Peyton McMahon
What a beautiful discovery. Peyton McMahon’s new single “No Control” feels like the beginning of a new chapter for him. Fusing pop and alternative, “No Control” is probably McMahon’s most vulnerable record. While offering a massive production (shout out Harper James), McMahon also delivers emotional and powerful vocals. “No Control” is a big song and it deserves a lot of attention. It’s an anthem for everyone struggling with their anxiety, it is relatable, and it is powerful. We need more records like these. We need more artists like him.
Peyton McMahon is an artist to watch.
He has many great songs coming, but for now, let’s stream “No Control” on repeat.
Introduce yourself - what's your story?
I'm Peyton McMahon, I'm an Alt Pop singer/songwriter born in Baton Rouge Louisiana. I started playing instruments and being obsessed with music when I was a kid (you'd rarely find me not listening to my iPod mini). Then I started writing songs, playing in a band with friends, and a few years later starting a YouTube channel where I posted covers and originals. I write songs about my life and emotions.
What did you grow up listening to?
A pretty big variety of stuff...As a young kid I'd pretty much listen to whatever my parents played in the car, which would be artists like Matchbox 20, Better Than Ezra, and Lenny Kravitz. Then I was super drawn to Pop music, so I loved watching music videos on TV and listening to artists Britney Spears and *NSYNC. Then I started listening to singer/songwriters like Gavin DeGraw, Jason Mraz and John Mayer, and bands like Blink 182 and Green Day. I also loved listening to powerful female vocalists like Kelly Clarkson. So a little of everything!
When did you know you could sing?
I always kinda had a feeling I could, and would sing whenever I was home alone, but I was too scared to sing in front of anyone until I was 16...my family and I went to Disney World and they had just opened up an American Idol attraction, so I decided to take a leap and audition for it. I ended up winning the whole day, and after that I went full force with it.
Growing up, what were your favorite songs to sing along to?
MMMBop by Hanson was a big one, that was actually the first album I ever owned.
What gave you the confidence to be an artist and release your original music?
I was so nervous the first time I posted an original song on my YouTube channel, but I got good feedback so I felt more comfortable with it pretty quickly. I think I just wanted to be doing it so badly that I knew I needed to get over that initial fear.
Who was the first person to ever believe in your music?
Probably my parents. They've always been super supportive of me and would bring me to the things I wanted to audition for, come to my gigs and share my music.
"No Control" is your new single - how does it feel like to release the first single of 2023?
SO good. It's been a long time coming...I've been working on new music for the past few years, some remotely during Covid and some in person, and it's so exciting to finally be able to share it.
What's the story/inspiration behind "No Control"?
I've had bad anxiety since I was a kid... It's something I've always struggled with. Whenever I'm in a tricky situation where I don't have control over the outcome, or there's a big dilemma, I can overthink to the extreme and worry endlessly. It feels like an endless cycle sometimes and makes things way more difficult than they need to be, so I wrote this song to kinda vent about it.
Could you describe us the songwriting/production process for this single? Who helped you create it?
I wrote it during Covid....I was trying to make a big decision and overthinking it to the extreme. So I wrote the song pretty quickly to just vent about how frustrated I was over making things harder than they needed to be for myself. It ended up being a kind of overarching theme for what I've always dealt with.
After I wrote it, I reached out to Harper James (a producer I had worked with before) with a rough acoustic demo and some overall ideas of the sound I wanted to go for with it. So we started working on it remotely, piece by piece...first nailing down the main guitar lick, getting the drums punchy enough, laying down the lead vocals and all the harmonies, and filling it out from there.
What did you feel when recording this song?
Relief...it was pretty therapeutic to write it and record it since it's such a vent-fest of a song for me.
What message do you want to deliver to anyone struggling with anxiety?
It might feel like you're alone in it, but you aren't. And whatever you have anxiety about...things are never going to turn out as badly as you're building them up to be in your mind.
As an artist, what is the hardest part? And what is the best part?
It's tough to break through the noise sometimes and be heard. Also, I have so many different sides of myself that I want to show in my music, and I always hope people are getting my full artistic vision.
The best part is making art in general...it's like the purest form of expression I know of. Writing songs is how I make sense of things I'm going through, and it feels so good to turn a life experience into art.
What are your thoughts on today's music industry? If you could change one thing, what would it be?
It's crazy, it's rapidly changing all the time. I love that genre lines are getting more blurred and artists can be as versatile as they want to be. There aren't as many rules, and I love how easy it is for artists to connect with people.
If I could change one thing though, social media can add so much pressure. People have shorter attention spans these days and it's all about making tons and tons of quick digestible content. I can sometimes hear that sort of mentality seep into the actual music from some artists, because some songs are so tailor-made for things like TikTok. TikTok is fun, but it's disappointing when it dictates the actual art that's being made.
Could you list a few records that influenced the music you are making today?
There's a lot...a couple of my early favorites are Grace by Jeff Buckley and Chariot by Gavin DeGraw. But over the years I'm constantly picking up new influences, so the debut albums from artists like John Mayer, The 1975, James Bay, Dermot Kennedy, Frank Ocean and Sam Fender have been huge for me. I've also been listening to Taylor Swift since her debut and her songwriting has been a big inspiration. A couple of others I love are Mikky Ekko and Omar Apollo, because they're such great examples of showcasing so much versatility in their music that still somehow sounds cohesive...that's what I want to do.
What biggest life lessons have you learned so far?
Things rarely happen the way you expect them to; you just have to go with the flow. Also, bad times don't last forever.
In your opinion, what would make the world a better place?
Communication....people trying to understand each other just a little bit more, and understanding that everyone is a complicated human being.
What can we expect to see/hear from you this year?
More music!
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