Jensen McRae “I Don’t Know How But They Found Me!” LP

From the very beginning, fans have fallen in love with Jensen McRae for the sharp, evocative and clear-eyed songwriting. McRae songwriting is vulnerable, yes, but its also powerful for not holding back. Now, I Dont Know How But They Found Me! delivers McRaes evolution from a promising young artist to a bona fide songwriter and star. “The most profound choices of my life, says McRae, have often felt like things I did before I was ready to do, and I had to grow into them. I Dont Know How But They Found Me! is about what follows when you have withstood what you thought might crush you. Its about meeting your limits and learning what youre capable of. Born and raised in LA, Jensen McRae has studied and made music for most of her life. She attended Grammy Camp in high school and graduated from USCs Thornton School of Music with a degree in Popular Music. McRaes debut album, Are You Happy Now?, was written mostly when she was just 21, and was the first step in developing her now-devoted fanbase. Are You Happy Now? navigates identity from its deepest foundations life as a young, bi-racial Black and Jewish woman to its most personal musings do I trust you, do I trust myself. McRaes trust in herself has borne out on multiple occasions, most recently and maybe most famously in the form of “Massachusetts”. McRae posted a solo verse and chorus, little more than a piece of a demo, and it caught fire online. Covers, duets, and an avalanche of new fans followed, and McRae capped the moment with a finished version and a summerlong tour supporting Noah Kahan. I Dont Know How but They Found Me! Takes McRaes now-considerable powers and hardwires them for mass appeal. Stealth single Savannah is one for the yearners. The pulsing, country-adjacent song immediately brings the best of Phoebe Bridgers to mind, with McRae singing in an acrobatic whisper over a feather light acoustic guitar. By the time Savannah hits its crescendo, its crystal clear McRae is an artist with her own singular power, as piano layers with guitar and McRae delivers a series of scathing indictments with grit and conviction: “You swore you’d raise our kids to end up just like you / well you’re a false prophet / and that’s a goddamn promise.” Meanwhile Let Me Be Wrong is a bona fide anthem, a buoyant ode to rejecting perfectionism. Built once again on a simple vocal and acoustic guitar, Let Me Be Wrong builds step over step in its defiance; guitars layer, drums pick up the pace, and McRae makes space for everyones mistakes. When McRae growls fuck those girls got everything its a punch of both power and vulnerability, begging to be shouted in unison the biggest possible crowd. The unusual title of her second album is taken from a line in McRae’s favorite film, Back to the Future. A key protagonist survives a hail of bullets, and the image resonated with McRae. I really connected with the idea that I could’ve easily collapsed beneath the weight of what happened to me, but I didn’t. I didn’t even know it, McRae says, but I was bulletproof the whole time.”