Sydney Mack | Millions of TikTok Views | American Idol Audition | New Music "Take You Back"

With over 2 million views on TikTok, country artist Sydney Mack’s career is exploding! On today's episode, we’ll talk about her songs, her singing career, and we'll get to know her a little better with some fun personal questions. Get ready for some heart-stopping stories about hiking on a glacier, flying in a glider plane when she was 8 years old, and what unexpected turn her American Idol audition took! 

Her latest single “Take You Back” is out now! Get it here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/sydneymack/take-you-back-2

Follow Sydney on social media here: https://www.sydneymackmusic.com/

Follow the Bored and Curious Podcast on podcast platforms, YouTube, and social media here: https://linktr.ee/boredandcuriouspodcast

Sydney Mack has been in love with music since her mom played Naomi to her three-year-old Wynonna, singing, "Grandpa, Tell Me 'Bout the Good Old Days" in their family room. She has given music a lifetime of dedication, from her classical music education to stints as a Music Row intern while attending Nashville's Belmont University. On Season 14 of American Idol, Sydney was one of only 37 contestants from Nashville given a golden ticket to Los Angeles for Hollywood Week. The following year, she was voted into the NashNext Top 10, where Sydney and the rest of the Top 10 had the honor of going on tour with country artist, Raelynn. She has opened for country superstars such as Miranda Lambert, Florida Georgia Line, Brett Eldredge, Charlie Daniels and the legendary George Jones.

Episode Guide:

0:00 Intro and “Medicine” commentary

2:00 Childhood | Love of music

4:40 American Idol audition | Belmont University

7:50 Interning in Nashville

8:44 Decision to pursue singing

10:05 First song you wrote

11:29 Dream collab

12:34 Ultimate goal

13:33 Story behind the song - “Medicine”

17:42 Story behind the song - “Pretty Boy”

20:05 Performance - “Pretty Boy”

23:07 Story behind the song - “Don’t Call”

26:29 TV / Movies

28:10 Bucket list

29:09 Celebrity crush 

30:06 Worst thing you did as a kid 

31:19 Riskiest / most adventurous thing you’ve done

34:09 Could ya not? (i.e. What bothers you?)

35:46 Next releases, TikTok live

36:32 “Take You Back” is available! Link in description!

Intro music artist credit: Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Transcript

Mary Katz: 0:00

It's country music! It's breakup songs and beer and dogs. It's our life! These are the things that happened. Welcome to Bored and Curious. I'm your host, Mary Katz. On today's episode, we have a new country artist, Sydney Mack. Her songs are rising quickly on streaming platforms and she has over 1 million views on TikTok. Her latest song has certainly caught the attention of fans. Today we'll talk to Sydney about her songs, her singing career, and we'll get to know her a little better with some fun personal questions, but before we get started, hit that follow or subscribe button to stay updated on new episodes. All right, Sydney. Well, welcome to the Bored and Curious. I'm so excited to have you today. I've been listening to your music and girl, "Medicine;" do you know how many people are gonna like really just resonate with that?

Sydney Mack: 0:42

Oh, my goodness. I didn't have much of an idea until I posted a clip of it on TikTok. And it just, I mean, I, I kept checking and I would have like 99 plus notifications when I came back. But it's amazing. Like someone, one of my favorite comments was "You said the two magic

words: 0:59

'karma' and 'ex.' And that they were like, "I was going to keep scrolling, but as soon as I saw that-." So apparently a lot of people wish some, uh, some karma would, would hit their ex, for sure.

Mary Katz: 1:12

I think they do. Yeah. Gosh, especially in, today's like world of Tinder and all of that, where you just between the ghosting and the, you know, you go on one date and then like nothing happens. And it's just like, or when you're in a relationship for, you know, months or years, and then suddenly it's, it's over and, and not for like a reason that you saw comin'. And you're just like, what, what happened? It's crazy.

Sydney Mack: 1:37

Yep.

Mary Katz: 1:38

All right. But before we dive into, oh wait, go ahead.

Sydney Mack: 1:42

I was just going to say, I feel like that's the worst whenever there's not a reason for the break. Like it's almost easier if someone does something that you can like kind of hate them for, but like ghosting it's like nothing bad happened. It's just, I don't know. I think that's, I think that's the worst kind of breakup for sure.

