Artist Glimpse - Mackenzie Leigh Meyer
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In conversation with Ontario country artist, Mackenzie Leigh Meyer. She’s the CMA Ontario Roots Artist of the Year who has been getting industry nods for her unique style and enchanting vocals since the May 2018 release of her debut EP “Dive Bar Diva”. Whether it’s her velvety vocals or unapologetic lyrics, when Mackenzie Leigh Meyer sings, people listen.
Rob Aguiar: Mackenzie, thanks for taking the time to add your heart to this interview series. I’m looking forward to diving into the role of emotion and vulnerability in your artistry, your song writing processes, and your journey as a female country artist.
Mackenzie Leigh Meyer: The pleasure is all mine; thanks for having me!
RA: Country music often connects deeply with listeners through its emotional honesty. What role does vulnerability play in your songwriting and how do you navigate being vulnerable in your lyrics while maintaining your personal boundaries?
MLM: Vulnerability plays a huge role in my writing. I think it’s one of the things that creates uniqueness in art, and if you’re not being authentic or vulnerable I’m not really sure what you’re offering the world that hasn’t already been done. Honestly, it is sometimes challenging to maintain personal boundaries that way. Because you want to tell your stories as authentically as possible without saying too much. But I’d rather toe the line of saying too much than saying nothing at all and writing music that means nothing to no one.
RA: Beyond life experiences, are there specific artists, books, or even places that have significantly influenced your songwriting and can you provide an example?
MLM: I think as a songwriter we are always listening, either intentionally or unintentionally to everything that’s coming into our radar and absorbing it quietly. But for me I definitely hear a lot of Kacey Musgraves in my writing. She is my all time favourite artist and I listen to her music A LOT. Particularly in my harmonic decisions and lyrics in my song “In Love With a Loser” you can tell that her art created my art hahah. She tends to live on the outskirts of what would be considered “normal” that way and that is stuff I definitely would have never produced myself had I not heard her music.
“ It was nice to write about something that matters rather than the usual heart break song.”
RA: Perhaps putting some of your own songwriting on hold or on the back burner, you have been touring as part of Robyn Ottolini’s band quite a bit this year. From all the social media posts, I can see that there is definitely a strong sense of camaraderie amongst female artists. How have these moments influenced your growth as an artist?
MLM: Yes, I would say I put my own stuff on the back burner for a bit when I joined Robyn’s band. SO worth it though, because I have loved doing that since the day I got that gig. She’s shown and taught me so much about the industry. And yes! There is so much female camaraderie in our scene and I see that so loudly working with Robyn. She is such a big supporter of female art and creativity. I was actually hired for that band because she wanted to have more females on her team! She cares a lot about having that representation. But it’s funny, I can’t really think of one specific moment that I’ve noticed her influence. But I think just getting to be in her presence has been such a great learning experience. It’s no secret that she’s so so good at writing and everything else involved in producing music and it’s been great getting to absorb so many different things from her.
RA: Mackenzie, this past summer you and I officially met at Nicole Rayy’s Harmonia Fest. You weren’t officially listed on the lineup but you were there to support all of the female artists. I had the opportunity to chat with many of you about the unique challenges female artists face in country music. Together, you are all uniting to push boundaries in a male dominated genre. It’s really inspiring! You’ve been doing this long enough to have developed a personal perspective on the industry. Do you see the role of women in country music evolving, and how do you think women are reshaping the narrative.
MLM: Yes!! It was so nice to finally meet you at Nicole’s Harmonia Fest! No better place than an all female festival! Haha!
But to answer your question, I think there’s been a lot of change. You can really see a push towards creating opportunities for women. But I think any female will tell you still that a little more work needs to be done. Particularly with festival line ups and radio play where you can see that we have high grossing, high ticket selling females who are still not getting the opportunities to perform in the same way that men of the same tier are. But it’s definitely re-shaping. I think people are paying attention to it now and because they’re starting to care that that change will happen. I look forward to seeing what happens with that narrative through the span of my career.
RA: Can you share one of your songs, either released or unreleased, where the lyrics hold a particularly deep or personal meaning for you, what makes it special and what’s the story behind it?
MLM: Of the tunes I’ve released, Barbie Doll is definitely the one that holds a special meaning to me as far as lyrics go. I feel strongly about the idea that no one should have to be a certain way or held to a certain standard. Male or female. The story behind it comes out of being pigeon-holed where people are expecting me to act a certain way based on my gender. And because that wasn’t how I was, I was considered lesser than. So to be able to put together music and lyrics that I’m proud of, that represents that meaning, was really special to me. It was nice to write about something that matters rather than the usual heart break song.
