Emerging singer-songwriter Andie Mackenzie has just released her new single, “Autumn Innocence.” It’s a folk-inspired track that delves into a story from one of her personal experiences last fall. She starts off the song by creating a sort of mysterious vibe, talking about this budding romance. She says this guy would make her Sunday nights less sufferable because “you would preach about your life.” This is one of the first of many religious references Andie makes in the song. From there, she tells listeners that this guy would always tell her “[she’s] too good for [him,” yet, she still had faith in their relationship. Yet, Andie says this guy “took away [her] autumn innocence.” Innocence and purity plays a big role in Christianity, but this guy, who is Christian, takes that innocence away from her. She felt so loved by this guy she would kill for some of his attention and die in his crossfire, practically worshiping him. Andie delves into the darker aspects of their relationship, saying “good Christian boy who skips confession/no saint but you played the part.” She now feels disillusioned by this guy who played the part of the saint in her life. Yet, she would still do anything and everything for him because he took her heart and soul. This song features a lot of complex and deep religious references and metaphors that you can really dig into listen after listen.
This song perfectly personifies the feeling of autumn. To me, it feels raw and vulnerable, and it puts me right into that picturesque fall scene. The song starts off with a unique acoustic guitar rhythm that is heard throughout the song. The production is rather simple in the first parts of the song, featuring only Andie’s voice and the guitar. As the song goes on, she adds in some piano and another acoustic guitar. Then in the chorus, there’s now an electric guitar and some drums in the production, which reflects the intensifying lyrics in the song. This more intense instrumentation carries into the second verse, exemplifying her doubts and frustrations with her relationship. The harmonies in the background during the guitar solo are perfectly crafted and have this angelic or ethereal vibe to them. Despite all of the wonderful aspects about the production, the one that sticks out to me about “Autumn Innocence” is Andie’s voice. Unlike a lot of pop music, she uses little to no autotune on her vocals which gives this song the rawness and the organicness that I love.
Andie Mackenzie is a San Diego, California native who is currently a sophomore studying Music Business at NYU. She started her musical journey at three years old, when her parents introduced her to the violin. However, the violin was soon replaced with a guitar in her hands. By the time she was eight, she could play piano and started writing songs. From then on, songwriting became a huge part of her life, and it wasn’t until middle school she mustered up the courage to show her mom her work. By the time she entered high school, she knew music was going to be her future career. However, SoCal never truly felt like “home” for her, so she turned to her mothers East Coast roots and now calls New York City her home. In her time in New York, she has performed on some iconic stages like Sounds of Brazil and Rockwood. Embracing ABBA’s harmonies and Christina Perri’s acoustic style, two of her favorite artists, she released her first song in May of 2023. A short four months later, she put out her first EP, “Afterthought.” The title track from that EP currently has over 20k streams on Spotify. Andie is looking forward to releasing her first album and collaborating with new musicians as well. She wants to make being an artist a full-time job, but also wants to use her music for philanthropic work. With a talent like Andie’s, it’s clear that she will soon take the music scene by storm and produce beautiful, quality works for many years to come.
Written By Lauren DiGiovanni
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