McKenna Grace Shares Inspiration for Her “Gentleman” Music Video

On today’s episode of “How It Went Down,” actress and singer McKenna Grace shares what inspired her to write her song “Gentleman,” why she decided to have so many dogs in the clip and much more!

Grace McKenna
Hi, my name is McKenna Grace and this is how it’s been since my single “Gentleman”. I always have little reference playlists or ambient playlists for the day, every time I go into the studio, it’s kind of the most pop music I’ve ever learned and it’s not not something I’d usually like to do, but it was really fun to explore and play. with. I think it was more just a feeling. I was like, oh, there’s a “Gentleman.” I know. I just love it. Oh, you know, it was like being a girl. One boy treated me really kindly. And so I wanted to write a bunch of songs about that. And actually, of course, it was so fun and silly and nice to be able to create and do something positive and optimistic. I mean, it was just a fun writing process. I just got there and gushed for a few hours, then wrote a lovely song about a gentleman. We had our own little gentleman in the studio, there was this dog, his name was Woodstock. He’s our producer’s dog, he was adorable. And my heart, my gentlemen, is this dog, I always do this. It doesn’t matter how long ago I wrote the song or if the vocals sound good. I always go back to the studio and redo my vocals before the song is released. I do not know why. Maybe I have some kind of demo-itis or something. And I’m like, I hate these voices. Like they look fake. I have to do it again. Maybe my voice changed in a week. And so, whenever we decided to release the song, I went back for another few hours and recorded some vocals. For the clip. I am a very big movie buff. I like movies. Who would have guessed it? Yeah, I really like movies. I did this for a music video. I used to recreate scenes from “Scott Pilgrim.” I always feel so weird making music videos about situations that have happened in my life. And I was like, I don’t want to hire a guy to come play this guy. Like, it seemed so weird to me. So I said to myself, I don’t want to have a boy in this clip. But how am I supposed to recreate these romance films? Because that’s how I feel I want to do something fun and light. So I was like, oh, you know, I know a gentleman and he’s downstairs in my living room, probably rolling around on my rug, my dog, Gizmo. And so I was like, Oh, I could write a music video for myself and I just spiraled out of control. And I was like, I have to have this many dogs that I just want to have a bunch of dogs in there and recreate movie scenes and just have a good time. I just wanted it to be authentic and fun and silly and match the vibe of the song and so I feel like this music video is probably one of the most knee-deep music videos that I have. So it’s really just movies and puppies. And it’s me.