Photo Finish Records

Release Date: July 8^th 2022

Reviewed by: Jonathan Andre

McKenna Grace – Post Party Trauma – Single (Amazon mp3/iTunes)

Track Listing:

1. Post Party Trauma

McKenna Grace has been in and around our movie screens for years. In my own honest opinion, McKenna’s the next Dakota Fanning (or maybe even Elle), as she (and other young stars like Kiernan Shipka and Millie Bobby Brown) reminds us all, of the quality and calibre of young stars around the world, and the talent these people possess which is indeed uncanny and remarkable to say the least. Here’s hoping these young stars (especially young girls and young women) stay grounded in the years to come (and not become like other former child stars who are speaking up now against their own treatment when they were young- see Alyson Stoner’s own revealing interview with Christy Carlson Romano in a podcast below). And while we can respect and admire McKenna for her acting chops, this is not the purpose of this ‘review’ of sorts, but rather, here we see and discover a whole new talent that McKenna has in her proverbial bag of ‘arrows’- her ability to sing. While she’ll still be reminded first and foremost as an actress in years to come; she has released 4 songs to date- ‘Haunted House’, ‘do all my friends hate me’ and ‘You Ruined Nirvana’ are all in a review that I wrote not that long ago, while McKenna this last week unveiled her most recent song ‘Post Party Trauma’. With all these four songs being nothing but different from each other musically and even thematically; McKenna manages to utilise each of these songs’s musical differences to her own strength, reminding us of how versatile a pop singer she really is, and to really heighten and strengthen her own talent as an emerging force within the pop music industry. Is she the next Olivia Rodrigo, musically, after Olivia herself? Only time will tell, but the way these songs are delivering to us so far…maybe.

Unveiled a week and a bit ago, ‘Post Party Trauma’ is track #4 on this McKenna Grace musical journey that ends…where? An EP? An album? A culmination of singles? Whatever the case, McKenna is well on her way to establishing herself as a household name in terms of her musical skill, and this is no different in her song ‘Post Party Trauma’. A moody 3 minute track about a persona (most likely herself) who relays her own social anxiety in the form of a song, we see McKenna deliver vulnerability and emotion as this song is a reminder for us to connect with people on a deeper level and not just on a surface ‘hi how are you’…so as to avoid what is being described in this song. Nevertheless, this is how some young people feel, and we have to understand that just because we have access to a lot of technological advances and the ability to connect with people around the world and around the country, doesn’t mean that we are connected at all. We may have 5000 Facebook friends, but we may not feel connected to our family and our face-to-face friends at all, and that can lead to social anxiety if not properly treated and diagnosed for what it is. Social anxiety happens when we feel as if we are all alone, even in a crowdful of people, when we feel as though we can’t relate to people of our own age, especially the generation we’ve grown up in. ‘Post Party Trauma’ is acknowledging that we have something inside of us that can’t relate to others, and that acknowledgement is the first step towards us unearthing trauma and seeking counselling and healing in the process. Maybe this song can play a part in our own inner healings in the upcoming weeks/months ahead. Well done McKenna for this song, most definitely a track that we feel that’s needed for society, especially when people feel connected and so alone in a dichotomous way, both at once.

McKenna’s rise musically is only going to continue to increase, as this new song (and the other three preceding that) is only just the beginning. Some say she’s the next Olivia Rodrigo. I myself see a lot of artists like Avril and Alainis in McKenna- people that pioneered pop-punk all those years ago, and have carried and crafted it, to where it is today (I also see influence from other artists, like Sabrina Carpenter and Sofia Carson, and yes…McKenna does have some Olivia Rodrigo vibes about her, even just a little!). With her songs (in particular this new one, as well as ‘You Ruined Nirvana’) showcasing various sides of McKenna’s musicality, here’s hoping to whatever is in store for her next…a debut album perhaps? Well done McKenna for ‘Post Party Trauma’. Looking forward to a full-length (album? EP?) in the future, whenever that may come.

‘…I wrote this song because I went to a couple of parties for work, and I felt like the biggest loser in the room. I cried on the way home and at home both times. I just decided I’m really upset, so I’m going to write a song about it because I know I’m not the only person…. this song isn’t a way for me to put it out and be like, “Oh, poor me, I’m sad and I have anxiety. Feel bad for me.” That’s my biggest fear and the scariest thing about putting out music about these personal things that have been bouncing around my head like the little DVD screen. It’s really so that people have something to listen to and relate to because that’s what music is for me. I had a really rough point in my life and I constantly had one airpod in my ear. Music really saved me and got me out of that place. It’s just as simple as that. There’s no ulterior motive…’

Score: 4.5/5

RIYL: Sabrina Carpenter, Sofia Carson, Dove Cameron, OneRepublic, Taylor Swift, Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morrissette, Olivia Rodrigo