Mary Katz: 2:00

Yeah, no I'm with you. Um, but before we dive too far into the songs here, go ahead and tell me about your upbringing and, um, and kinda what, what sparked your love for music?

Sydney Mack: 2:13

Yeah. Um, I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and only child. Um, Super super close with my parents, with my family. Um, my mom is really the, the music lover, um, of the family. My dad loves exclusively Willy's Place on Sirius XM. Um, that's literally all he listens to. Um, but you know, I grew up listening to all different genres. Um, but one of my favorites growing up was listening to The Judds. Um, and I, I realized I think that subconsciously I saw this mom and daughter singing together and I knew that I loved to sing with my mom. So it made perfect sense. So like, "Grandpa, Tell Me about the Good Old Days," uh, is hands down one of my favorite songs, even though it was way over my head at the time. Um, I appreciate that song a lot more now. Um, but yeah, so that was, that was kind of my first, um, I think, like I said, subconsciously, that's kind of what made me want to maybe start to pursue a career in music, but it wasn't until I was a little bit older and I realized that, um, that was really the only thing I wanted to do. I mean, I, I knew that I knew that I had to get to Nashville. I knew that I wanted to be an artist. Um, Looking back. It was, you know, very, um, there were a lot of twists and turns to, to get here, but, um, but yeah, I just, I kind of set my sights on Nashville and I actually went to Belmont University and studied music business just to kind of see the business side of things and really just to get to Nashville and not be 18 years old in a city full of strangers. You know, it, I think going to college was a really big help for me. I was a bit of a late bloomer, so, um, I think moving to Nashville at 18 would have been totally overwhelming.

Mary Katz: 4:15

Yeah. I can imagine that. I haven't actually been in Nashville. I've only driven through, but I can just imagine it's probably like Austin, Texas, but like, like even more so, just crazy with the, like the music. And you never know who you're going to run into and you don't really know how it's going to go. And, um, you don't know if people can be mean and-

Sydney Mack: 4:37

Yeah, that's exactly right. And I think it was, you know, I kind of called Belmont the catalyst because I just, I think, like I said, it would have been so overwhelming as someone who was still trying to figure out who I was as a person, let alone as an artist, let alone as a songwriter. Um, so it really was a good, like middle ground for me to, um, to be able to get here. And I actually found out about Belmont from someone who was standing in line behind me at American Idol, which is yeah. Right. Like you talk about things kind of happening. You know, everything happens for a reason, all that kind of stuff. It was like, I made that decision when I was 16 to audition. Totally totally before the audition. Like it was, it was terrible, but had I not gone to that? Um, I never would have, you know, talk to the people behind us. And she was like, have you started looking at colleges yet? And I said, well, I was thinking maybe I'd go to Pitt or WVU something close to home first. And she said, have you heard of Belmont in Nashville? And I was like, no. And she said, Trisha year were went there and I was like, that's it. So I like. Wherever Trisha Yearwood went is good enough for me because I absolutely adore Trisha Yearwood too. So that was, that was another like step on the path, um, was finding out about Belmont in general. So, yeah.

Mary Katz: 6:05

I had Liz Hengber on the podcast, um, a while back and she's an instructor at Belmont and, um, other than being just a phenomenal songwriter.

Sydney Mack: 6:14

I've written with Liz a number of times. I love her.

Mary Katz: 6:16

I'm sorry.

Sydney Mack: 6:17

I've written with her a number of times. I really-

Mary Katz: 6:20

Oh my God. I'm so jealous right now! To be a fly on the wall in the room when that woman is writing a song, I would just die. Oh man.

Sydney Mack: 6:31

She's like the, the consummate writer. Like she just, she wants to read it down like a story, you know, it's like she's so, um, focused on that craft. I've learned a lot from her.

Mary Katz: 6:43

Yeah. I feel like I've learned a lot just from her songs. You got the masterclass!

Sydney Mack: 6:51

Yes!

Mary Katz: 6:53

I'd asked her if colleges, um, or any school could prepare people better for the music industry. And she was like, if, if they're going to go to Belmont, then that's the place to go. And so what do you think you learned at Belmont that you wouldn't have known otherwise that would have been a huge shock?

