Emmy Nominated McKenna Grace talks New Song; Ghostbusters: Afterlife

In this week's episode of Pop Culture Weekly, I Talk with Ghostbusters Afterlifestar McKenna Grace, let's go.

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So today's episode, I talk to McKenna Grace, who is an extremely talented young artist, and she is just a ball of talent.

She really is.

She's stars in Ghostbusters Afterlife.

She plays Phoebe , which is the female lead in the series, and it is in this movie, and it is so freaking good.

I'm a huge Ghostbusters fan.

Loved, obviously, the first two are iconic.

I really loved the reboot version with Melissa McCarthy and all.

Got a lot of hate.

I don't know if it was misogynistic hate or what, but I absolutely loved that version .

And this is actually a direct sequel to the first two movies.

It is a throwback to the original, too, as well as like a fresh take on it.

It's just unbelbelievably fun and good.

I just love, I love it.

I love it.

I love it.

But besides Ghostbusters Afterlife, she played Daisy, in Independence Day Resurgence.

She plays Paige Swanson, who's Sheldon Cooper's rival on young Sheldon .

She was Juliette in Amityville, The Awakening with Bella Thorne.

Love that movie.

She played Lil Tanya.

That's that sounds like a hip-h artist, I. She plays the younger version of Tanya Harding in I Tonya.

And of course, she got an Emmy award nomination for her portrayal of Esther Keys in The Handmaid's Tale.

So that's just part of her highlight reel from her film and TV career .

Oh, I can't forget Captain Marvel.

She played young Carol Danvers and Captain Freaking Marvel.

I mean, this girl has been in all of the big movies, all of the big movies.

So besides that, her film and television career, she is an insanely talented singer and songwriter .

Her debut single, Haunted House, plays over the end credits of Ghostbusters Afterlife.

And that is because, well, I'll let you listen to the interview and find out how that happened.

But this is how talented she is.

Now, her brand new single, to All My Friends Hate Me, is out right now, and it is really freaking good.

I'm telling you, this girl is so unbelievably talented and she'll be just, she'll just be continuing this hot streak of incredible projects.

So let's not waste any more time.

Let's get right into my interview with the one and only McKenna Grace.

All right, so I am here with the multi talented, multi hyphenate McKenna Grace.

Thank you so much for joining me on iHeartRadio's Pop Culture Weekly.

Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Of course.

So I want to get into your new single, which I absolutely love.

And, but if you don't mind, can we go back a moment?

Awesome.

So you, you have been in so many incredible movies, gifted in series, The Handmaid's Tale, which you were nominated for a freaking Emmy for malignant Annabelle comes home, Captain Marvel.

I mean, all of these incredible and huge movies and series.

What has that been like for you ?

It's really nice because it's, it's what I love doing.

So being able to, um, I mean, it's one thing getting to do what you love, but then it's also another getting recognized for something that you really get to love to do.

So, so, so it's really a blessing that I get to do this.

And I feel honored to have been a part of the project that I've been lucky enough to be a part of.

Yeah, it's it's really cool to see you shine in all of these roles.

And then, of course, Ghostbusters Afterlife, what the heck?

How did that feel?

I mean, you, first of all, you rocked in that movie of it was so good.

I absolutely love, love, love that movie.

What was that?

And you starred in it.

What was that like?

It was absolutely crazy.

I'm such a big Ghostbusters fan, so it was so cool getting to do something, but I've been such a fan of for so long.

It was so nerve-racking as well, but I'm I'm really proud of the film and I'm so glad that it's out and that I got to be a part of it.

And you should be.

It's well deserved.

The film is so great.

It's such a, it's such like a throwback to fans of the original, the first two, but then like moving it forward and keeping it fresh for not only huge fans like myself, but a new generation of fans.

So it's just masterfully done and you totally rocked it out.

Thank you so much.

That means the world to me.

Of course.

And so tell me a little bit about how do you keep grounded with all of these big projects?

You know, it's so easy to get caught caught up in stuff that's not good.

How does McKenna stay grounded and as sane as possible in a world like that?

Exactly.

Like, can you define grounded?

Because I feel like there's so many different meanings.

How do you stay you and not lose yourself in in, you know, this Hollywood world that you're in?

Well, I mean, I don't know.

I just do.

I just didn't me and I guess that's just kind of one of the great parts about it is that I just am me, I've never really changed throughout my career.

I just constantly try to learn from my surroundings instead of getting caught up in whatever I'm doing.

I always want to be present whenever I'm filming things because I know that it could very well well be the last thing I ever filmed.

And I'm constantly just so thankful that I get to be doing what I love, that I feel like it's easy not to get swept up in like Hollywood or whatever that means.

You know, I just, I feel like it's easy to be like constantly thankful whenever you're doing what you love.

And I really am just so happy that this is what I get to do.

