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Declan McKenna
English singer-songwriter (born 1998)
Declan Benedict McKenna is an English singer-songwriter. He initially gained recognition for winning the Glastonbury Festival's Emerging Talent Competition in 2015.
McKenna self-released the song "Brazil", a protest song criticising FIFA and the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil, as his debut single in December 2015. The song reached number one on Sirius XM Radio's Alt Nation Alt 18 Countdown for 23 January 2016 and held that spot for three weeks.
The song also reached number 16 on the U.S. Billboard Alternative Songs chart.
Declan McKenna was born in Enfield, Greater London, on 24 December 1998 and grew up in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, where he attended St Mary's Church of England High School. His mother was a teacher while his father worked as a milkman and in local politics. He is primarily of English and Irish descent and, though he no longer considers himself to be religious, he was raised Catholic. He began taking his GCSE exams in the summer of 2015. He later studied for his A-levels in English Literature, Philosophy and Ethics, and Sociology, but stopped after a few months after his music career began to consume too much of his time.
2015–2018: Early EPs and What Do You Think About the Car?
McKenna spent the remaining months of 2015 playing a wide range of British and Irish music festivals and concerts in venues throughout London. He played the Somersault Festival in North Devon, England, in July; the Boston Big Gig festival in Boston, Lincolnshire, in July; the Electric Picnic music festival in Stradbally, County Laois, Ireland, in September, and the Mirrors music festival in London in October.
"Beautiful Faces" is a song by English singer, songwriter, and musician Declan McKenna. It was released as the lead single from his second studio album, Zeros, on 29 January 2020.
The song was written by McKenna and Max Marlow.
Background
Speaking about the song, McKenna said, "I wanted it to be a big song...Scary big. It very much relates to now, but I wanted to reimagine social media in this future-sphere where it has become even more immersive so that we cannot see where it ends and we begin."
Music video
A music video to accompany the release of "Beautiful Faces" was released to YouTube on 29 January 2020.
"The Key to Life on Earth" is a song by English singer, songwriter, and musician Declan McKenna. It was released as the second single from his second studio album, Zeros, on 14 April 2020.
The song was written by Declan McKenna, Max Marlow and produced by Jay Joyce.
Background
Talking about the song, McKenna said, "'The Key to Life on Earth' reflects on mundanity and hostility. I suppose it's set in suburbia much like my hometown. The video sees two people, who are very similar, in conflict with each other, and I think that's the simplest analogy for the song's purpose."
Music video
A music video to accompany the release of "The Key to Life on Earth" was first released onto YouTube on 15 April 2020. The music video features English actor Alex Lawther. McKenna and Lawther have been compared to each other for years. Talking about the video, McKenna said, "Alex Lawther is someone I've wanted to work with for a long time, I enjoyed watching his roles in Carnage, Black Mirror and The End of the F***ing World, and I was trying to get in contact after seeing how much people compared us online." In an interview with NME, Lawther called McKenna a 'wonderful musician' and that he often gets mistaken for him in public, "Sometimes people come up to me and say: 'I loved your concert last night you were so great'. They think I'm...