Sydney Mack: 7:10

Oh, my goodness. I think first of all, songwriting, um, not that I did anything songwriting at Belmont, but I met so many other of my peers who were doing the artist thing, but they were also writing. So I started writing with kids that I was in, you know, like macro economics with. Um, and that was really good for me because I would've embarrassed myself so much writing with, you know, these people that I met in Nashville. So it was really good. I was very green with writing. I didn't know much about songwriting before I moved here, um, and went to college. So I think that was one of the biggest things. And I think the other thing is just interning. I was able to intern at a management company, at a publishing company. So I saw those, I saw how things like CRS country radio seminar works. And how, you know, I would, my job was to take around an artist to all of the different radio stations. So now I know how a radio remote works, which it's a very overwhelming process for the artist. And I think if I would have not seen that and know what to expect, I think it would have been pretty terrifying to, to do something like that. But now I know what to expect and, um, you know, I call it baptism by fire. Like you just get out there and ya learn. Like that's, I think you learn so much more doing it than, you know, sitting in the classroom. So I think the interning aspect was huge for me.

Mary Katz: 8:42

Oh, that's awesome. And so what made you kind of take that final leap to say, yes, I am going to pursue music, I am going to be an artist? Um, because there's so many different routes in the music industry that you can get into, like the ones that you just mentioned. So what made you go, this is the thing I'm going to do and then actually do it?

Sydney Mack: 8:57

I always joke that they say the definition of crazy is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. But I think really the definition of crazy is moving to a city nine hours away from home and pursuing a dream and a career that is, you know, the chances of having a huge level of success are so small. But the only explanation for me is it's the only thing I've ever wanted to do. I believed in myself enough, um, probably not enough as, as much as I needed to at the time. So ignorance was bliss. Um, but my parents believed in me and just never having that what if. I think that's really what it is. Like I needed to, I needed to do this for myself and if it didn't happen, it didn't happen. But I would be damned if I didn't at least try and know that I did everything I possibly could to make it happen.

Mary Katz: 9:54

Cool. That's a great answer. I find in doing this podcast that a lot of people that's kind of their thing is they just don't want to live with regret. Like I will 100% regret if I don't at least give it a shot. Do you remember the first song that you wrote?

Sydney Mack: 10:09

Yes. Um, well, the first, like real song I wrote is actually hilarious. Um, I was in fifth grade and my cousin, Olivia and I decided we were going to start a band called LYLAS, which was love-you-like-a-sis. That was how we signed, you know, the yearbooks. Um,

Mary Katz: 10:29

Oh yeah. I'm familiar.

Sydney Mack: 10:30

Yeah. Or like HAGS, have-a-good- you know, it was the, into the acronyms. Um, so we wrote a song and I mean, I still could, it was, uh, it was on the piano, but that one was ridiculous. But like the real first song that I wrote, um, is called "He's No You." And it was, um, like I would write poems when I was in high school, but I just. Well, like I said, I never really put it to music. I didn't play the guitar at the time. So that was like, I, I just didn't think about really where the songs came from, which is crazy to think about that now. Um, but yeah, it was called "He's No You" and I wrote it in my college dorm room. Um, learned how to play "Angel from Montgomery" by Bonnie Raitt; John Prine wrote it and I learned those chords. And then I just wrote a song using those chords; different melody but that was, that was the first song I wrote.

Mary Katz: 11:26

That's awesome. Um, so is there someone in the industry that you want to work with and you haven't had the opportunity yet, but you're gonna make it happen. Put it out there, girl. Manifest it!

Sydney Mack: 11:38

Oh my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. I'm all about that. Um, I really would absolutely love to do something with Chris Stapleton. He is- I just- Like I grew up listening, like I said to country, obviously, like that goes without saying. But I grew up listening to the Beatles and Motown and stuff from Muscle Shoals and Southern rock and all of that. And I just- you know, if- If like Bonnie Raitt and Maren Morris and Adele had a musical child, like, that's what I feel like lives inside of me. You know? It's, it's just that I love that soulfulness of his voice. And I just, I would just love to sing something with him.

Mary Katz: 12:22

That'd be awesome. You guys got to do, um, a duet of "Tennessee Whiskey" like he and Justin Timberlake did.

Sydney Mack: 12:30

Yes. Yes. That would be amazing.

