McKail Seely‘s interest in songwriting and performing stems from her childhood in music and dance. She began to hone her own songwriting and guitar-playing skills at the tender age of 14, playing venues like crazy when she could and delving into working toward a bigger-picture career. A product of Musician’s Institute, she has a well-rounded sound, and pays clear attention to detail in her work.
Her newest single, “Trespassing”, gets a bit political. “‘Trespassing’ is a political song that I co-wrote with Ariana Tibi and Jesse Macleod,” she elaborates. “A few months back, I was visiting Ariana at her home in Calabasas. We sat down and began to share some song ideas. I ended up sharing the first verse of what is now titled ‘Trespassing’ and I could tell by the look on her face that the song was resonating with her. She began to sing jazzy melodies that intertwined with mine and as soon as we knew it, we had written the entire chorus and came up with the title.”
Those jazzy melodies take a very serious subject matter and make it more easy to digest, while Mckail’s effortlessly strong vocals weave around the acoustics of the guitar. The words and the meaning of the song are transparent, and Mckail is definitely ready to make an impact. “The message of the song can be interrupted in many different ways but for me, it’s a song to provoke thoughts and ideas about our society that I think are important to speak about. There’s a lot of injustice right now in our country and I think it’s about time we take full responsibility.”
As for Jesse Macleod’s part in making this even more of a layered track? “I took the song to folk singer/songwriter Jesse Macleod to write a rap for the bridge. You may be asking why I asked a folk singer/songwriter to write a rap but, turns out that before Jesse’s career as a folk artist, he was a rapper. Not many people know this about Macleod but, from what you can see… he’s quite good at it.”
“I hope that this song raises questions about not only what is going on in the U.S. political race but most importantly about what we truly want America to stand for.”