I love that answer and I love that you do remain grounded and true to yourself.

You know, I mean, so many people get swept up in celebrity and all the, you know, the negative things that could come with that.

And you have been just staying McKenna.

Yeah.

Yeah, I guess I really have.

That's a compliment.

I mean, that's a huge compliment to you.

You know what I mean?

Oh, no, yeah.

Thank you so much.

I do take it as bad.

And so tell me a little bit about, and then we're going to get into your two singles that I am so in love with.

Tell me a little bit about, you've been in a lot of horror movies and I'm a huge horror movie fan.

So you've done Annabelle Comes Home malignant.

You did the series, House on Honed Hill, which was incredible.

Are you a horror fan or, you know, are you, like, tell me about that.

Yeah, I am.

I am I'm a really big horror movie fan.

My dad and I are both big horror movie buffs.

You know, yeah, I really am.

I've always been a big horror movie person and it's so fun that I've been getting to acted in them since I was so little because that's kind of, it's really fun.

And especially being like a young girl.

I'm usually the one who's like, ah, so like scared people films and like getting to run around and like be scared and scream and stuff, which is honestly like so much fun to do.

And is that like cathartic for you?

Is that like a cool outlet as a movie buff to like be in these big movie or horror projects ?

Yeah, yeah.

It's really cool because then if I ever get recognized for that film or if I ever get to talk about them in interviews, then it's fun to be able to like chat with someone about horror movies because I really love them.

What's your favorite horror movies?

A few of your favorite.

Yeah, I really like Scream, the first one.

Yes.

And I really like Silence of the Lambs.

I think that Anthony Hopkins is just brilliant.

I love The Shining.

And I love the original character.

Oh, yeah.

I feel like there's just some great older horror films.

But then again, I feel like horror films lately have been so cool.

I really like, I loved Malignant and I feel like I'm fine to go and gush about that film because I was in it for like five seconds, but I like love that film so much.

It was so cool because it was like campy, but also like really, really, really, really cool to watch.

Yeah, yeah.

I was like screaming the entire time inside for joy.

I was trying to be respectful of everybody else, but I'm like, oh my God, it is freaking awesome.

It was just such a great like throwback slash campy slash fan service.

I just loved it.

It was so cool.

So speaking of films for Ghostbusters Afterlife, at the end credits, you had your song Haunted House playing over those end credits.

How did that come about?

Kind of accidentally.

I was writing my music video and I was wondering, who could I get to direct this?

It's my first music video.

I think it'd be really nice if I could get someone from my acting side to direct it, maybe.

And I was like, who could direct a music video for something called Haunted House?

The man himself, Jason Reitman, the director of Ghostbusters.

I wonder if he'd do that.

And even if he wouldn't, you know, like it's still be be really cool to have him listen to my song and give me his input.

I was like, hey, Mr. Jason, here's my song and my thing.

If you ever wanted to like direct a music video, I'm here.

And he was like, I'd love to.

I'm just like so busy this month because he was like doing some big directing thing.

And I was like, you go, man.

You're the coolest.

Thank you for considering it .

And then he came back to me like a day later and he was like, hey, I cannot stop listening to to this song.

And my daughter and my dad both love it.

And I was wondering if I could just like maybe put it in end credits just to see what it would sound like maybe.

And I was like, okay, you can do that..

I wouldn't be totally fine with that if you wanted to put it in the name credits.

You know, I mean, like, no big deal or anything.

But I mean, I guess if you wanted to, you could, you know?

So and it just ended up in there.

It wasn't even going to be my first single.

I think it was going to be something different.

And then all of a sudden it just worked out so brilliantly.

I wasn't even going to release anything until after the first of the year.

And then all of a sudden I'm like, okay, November 19th.

Hurry, hurry, hurry.

But I'm like, that was the coolest thing to ever happen.

It is such a good song and it's it fits perfectly with the film.

Was that just like happen stance?

It's faced off of some like instances in my real life.

I wasn't even thinking about the film when whenever I wrote it.

And then all of a sudden I went back and listen to it and I was like, .

This goes with the plot.

Okay.

Now you're like, selfconscious rewriting these little, like songs for films.

Let's go.

It was really funny how it all worked out.

It just kind of like fits so perfectly.

It's a beautifully haunting song .

Where did that come from from you as a writer?

Where did that song come from from McKenna?

It just came from like some personal things that went on in my life.

You know, it sounds, it sounds kind of like a breakup song in a way, but it's just more about like, not talking to someone anymore, whether it is like like a friend or boyfriend or girlfriend or like family member or whatever, you know, it's just more about a time I went through, whenever I had to stop talking to someone, you know, and it was kind of for the greater good, but it was also really, really sad.

And it's like, you know, whenever that happens, there's no proper way to describe it except for, you know, you have all these memories and all these things that remind you of someone that you don't really, you don't really know what to do with them all.