Mary Katz: 12:34

So what would you say your ultimate goal is in the industry? Like a lot of people say they want to, you know, they want to be an Opry member. They want to sell out an arena or whatever it is. What would you say that your ultimate goal is?

Sydney Mack: 12:46

I'm really hoping to stand in that circle, um, at the Opry stage, for sure. I think ultimately I, it would be like headlining an arena tour. Um, I think that would just be the coolest thing. Like even when I write songs now, I'm thinking and imagining what that song could sound like in an arena, or, you know, where it would be in the set, like, is this, is this going to be like a dramatic entrance kind of song. And just thinking about like that crowd singing along with you. That would be a total dream come true. Total dream come true.

Mary Katz: 13:26

That's a good one.

Sydney Mack: 13:27

Shoot for the stars, right? Like ya gotta-

Mary Katz: 13:29

Right! Absolutely! All right. So moving into, um, the story behind the song. Do you want to go ahead and tell me the story behind "Medicine?"

Sydney Mack: 13:38

Yeah. So, um, wrote that song with Keesy Timmer, Cassidy Lynn and Tony McVaney. The four of us have written a number of songs together, but this was the first one that we had to write on Zoom together. Um, and it was on Cinco de Mayo last year. And we were all like, "Oh, we're going to have margaritas afterwards. This is going to be awesome." Um, but we, we started talking about song ideas and I had just written down- you know- I have a Google doc and it's like 30 pages long of just song ideas, one liners, general outlines, you know, whatever it is. And for some reason the word "medicine" just popped out at me that day. And I was like, what about, you know, the phrase, like, "uh, give them a taste of their own medicine" kind of thing? Like what if that was a breakup song? Like the hell that you put me through. You need to understand what that feels like. Because you need, you need to come down a couple pegs, you know. Like that's, that's, that's what I was thinking in my head. And I, I forget who- it might've been Keesy- but he said, "What about, like, how does that medicine taste?" Because you don't want to, you know, you want to put your own kind of spin on a phrase. Um, and that's. That's how we started it. And Tony is an amazing producer. Um, he's an amazing songwriter too, but you know, they call them like track guys. Um, I think they're way more than that personally. I hate that phrase. Um, but Tony is an amazing producer and he just started building that track. And it has that kind of like wild west, you know, like I see swingin' doors and dust kicked up and like a standoff situation. Once he started that track, I think we were all just locked in to what, what it should sound like. It's so funny, like I have voice memos on my phone of Cassidy singing this mel- like, "Okay, can you sing that chorus melody that you just did one more time so we can remember that?" And you know, it was difficult.'Cause that was one of my first Zoom writes, too. So it was just trying to figure that out is stressful. And then to write a song that you think is worth anything, you know, is always stressful. We finished the song pretty quickly. And Tony sent me the track. And, um, I turned the guest room closet at our house into a little studio, learned how to use Logic, cut my own vocal, comped it myself, sent it to Tony. He put it in the song. It was a labor of love to get, to get that song done. But I did all the backgrounds on it, all the harmonies. Everything.

Mary Katz: 16:21

That's incredible. The things that like have come out of the pandemic that have been positive, like showing us what we can do that we thought, oh, I'm never going to have to do that. I'm not even gonna have to learn. And then we have to do it! We're flying by the seat of her pants here. But you got it done! And it's an incredible song. I've sent it to a number of people that can relate to it.

Sydney Mack: 16:42

Thank you. Thank you. That's awesome.

Mary Katz: 16:45

Yup. One friend in particular who went through a bad breakup, like maybe a year and a half ago. I was like, "Oh, I got your new theme song."

Sydney Mack: 16:53

And that's the thing like, I, my goal honestly, is to when it makes sense, obviously, but to write from a point of strength. You know, like it doesn't need to be totally bashing the guy or even the girl.'Cause this one is, you know, guys, guys have gravitated toward this song too. But just to write from that point of strength, it's not like, oh, woe is me, but more of a I'm standing up for myself in some way. Even this one is a little bit sassy too. But I want people to feel like empowered when they listen to that song. Like, like hell yeah! You know, like, yes, absolutely. I want, I want my ex to, to know the hell that they, they put me through.

Mary Katz: 17:35

Yeah, get that karma going. All right. So that's the story behind "Medicine," but you have another song called "Pretty Boy." Go ahead and tell me the story behind that one.

