The Des Moines, Iowa-based artist Mcrïsto is thrilled to announce the release of his debut single’ Mirror,’ which will be available on all platforms on [01, 07, 2022].
Mirror is a simple, lyrical, and self-reflective song that encourages returning to a self-critiquing society instead of a finger-pointing one. The song’s slow, almost RnB style emphasizes the lyrical message while still expressing and maintaining the musical character and style of the artist. The release was produced by Sean McNally and Mixed and Mastered by Rodrigo Torqui. It was written as part of his upcoming debut album that is still in the works.
Mcrïsto wrote Mirror through 2020 and 2021 amid the worldwide struggles with the pandemic and the national division amid the presidential elections. It took Mcrïsto two years to finish the lyrics of the song, stating, “It took me a while to finish the lyrics because almost every line was a different character of myself within the internal world I was living in.”
Mirror consists of different characters of Mcrïsto carrying his different personalities and the power struggles. The song explores the various characters’ personalities and conversations between them for reflection and thrives for understanding in pursuit of common ground. He wrote the song not intending to find an immediate solution but to start the conversation.
He said he hopes for the audience to think about the words but also enjoy the song in their way. Mcrïsto expressed that this song was heavily influenced by the internal battles he had been trying to grasp for the past couple of years; however, which were brought to life when the world experienced a massive shakeup. As the national division grew, he developed the song by what he learned about himself.
Writing the song took longer than he expected, but because of what he was trying to communicate, Mcrïsto believed giving the “message more time to develop was necessary.” He pronounced that his goal is to capture and express every emotion and feeling to empower everyone through music and hopes Mirror will speak to that goal. He observed that songs about personhood that have nothing to say about money and fame were becoming less and less prevalent, but an essential topic to expand, so he focused more on this topic, at least for the time being.
He remarked that people always default back to their hearts and minds when there’s no way out. He wrote this song to help people start the conversation and look at themselves first instead of searching for answers from outsiders. He “hopes for his music to encourage listeners to initiate an internal conversation without shying away,” as it is where the battle for growth is won and lost. He aims to make more expressive songs as part of his artistic voice.
Mcrïsto’s singing journey began at a very young age. He grew up in a very musical family in central Africa. His mother was a singer; other family members also sang but never pursued it further. At the age of five, he was helping his older brother write songs for his band by playing drums which he said was “very enjoyable that [he] wanted to do it every day.”
He learned to play drums from his adventures with his brother, and he believed learning to play drums helped him grow his songwriting. In 2017 at 16years of age, Mcrïsto was a co-writer of a few African style song releases that he felt were never finished, but his influence within them was limited. After a long journey with music, being part of bands, and even performing a few concerts, he decided to pursue music solo to realize his greater goal: to sing untold stories to the world.
In early 2018 he embarked on a project to release his first album, which consists of his debut single, Mirror. He believes the album will be done in time to be released before the holiday season this year but ensures there will be singles after Mirror and before the album release to showcase his musical diversity and ability.
