In April, MacKenzie Porter released her first U.S. single, “These Days,” to country radio, but she could never have predicted just how meaningful the song would become to fans amid the coronavirus pandemic. “It’s funny right now because we’re all stuck at home and life has really changed,” Porter told PopCulture.com exclusively. “It’s just a song that people are, seem to be drawn to.”
“These Days,” written by Porter, Jordan Sapp and Parker Welling, finds the Canadian singer reminiscing on the days when she was with a past love, which included a ’98 Chevrolet, fake IDs, dive bars, back streets, back seats and whole song’s worth of other nostalgic moments. “The hook of the song is I’m thinking about those days, these days,” she said of the track, which has found a home on TikTok. “And so many people have been posting what they missed before quarantine and just hanging out with friends and in larger groups and partying and going out and so it’s been kind of cool, it seems like a timely song right now. It fits the time.”
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Hailing from Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, Porter grew up on a cattle farm and began playing music at a young age. She toured in a family band with her brother and moved to Vancouver to pursue acting at age 16 before ultimately deciding to choose music, moving to Nashville in 2014. “I was really in denial about how hard it was,” the 30-year-old admitted of making it big in the U.S. “I just figured I would come here and find a record deal right away. And it was just going to be this easy thing. Obviously, learned the hard way that it was not because Nashville, and any music scene, but Nashville particularly, it is a town that you have to work your way up and prove yourself. And I think it’s a 10-year town like they say.”
Along with “These Days,” Porter recently released her song “Seeing Other People,” both of which live in the country-pop vein, and shared that she had anticipated releasing an album this summer. Those plans have changed due to the pandemic, and Porter is now set on returning to the recording studio on June 1 with just herself and her producer. “I’m hoping that we’re going to have the album out this fall,” she said. “It’s weird to not have an official plan, but it’s pretty impossible to make plans right now. We just don’t know what’s happening, but that’s the goal.”