Sydney Mack: 17:46

So Pinterest is a very interesting place to find quotes. Um, and I'll, I'll kind of cruise on there sometimes just to see if anything strikes me. And I saw this quote that was, we worry about being pretty, but we should worry about being pretty smart, pretty kind, pretty funny and pretty strong. And I think that's, first of all, I think that's just an important thing to remember, um, in general. But then I started thinking about the phrase pretty boy. And it kind of has like a negative connotation. Like a pretty boy is kind of in my head, at least I started thinking like, that's all he's good for. He's nice to look at, but that's kind of where it ends. And-

Mary Katz: 18:30

No substance.

Sydney Mack: 18:31

Yes. Yes, exactly. And I dated someone like that that was just, especially trying to pursue this career in music; it wasn't that he was necessarily like a terrible person, but he was very possessive and very controlling. And so that's like, that's kind of what he was great to look at, but that really was kind of where it ended. Again, I didn't want to like bash this guy. So I, I was not sure if that song idea was ever going to come to fruition. Um, but I brought it up in this write with Shane Minor and Wade Kirby. And Wade was like, "What if it was'sometimes love ain't pretty boy?'" And when he said that, it just, it spun it enough that it wasn't exactly- And I had a couple of lines, like"You're pretty good at leaving; pretty good at coming back." And then I had you're, you're pretty good at hurting me or things like that that were just very kind of blanket statements playing off the word "pretty." But as soon as Wade said that it was like, okay, this is, this could be something. So they saw my, my vision for it. We wrote that one pretty quickly too. It's interesting how when you all get behind a song idea and when it's a pretty solid idea, it seems to be written faster than sometimes you're like, oh gosh, where do we take it in the second verse? You know? But like we knew. That was a pretty easy one to write.

Mary Katz: 19:59

Awesome. And so now you're gonna give us a little performance here, huh?

Sydney Mack: 20:03

Yeah!

Mary Katz: 20:04

All right! Let's do it!

Sydney Mack: 20:05

Sure am! You're pretty good at leavin'. Pretty good at comin back. I'm pretty good at cryin' I'm pretty used to that You're pretty easy on the eyes. Pretty hard on the heart. Until you heard me say goodbye. I thought you were pretty smart. Hey, pretty boy you were pretty sure it was gonna work out for ya. Like my heart didn't have a choice. And you thought you had me wrapped around your finger. Betcha thought I'd always be here. I know it hurts like hell but sometimes love ain't pretty boy. There's no use in tryin' to use those pretty words because I know you're lying. Nothing I ain't already heard. Save your pretty promises Save your pretty breath. Cause tonight you're gonna end up in a pretty lonely bed. Hey pretty boy You were pretty sure it was gonna work out for ya. Like my heart didn't have a choice. Oh and you thought you had me wrapped around your finger. Betcha thought I'd always be here. I know it hurts like hell but sometimes love ain't pretty boy. Go on and find some pretty face that thinks you're pretty cool. Cause I think it's pretty safe to say I ain't your pretty fool. Hey, pretty boy you were pretty sure it was gonna work out for you. Like my heart didn't have a choice and you thought you had me wrapped around your finger. Betcha thought I'd always be here. I know it hurts like hell but sometimes Love ain't pretty boy. Love ain't pretty boy.

Mary Katz: 22:41

Bravo!

Sydney Mack: 22:44

Thank you. Golf claps.

Mary Katz: 22:47

That is an excellent song. Oh man. It kind of reminds me of, uh,"That Don't Impress Me Much." Just along that theme. Shania Twain.

Sydney Mack: 22:56

I love that song. I love that long. So what, so you're Brad Pitt.

Mary Katz: 23:01

Yeah. Oh, that's such a good line. All right. Did you want to tell me the story behind "Don't Call?"

