Broken Heart
Score: 4.5/5
RIYL: Maddie & Tae, Lady A, Megan Moroney, Lainey Wilson, Alana Springsteen, Kelsea Ballerini, Anne Wilson