McKenna Michels Has New Album, Video, More Comics On The Way
Ever since her 2021 debut EP, Renaissance, Austin’s McKenna Michels’ heart-driven songs tell stories of profound resilience and strength, often discussing her journey through an abusive situation in her childhood, as well as navigating life as an autistic woman and member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
In early 2025, she’ll release her second EP (and third collection of music overall), Revolution, via Arching Dog Productions with distribution by Burnside Digital Distribution/The Orchard. To celebrate, Michels released the first single today for “I Don’t Know,” a catchy breakup song about loss and learning to love herself (and others) again. It’s available now for purchase or streaming on all digital outlets. The video, which was filmed at various tour stops throughout Europe on a recent tour and features footage of Michels on and off stage interacting with her fans, can be seen on her official YouTube page.<
“I Don’t Know’ is a song about finding new love immediately following the end of a destructive relationship, and learning to put aside hesitation caused by damage from the past,” explains Michels. “While I wrote the song to have a hint of sorrow in there, I wanted the overall tone of it to be more upbeat and give the listener a small dose of ‘will they, won’t they?’ which my producer, Jon Muq, captured perfectly. I wrote this song pretty quickly after a traumatizing breakup about someone I had met within that same week, and I’m happy to share that we’ve been together for almost three years now.
“This song feels like the perfect one to introduce Revolution, because while it’s technically a love song, it’s focused primarily on the internal struggles, thoughts and feelings of the protagonist, an overarching element of this project. Each song gives the listener a unique insight into various situations, emotions, or thought processes I have day to day, and I feel like the personal aspect of this EP is what makes it special to me.”
While developing a reputation as an opera singer earlier in her career, she’s already had the honor of performing at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 2017. She’s had the honor of opening for three accomplished musical artists on the European legs of their tours, including Echosmith (“Cool Kids”), WizTheMC (South African-German rapper best known for his TikTok hit “For a Minute”) and L.A.-based pop artist EMEI (recently featured by Spotify during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month).
Revolution is the follow-up to her 2022 debut full length album, Enlightenment, which was released via Arching Dog Productions with distribution by DistroKid and featured the singles “Broken Like This,” “Survivor,” “Running,” and “Born To Die.” Each of the songs reached impressive positions on the Billboard Hot AC charts and resonated with listeners of all ages. It stands as a testament to her unwavering dedication to her craft and is available on all streaming platforms.
“Survivor” spawned Michels’ very own comic book series of the same title. For Michels, who describes herself as “18th Century Fashion Obsessed” on her official Instagram page and is an avid cosplayer, creating a comic book was a logical step for the musician to be portrayed in a story about survival and life lessons while being entertaining in a Mister Rogers and Sesame Street kind of way. She wanted to have a creative outlet to bring awareness to abuse victims and how to deal with bullies, two subjects she unfortunately knows about first-hand.
The co-creator and main character, Michelle Patrick (aka “Mishi.Chu”) the daughter of a good friend of Michels’ manager, developed epilepsy and cerebral palsy after suffering a stroke when she was only five weeks old and has become quite the expert in anime art. The comic book team is complete with writer Drew Edwards (Halloween Man), artist Terry Parr (Aerobicide The Extreme Ninja Workout), Marvel artist Brandon Peterson (Ultimate X-Men), Marvel and Dark Horse artist Harvey Tolibao (Star Wars: The Dark Republic), and Marvel and DC Comics artists John Lucas (Amazing Spider-Man Annual #39, Batman: Streets Of Gotham) and Vo Nguyen (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, GI Joe).
While gearing up for the release of Michels’ baroque-themed video for “Broken Like This” in 2021 to promote Enlightenment, she learned that Halsey had just released her movie with a similar look and idea. Instead of getting discouraged, she and her manager decided to use the story as the start of the creation of the comic book with the help of Michelle as a way to be properly represented and dispel myths about epilepsy. Survivor features a young character based on Michelle, who creates the McKenna character as her own personal superhero to help her deal with problems in her world. In the fantasy world, Michelle and McKenna both deal with very similar problems. A video for “Survivor” that was made as a partner visual to the comic book can be seen on Michels’ official YouTube page (which currently has over 337,000 views), while an Enlightenment “Visual Album” video can be seen here.
The Survivor comic has the backing of Epilepsy Foundation of America, In Your Shoes – The Sophia Capo Memorial Foundation, and Michels has given the books to patients at Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, where they play “Survivor” regularly on their playlist in the cancer ward.
The second comic of the series, Monster, which continues to address the cycle of abuse, will be released early next year along with the release of the EP. That will be followed by the third of the series, Queen of Venom, which will be designed and completed in the new year.