When Jamie mcdell sat down to write “Dream Team”, she had just finished watching the latest episode of HBO Chernobyl series. Considering the receipt surrounding the nuclear disaster, the New Zealand-based artist dropped onto the bathroom floor of her partner’s boss’s apartment and wrote the new track, released on August 6.

This approach to songwriting is its usual process, although the location usually varies. The 28-year-old writer writes down inspirational tracks as they come in, and finds time at the end of each month to sort out which ones seem to have enough substance for a song. From an Isolation Facility managed in Christchurch, the artist considers his thought process at this point of creation:

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this song was inspired by the tragic events that took place in 1986,” McDell told American Songwriter. “But the various devastating stories described, coupled with a social media post – by some popular boys I knew from home – with the caption ‘Dream Team’ made me question the hands we choose to put. our life / our family lives in. “

On incandescent instrumentation, McDell examines the price we’re willing to pay for power and possession. Its lyricism features devastating depictions of deception and the rippling fallout from a false sense of security. It underlines Dan Dugmore’s steel pedal solo which ushers in a dazzling conclusion. “Knowing his background, with Linda Ronstadt in particular, it was the greatest honor to have him in the studio,” McDell notes of Dugmore. “A highlight of my career. ”

This is the first single from her upcoming album to be released in early 2022 via ABC Records. The project produced by Nash Chambers will be his third feature film, following that of 2019 Extraordinary girl and EP Botox. His artistic talent began at the age of 7 when his father left his corporate job in Auckland and brought his family aboard a yacht where they would live in the Mediterranean. On the water, McDell wrote his first song, based on his parents’ favorite tapes, including John Denver and James Taylor. At 16, she signed to EMI and released her award-winning debut LP Six ropes and a sailboat in 2013. She gained ground with her second Ask me anything album, asserting itself as someone the global industry should take seriously. The folk artist pushed to his limits, teaming up with members of the Nashville and Toronto music scene to create limitless transgender music.

“Dream Team” offers proof of her transcendent growth as a storyteller. Going out of his own way, McDell wields a social influence to tell stories from other people’s shoes. Songwriting offers her a respite from the unrealistic balance of everyday life, creating space for authenticity. The job, she says, allows her to be “my most troubled, critical, and vulnerable self without many consequences other than eliciting a more realistic perspective in those who intentionally listen.”

McDell adds, “I love that writing music is the part of my life where these weirdest and most shameful parts of me go. I feel like it gives me the freedom and self-esteem to pour joy and kindness into all other parts of my life. I think my friends could describe me as generally happy and easy going and I would say songwriting is the reason why.

Listen to Jamie McDell’s new song “Dream Team”, here.