In “Favorite Girl,” Mack Holland Gives his Inspiration a Pop, R&B and Rap Voice
By: Kurt Beyers
Music that comes from Mack Holland is inspirational or positive, and that holds with his latest release, “Favorite Girl,” a venture into pop, R&B and rap, all at once.
“Favorite Girl” is a danceable track with a man talking to a bongo beat about his lady — how much she means to him, how much he respects her and his feelings for her.
“I wrote it as a poem for a book I wrote, Sweet Inspirations, the Mack Holland Book of Inspiration, Poetry and Song, which is still out. And when I wrote it, I felt like it had a nice pop to it, and I said, ‘One day, I’m going to record this as a song.’”
He said that, with the success of his last two releases, the gospel “Lord I Thank You” and “He Is,” recorded back to back, he decided to “take a little break from inspirational gospel and go ahead and get out this upbeat track that I wrote six or seven years ago.”
“My heart is in gospel, my heart is in talking about the Lord most of the time, but, you know, it’s good to go in another direction every now and then and keep everything fresh.”
He produced it in three different versions, a club track, a dance track and an instrumental.
Photo Courtesy: Mack Holland
The club version is in what he calls a trap style, loud with bongos and drums, and the dance version is, he said, “smooth, like a normal song.”
“If you want to sit back, relax and just listen to a song, you can listen to the dance version.”
The rap section is performed by Alex Bond, a rapper from the same area of Georgia where Mack lives. He is the son of Mack’s longtime friend and producer Kevin Bond.
“When we made this song, Kevin came to me and he said, ‘You know, my son raps, and I think it would be a good addition if he raps a part to this song.’ So, he put it together and listened to it, and I didn’t see any problem with it.”
Alex’s rap section adds its own interest to the sound and offers a different perspective on the message of respect and affection toward women.
“I’m telling you, it’s been a blessing working with Kevin and now his son. The collaboration was a blessing, man, a blessing.”
He says “Favorite Girl” is his “first legitimate dance song, and I’m glad I took the time to record it,” but his next release, which he is in the studio developing now, will be a return to gospel, “My God Is Amazing.”
“So, I’m back on the gospel track, and that’s going to be great, too. I’m feeling this song as well.”
He just might return to R&B and pop.
“Who knows?” he said. “Maybe a little jazz song every now and then. Making music is fun, and whatever comes to my heart and what I feel like putting down, that’s what I do.”
His desire for his music is that people listen to “Favorite Girl” and then visit his gospel songs, “He Is,” “Lord I Thank You,” “This Christmas” and the rest, and take in his message of hope and positivity.
Inspirational music, he tells people, can be R&B, jazz, gospel, pop, any genre, and whatever music he creates will be created with the intent of being positive and inspiring.
“It is going to be positive, and it’s going to be inspirational, never anything negative. I just want everybody to feel good about what they’re listening to, whether we talk about the Lord or whether we talk about having a good time, or whether we talk about that special person in our lives. If it’s positive, that’s the kind of music Mack Holland wants to make.”
Connect to Mack Holland on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.
Website: https://mackholland.com
Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/music/player/artists/B00IL19LFK/mack-holland
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mack-holland/826538826
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/cajazzy4
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wBJMMdaSFmtgQWDBRUwiA
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRqyX6kkmX0waGe2wHEbJg
Published by: Khy Talara
