KC Rae (Now, Now’s KC Dalager) has released “Blockbuster”, her debut single as a solo artist. When KC began writing songs again in 2019, it marked the start of what would become one of the most difficult periods of her life. She was coming to the end of two years on the road, promoting and touring with her band Now, Now in support of their critically-acclaimed and highly successful sophomore album, Saved. As the cycle wound down, she began to process the last 15 years of her time in the music industry, propelling her to embark on an incredible journey of self-discovery about trauma, mental health, her own autism diagnosis and ultimately, healing and understanding. “Blockbuster” written and produced entirely by KC Rae, gives fans a first glimpse into the songwriting that came of that journey, with lyrics that viscerally transport the listener back to late 90’s/Y2K adolescence.
“This song is about a very specific memory with my cousin” shares KC, “I was terrified of breaking rules as a kid, so this experience of swiping her stepdad’s car, without a license, to go rent a movie has sunk itself into the core memory archives. It also captures the entire relationship with my cousin and crashing through childhood and adolescence together. I have a really intense sensory memory, so the end of the track is a tangent of every time I’ve felt a specific breeze while with her. I also wanted to highlight and display all of these little instances of growing up that you don’t realize are going to stick with you.”
With big discoveries, came a new sense of self. KC Rae, as she goes by now, acknowledges that writing these new songs started out as an attempt to regain her power. “It felt like I was writing a response to all of the times I’d been told ‘No’ in my career. And to be honest, I kind of just wanted to prove that I could do something on my own, as the sole writer, musician and producer of a thing that was just mine.” However, as time went on, the solo process became much more than that; it became the timestamp of a painful yet incredible journey.