Sydney Mack: 23:10

Yeah, that's great. So funny enough, I started an EP project in like the end of 2018. And "Don't Call" was one of the four songs that was going to be on that project. For a number of reasons ended up scrapping it. When I tested "Pretty Boy" on TikTok back in February, um, once it started to kind of take off a little bit, my manager and I were like, oh shoot, I don't even have a Spotify page. Like I don't have the Spotify for artists page. Um, I don't have an Apple music artist page. So we were like, I need to release something, not, not make it like a big deal or anything, but I just need something. So I can claim those because you have to have a song out in order to claim those pages. So we put out "Don't Call." I was able to, to claim those, those artists' pages. I wrote that with Charlie Barry and he produced it. I had heard a different song on the radio as I was driving to the write. And I was like, you know, I don't have any kind of slow, like three quarter time feeling songs in my catalog. I really wanted to write kind of the, like a bigger, I don't know, like a more dramatic song, I guess. Um, so I told Charlie about it and he's, so he's a great producer, writer, artist as well in his own right. And, um, we just started throwing out ideas and that idea just came about and it's, you know, if you ever loved me at all, don't call. Like, it's just that idea of, I swear your exes have like radar. Just when you start to get over them, it's like, they know, and they just, you know, they, they give you a little nudge. Like they'll send you a text or they'll call you. And it just puts you back in that head space of what happened or what you were with them or whatever it is. And it's like, I need you to just leave me alone in order to get over you. I just need to completely forget about you. So it's like, if you cared about me even a little bit, just don't call.

Mary Katz: 25:15

Yeah, that makes sense.

Sydney Mack: 25:16

A lot of breakup songs! They're they're easier to write I think!

Mary Katz: 25:20

It's country music! It's breakup songs and beer and dogs. Like it's, you know, it's our life. These are the things that happened.

Sydney Mack: 25:30

That's right. That's right. I've said this before too, but I really try to tap into things that I've gone through or that friends have gone through that, you know, it's an honest experience in some way. And because if I've gone through it or if my friend has gone through it, I know somebody else has. And I think that's important too, because people, you know- A breakup can be like a very lonely experience. And I think that if people understand that, you know, other people have gone through similar situations, it's helpful in some way as well.

Mary Katz: 26:04

Yeah, absolutely. As a, to quote Liz Hengber, the ever-wise Liz Hengber, "You take these things from life and you write about 'em."

Sydney Mack: 26:14

Amen. Yes. Yes.

Mary Katz: 26:17

Those are all the industry questions that I have. Um, let's go ahead and move on to, uh, just for fun. Let's have a little fun; get to know Sydney a little bit. All right. If you're watching anything on TV, if you're reading, whatever, whatcha watchin', whatcha readin'? Just spill it!

Sydney Mack: 26:36

So, watching on TV; I am so lame. All my friends are like, does anyone have a good new series to watch blah, blah, blah. I am the first of all movies, it's romcoms like strictly romcoms. I. I don't do well with scary movies, um, gory stuff. I'm like Kevin in Home Alone watching through my eye or through my fingers. But on TV, this is ridiculous, but we've gone through The Office, um, like probably eight times from beginning to end. Guilty pleasures though, Real Housewives. I hate to admit that. But also HGTV. Love, love a good, you know, Fixer Upper hometown episode. Nothing that really takes a lot of brain cells, to be honest with you. Because when I'm writing, playing shows or doing interviews or anything like that, I'm so focused. And, um, I just like to veg out and not have to like follow something super closely on TV, if I'm watching TV.

Mary Katz: 27:39

My husband is the same way. He's an intellectual property attorney. And so he thinks a lot and writes a lot during the day. And it's just very like intensive work. So at the end of the day, I'm like, oh my God, do you want to watch? Um, I love Arrested Development. I've seen it many times, but it goes so fast. And there's so many like little pieces in that that you have to get. And he's like, it moves too fast. He's like, I, I just need to shut my brain off. We gotta do something else. So, haven't convinced him to watch Arrested Development yet. What's at least one item on your bucket list.

Sydney Mack: 28:12

Ooh. honestly, it's to travel around Europe. That's something I'm dying to do. And really with my parents and my husband ideally would be the situation. I did like the whole ancestry thing and we learned kind of different regions in, in different European countries that our ancestors came from. And I, I would like to go there and spend, I know, you know, it's, you need some time to do that. But, um, really like Italy is, is a big, um, A big bucket list place for me. I think that's the biggest one.

Mary Katz: 28:48

Oh, absolutely! I'm with you. It's certainly at the top of my list as well. Um, so I feel like part of it is like, Mary, this is such an awkward question. Why do you ask people this? But I'm so fascinated by the answer. Okay. And when I say this, I think some people think that, I mean, like, who do you admire? I'm like, no, if you were single and this person was single, you'd be like, okay, we need to date. So who's your celebrity crush?

