Declan McKenna, "First On" At Lolla, On Set-Listing And Flow
At Lollapalooza 2017, Chicago Chapter spoke with British singer/songwriter Declan McKenna about touring and about his debut album What Do You Think About the Car?, which came out just weeks earlier. On the road, "It's been revolutionized by the release of my debut album, in the least salesy way possible," McKenna said, "because people actually know the songs." Most of the songs had earlier been released as singles, including the anti-poverty "Brazil" in 2014 and "Paracetamol" in 2015 addressing perceptions of transgender teens. 2015 was also the year he won Glastonbury Festival's Emerging Talent Competition. Now, checking his email, McKenna discovered his album was at No. 11 on the UK charts. It peaked at No. 7 in the U.S. on Billboard Heatseekers. "I didn't know what to expect, being first on and all," he said about his early performance. "At festivals you can just be 'What's going to flow nicely, how am I feeling today and what's going to work?'" he said. "Now I feel quite free with set-listing, which is nice."
