I Don't Know How But They Found Me!

I Don’t Know How But They Found Me! is the second studio album by Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Jensen McRae. Having won acclaim for the poetic style that defined her 2022 debut Are You Happy Now? that earned her a support slot with Noah Kahan, she follows it with a confident, country-influenced collection that recalls recent great efforts by the likes of Phoebe Bridgers. - Flying Out

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 it’s also powerful for not holding back. Now, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me! delivers McRae’s 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 Don’t Know How But They Found Me! is about what follows when you have withstood what you thought might crush you. It’s about meeting your limits and learning what you’re capable of. “I 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,” she says, “but I was bulletproof the whole time. "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 USC’s Thornton School of Music with a degree in Popular Music. McRae’s 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. McRae’s 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 Don’t Know How but They Found Me! Takes McRae’s now-considerable powers and hardwires them for mass appeal. Stealth single Savannah is one for the yarners. 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, it's 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 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 stepover step in its defiance; guitars layer, drums pick up the pace, and McRae makes space for everyone’s mistakes. When McRae growls “fuck those girls got everything” it’s a punch of both power and vulnerability, begging to be shouted in unison the biggest possible crowd. The unusual title of her second album? 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."

Tracklist:

1. The Rearranger
2. I Can Change Him
3. Savannah
4. Daffodils
5. Let Me Be Wrong
6. Novelty
7. I Don't Do Drugs
8. Tuesday
9. Mother Wound
10. Praying For Your Downfall
11. Massachusetts