So it's like a ghost never leaves a haunted house, I guess, you know, you can stop talking to someone, but, you know, you, what are you going to do with all the memories that you have ?

So it's just kind of about like that lingering and just kind of like learning to live with it and whatnot.

But yeah, you know, it was, it was a pretty like a sad time whenever I wrote that song.

I think that I, that and, um, and all my friends do all my friends Hate Me.

The two singles I have released are kind of about like the same period of time in my life.

So it's cool to go back and listen to them and then listen to what I'm writing now.

It's just like little time capsules .

I love that.

And I love that with Haunted House, it is such a beautiful metaphor that I had never, you know, thought about until I'm listening to the song and I'm like, wow, that is absolutely beautiful because that's exactly what it is.

You're left with this, uh, you know, the physical presence may be gone, but their ghost is still there.

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

Of course.

And speaking of, do all my friends hate me?

Wow, that is another song that is like, really, beautifully profound.

And there's a line in there where I'm like, did she like , like read my journal or something?

Because it's it talks about the, my anxiety tells me that you, my anxiety.

Exactly.

And I'm like, holy crap, that is. Insanely like, I've thought that a million times.

And then to hear that in this song, you know, it's, it's like a confessional, this song.

Is that how you feel as a writer that they're very confessional type songs?

Yeah, I mean, a lot of my songs are really specific to quote I was going through in that time.

And, you know, I always try to make them as authentic as possible.

Of course, some of the stories that I tell in my music might be somewhat stretched, but I never sing about what I don't know about because I just feel like that'd be so awkward for me to like, like, I always act out what I don't know about.

And then I, and I learn about those instances and then I'm performing it to raise awareness for certain things and, and tell different stories and help get people's stories out there.

But then for me, it's more like personalist music.

And I want to make sure that I'm singing and writing about what I know about, because, you know, the writers of these scripts know about what they're writing and I want to make sure that what I'm saying has actually happened to me.

I don't want to write a song about like being cheated on or, you know, like all these things.

I don don't really know about.

I want to make sure that, you know, um, that I've gone through it because it'd be really awkward if I was sitting here and I was talking to you and you're like, you know, like, how does it feel to deal with like anxiety or like feeling like all your friends hate you?

And I'm like, well, I actually don't know.

I, you know?

So yeah, I really did and do feel that way a lot.

It's just kind of intrusive thoughts, I suppose, that you can't really get rid of.

That's kind of what this whole song is.

It's just kind of one big intrusive thought, you know, like my anxiety tells me that you'd be better without me, you know, like all my friends hate me.

It's just those moments whenever, you know, the world really feels like it's crashing down.

You're like, God, everyone around me thinks I'm annoying.

Everybody hates me.

I'm like a loser .

And then you just like kind of sit around and feel bad.

And then you're like, you know, it might not be as bad as I think.

And, you know, that's, that's what I think is so brilliant about the song is that I think we've all felt that way at one point in our lives or another or at many points in our lives or another.

You have been brave enough to write about it and then put that song out there for the world.

Was that scary for you ?

Yeah, it is pretty scary, especially because I don't want people to think that I'm like, oh, poor me, you feel bad for me?

Or like, oh, all my friends suck.

I have bad food friends, you know, like, because I have some really, really great friends.

It's just more of a feeling because whether your friends are wonderful, wonderful people to you or not, like, all it takes is like one missed call and and you can like get an intrusive thought that pops into your head and then just kind of spirals if you're, you know, not in such a good place.

I have some really great friends and I'm never talking bad about them.

It's just, you know, sometimes I feel like everybody hates me. And I can't help it.

That's what the whole song is about, that I can't help that feeling.

And then, I mean, I'm not writing so that people will be like, oh my God, poor you.

I feel so bad for you.

I'm not like begging pretension or like feel bad for me.

It's just more me writing out these experiences because it is kind of therapeutic for me.

And it's also kind of me writing it out.

And I'm not putting it out there for people to like listen and think of me.

I'm writing it and putting it out for people to listen and connect it to their own experiencesences and feel what they need to feel through my music if like, if it could help anyone, then that would mean the world to me.

And I think it's helping a lot of people.

You know, I think my favorite artists, I think, are the ones that are brave enough to be vulnerable.

You know, vulnerability is such a tough thing for so many people..

And I tend to gravitate towards artists that, you know, I was interviewing Mike Posner as one of my favorite artists.

And he's just somebody who is just like, I'm putting this out there and I'm terrified that I'm putting it out there, but I'm doing it anyway .

And it seems like, you know, to me, I think you are brave for doing that as well.

You know, I really do.

So kudos to you for for your vulnerability.

Thank you so much.

Of course And it's scary because I feel like out of my sad songs that I've written that like, do all my friends hate me is kind of like the Tamamist.