Sydney Mack: 29:10

Oh my goodness. So this is probably like a glutton for punishment answer, but John Mayer. I like, it's not even that he's the most attractive of the celebrities out there, but his sense of humor. He's so heady and so, so out there, but there's just something about, you know, I love, I love his music a lot. I don't know. That's probably a terrible answer. I've seen obviously like the tabloid stuff and like that tells me to run for sure. But-

Mary Katz: 29:47

A few red flags.

Sydney Mack: 29:49

Yeah, just a couple, just a couple. Um, yeah, I don't, I mean, There are so many. I would have to say John Mayer.

Mary Katz: 29:56

No, stick with it, girl. That's yours. It's your crush. You're the one that gets to have it. All right. What's the worst thing you did when you were a kid?

Sydney Mack: 30:10

Ooh, the worst thing I have to say, I was such a rule follower. Like I don't like confrontation. So you get like, don't like confrontation. I don't like people being upset with me. I don't, I definitely don't like authority figures being mad at me. I never was sent to the principal's office. There's truly nothing that sticks out in my head that I'm like, Ooh, probably shouldn't have done that. Like I was- I was probably a little bit bossy with my friends and I blame that on being an only child. Because-

Mary Katz: 30:44

That'll do it!

Sydney Mack: 30:46

And it w- I think so! I was like the oldest cousin. So I kind of took on that like older sibling role, like, okay, we're going to play house. This is how it's going to go. Like, and, and I was also very creative too. So that was like, I had a vision probably for what house should have looked like. So I think that was really the worst was just being kind of a bossy kid.

Mary Katz: 31:11

That's not terrible though. I've had some doozies. All right. So, um, what would you say then is the riskiest or most adventurous thing you've ever done?

Sydney Mack: 31:23

Ooh, maybe not risky, but this is something that I feel like not really many people even like get to do. My dad, he was in sales and he would have to go to Canada for work. So every once in a while, my mom and I would go with him and we would go out to, you know, Western Canada. We did a glacial hike one time, like, so we hiked on a glacier, um, and had to go up in a helicopter. That was. That was pretty incredible, but also-

Mary Katz: 31:53

Terrifying?!

Sydney Mack: 31:55

Yes, yes. Like whenever the helicopters coming down and you have to like get down because the propellers all over the place and it's so windy.

Mary Katz: 32:03

My palms are sweating.

Sydney Mack: 32:09

I think I was young enough that I didn't understand the like the danger maybe. I mean, it was still safe. I'm sure. But, um, my dad's a bit of an adrenaline junkie and my mom's not at all, so I'm kind of somewhere in between. I need to know that I'm going to live. Like I'm not going to do anything that like, I will never skydive, never bungee jump. That's just, it's- I'll do a roller, like give me the biggest rollercoaster you got and I am golden. So I think that, and then doing a glider plane. So it has no motor. You-

Mary Katz: 32:39

Yeah!

Sydney Mack: 32:40

Yeah. Also scared like your stomach is, you know, in your, in your throat basically because you get pulled up by another, by a little prop or I guess that one has a motor on a, on a rope essentially. And then you cut the rope and the plane just glides through the air. And, yeah, that was a scary one too.

Mary Katz: 33:04

How old were you when you did that?

Sydney Mack: 33:06

I was young! I was probably like eight and my cousin was with me. My parents, again, my dad was like, oh, that'll be-

Mary Katz: 33:14

Did you say you were eight?!

Sydney Mack: 33:16

Yes. Yeah. We had a little pilot-

Mary Katz: 33:18

Like one older than seven?

Sydney Mack: 33:20

Yes, that's correct. Um, my mom apparently cried the whole time we were up there'cause she was so nervous. Um, but it was, it was safe. I mean, they, they knew what they were doing and obviously like there was a pilot and everything, but it was just my, my older cousin, TJ and I just in this glider plane cruising around. It was kinda crazy.

Mary Katz: 33:43

Oh my God, that's terrifying.

Sydney Mack: 33:47

Oh, yeah.

Mary Katz: 33:48

I'm sweating.