So I'm like, I'm scared to put more out there and I'm scared to like push these new songs and ideas and these deep like thoughts and secrets out into the world.

It's so frightening.

But then whenever at the end of the day, you know, I see what people are I was actually just listening to music in my room before I came in here and I was on Spotify and whenever I look up my song, I can go into playlists and people make playlists like based off of do all my friends hate me in haunted house.

And it's so cool for me and I like to go through each of them and like look at the other songs that they put in there.

And it's just so like, I don't know, it's so special that people are doing that and that people will listen to my song and make playlists based off of the feeling.

And so it's just so cool to me at the end of the day, even though I'm putting these like really personal things out there and it's scary to do so, it's really special to be able to see that people are actually, you know, like listening to it and it's worth it at the end of the day.

Good.

And, you know, and I think people are going to continue to do that as you release more and more music.

What is, when do you think, if you can tell us, when will that be happening?

Are you.. Working towards an album, an EP ?

Originally, the plan was always to release like a five song, six song EP, but now I have too many songs.

I have too many songs, which is the best problem to have, I suppose.

But even if I released an album, I feel like I'd have so many songs left over.

So right now I'm I'm working lining up my next couple of singles.

I might release like , I don't know, maybe two or three more and then whatever project I decide on, whether it's an EP or an album.

But I think that I have I know what my next three singles will be accepted.

I just need to figure out what order.

And I have at least four songs picked out for like like an album or an EP.

And then I have like a very vague eye.

I know what I'm doing.

I just need to like switch in and out the songs because I have too many, man.

And is sequencing hard for you?

Like a sequencing an EP or an album, you know, like the order that they're going to go in?

Is that hard for you when you have that amount of songs?

I have.

So out of like the 40 demos that I have, I have like , I have like 10 songs picked out and I like organized them to tell a little story and I'm like, okay, now it's just a matter of figuring out whether like my label's going to be like,Menna, you can't release this much.

You need to like, do a little bit less.

This is too much or like whether or not I'm going to be good to go.

So, you know, we'll see, but I do have a lot planned for the future and so many songs written that I cannot wait to get out there.

Awesome.

And what about doing any shows?

Do you have that on your radar in the future ?

I would perform like, that would be a dream come true for me if anybody would ever like want to like see me perform, then I would perform for like five people, you know, like that would be insane to me to be able to perform live for some people.

I would love that.

Well, I'm, I'm looking forward to it.

And I think I, you know, my guess is that more than five people will be showing up because there were response to your two singles has been incredible.

And the reviews are awesome.

The fans are loving it.

And they're great songs.

So I don't think that that's going to be a problem for you moving forward.

Thank you.

Well, let's hope fingers crossed, man.

So tell me this.

What are you working?

What's the next immediate McKenna Grace content we can get, W it's the next single or series or film?

What is coming out next?

Well, right now, I'm in Toronto shooting the next season of Handmaid's Tale.

And, you know, I have, like, two or three other acting projects that, you know, I'm like, I'm I'm my wheels are turning and I'm getting some things like started that I will hopefully be able to talk about soon enough .

And then, I mean, I'm working on figuring out my next single, which hopefully I can hurry up and figure, like, have it narrowed down to two songs, all right.

And I like, I'm hoping that maybe I can talk about it soon and figure out the dates for that.

But hopefully, hopefully within like the next, like two months one or two.

All right.

So good.

So we're looking I'm trying to be quick.

I'm trying to be fast.

I feel like I took so long to release all my friends after after Haunted House and it's just so fun releasing music.

And it's great to, as a listener, it's great to, you know, I can't wait for the next single.

So McKenna, thank you so much for speaking with me on Pop Culture Weekly when the album comes out or the EP or the next single or whatever it is that you're doing, come back on and and we'll talk again.

Well, I would love to.

Thank you so much for having me.

It was a pleasure.

Of course, thank you.

Thank you.

Have a good one.

Isn't she incredible?

McKenna Grace, such a, not just a powerhouse of talent, both as an actor and as a singer and songwriter, but just a really, really sweet person .

So, you know, shout out to McKenna for being so awesome.

Her brand new single, Do All My Friends Hate Me, is out right now, wherever you get your music, just like, you know, it is available on the iHeartRadio app.

And of course, her debut single, Haunted House, is another great one that came out recently and check that out on the streaming services, like the iHeartRadio app or over the end credits of Ghostbusters Afterlife, which is out right now on home Video.

I got my 4K and my digital copy, and I have watched it already.

I love it.

All right, guys.

Thank you for tuning in.

We'll have all the show notes in the show notes.

We'll have all the links in the show notes.

There we go.

Otherwise, you know, I love you.

I'll see you next week.

We out.

Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Weekly.

Hear all the latest at popcultureweekly.com.

I guess I'm annoying sitting at home in my my paranoia But I really adore you.