Sydney Mack: 33:49

Yeah. It's like your stomach drops too. Cause it's like, you know, you're, you're at the mercy of the wind and the-

Mary Katz: 33:54

Mmmm hmmm. Yes! Yes, you are! All right. All right. Um, those are, uh, all the personal questions I have. My last segment here is called Could Ya Not? It's just, if there's something. If there's a question you'd never get asked again, if there's a topic, you never have to talk about again. Whatever it is, whether it's professional or personal, doesn't matter. Just something that gets under your skin. Just tell the world, could ya not?

Sydney Mack: 34:28

Ooh, this is a good one. I sweat the small stuff. I can handle, you know, like singing the national anthem on a televised baseball game. Totally fine. You get a little nervous, but you know, don't think about it much. But traffic, like if someone rides my tail and then I move over and they don't pass me, but they ride alongside of me. That is like, that is a, could you not. That is, I don't know why that bothers me so much. If my blood pressure is getting raised, it's probably when I'm driving.

Mary Katz: 35:02

Probably because that's kind of stalker-ish. Like, why are you on my tail? If you're on my tail, you obviously want to go faster than I'm going, right. So if I move over, then presumably you would keep going faster. Why are you hanging out beside me?

Sydney Mack: 35:17

Yeah, no, that's-

Mary Katz: 35:18

Creepy!

Sydney Mack: 35:19

Really like, my husband is always, he's like, I'll drive. He does not like me driving because I'm like, what are you doing? What like that? Yeah. I think that's my, my biggest, could you not? It's just like, that's when we need flying cars or, you know, maybe I need to just start taking a train.

Mary Katz: 35:37

We got to get Elon Musk on the flying cars. It's like, put the space thing on hold for a minute. Let's solve some stuff down here.

Sydney Mack: 35:44

Yup.

Mary Katz: 35:46

Well, those are all the questions I have. The floor is yours. If there's anything you wanted to talk about; any upcoming releases, tours, any of that. Whatcha got?

Sydney Mack: 35:55

Yeah, so just testing more songs. I do these TikTok lives where basically you go live, people can join the room. And I really have enjoyed that. Just playing demos of songs and seeing what connects with people, because that's a really good test for me. And I tell them be honest. If you don't like that song, tell me, because I need to know like what people are gravitating toward. That helps me decide what to release next. And I have a song called "Take You Back" that has done really well on pretty much, much all of my social platforms. So that's the next release. It's another breakup song, but it's super sassy. My favorite line is, um, when it's a proven fact that Lynchburg, Tennessee ain't got Jack, I'll take you back. Um, so basically like when pigs fly. You know, when money grows on trees, when you can ice skate in hell, like that's when I'll take you back. So I'm really excited about that one. I think that a lot of people have like that one has resonated with them just because it's like a lighthearted, uh, lighthearted breakup song. So that's the next release.

Mary Katz: 37:03

On your, your TikTok lives, do you have specific days or times that you do that, um, that you want to tell people about, or do you just kind of say going live in an hour?

Sydney Mack: 37:12

Kind of that, I mean, really I've noticed that for whatever reason, like four o'clock central time has been really good. And then as far as touring is concerned, the big artists are starting to announce their arena tours for the fall. So that's given me a lot of hope that, um, I'll be back out, playin' shows, hugging necks really, really soon.

Mary Katz: 37:34

Yep. That'd be awesome. All right. Well, Sydney, thank you so much for joining the podcast today. I had a lot of fun.

Sydney Mack: 37:42

Thank you so much for having me. This has been, you know, if we're going to do glass half full, like I always try to find the silver lining. And I think that with the quarantine situation and the lockdown and all of that, it's been getting to meet people. You know, like it would have been just out of our comfort zone, probably to, to do something like this, but, you know, we can be in two different places and get to get to create together. So-

Mary Katz: 38:09

Absolutely.

Sydney Mack: 38:10

I w- I loved it. Thank you for having me.

Mary Katz: 38:12

All right, Sydney. Well, thank you so much again for joining today. And, uh, I look forward to hearing the next single!

Sydney Mack: 38:17

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Mary Katz: 38:19

We'll have a good one. It was good talking to you.

Sydney Mack: 38:22

All right. You as well. Thank you.

Mary Katz: 38:23

All right. Bye, girl!

Sydney Mack: 38:25

Bye. Mary Katz: Thank you for checking out Make sure you head over to the description for links to follow Sydney's singing career and follow the podcast to stay updated on more episodes.