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The saying ‘timing is everything’ hits harder when you’re a musician putting out your first body of work. For Macy Todd, it hasn’t always been easy to trust time’s plan. Now that her debut EP pretty ruthless is finally arriving, it’s clear everything was meant to be. Upon listening to her music for the first time, it’s impossible to not be immediately taken by Todd’s naturally fortified vocals and genre-bending sensibility. Her sound lives and breathes without being assigned to any one world, but her love of pop, country, folk, and Americana are clear as day. We chatted with Todd about her southern sensibilities, beating boredom in the creative process, her first CMA Fest and much more: 

OnesToWatch: You just performed at CMA fest for the first time, how was that? 

It was really interesting. I grew up in Georgia, so I have always known about CMA Fest but had never been. It was definitely overwhelming and I wasn't even in the thick of it! But it was really cool. I got to see some artists I really love at Nissan Stadium, which was so sick.

Did you perform at a bar? And who did you perform with? 

It was at Whiskey Jam, which I had also never been to! Apparently everybody knows about it. I got a ton of friends to come out and met a bunch of new people. 

Avery Anna came up and sang a song with me, which was so fun. It's funny, because I heard her music before I followed her on TikTok. One night, I saw a bunch of her fans commenting on my post that Avery was just singing my song on a live. I went to my DMs and she had messaged me months back. We immediately became friends. When I moved out here, she suggested we write together. She told me she loves my song “pocket change” and would love to sing it together one day. She told me she listens to a live video of me singing it, not even the official recording, before she goes on stage because it calms her down. I'm like, “What?” That video has maybe 5 comments and maybe 1,000 views. 

That’s amazing. Even if your post doesn’t get a million comments, likes, and views, it doesn’t mean it didn’t touch people. 

Literally. I've tried to keep that mentality. I love the music so much and I just really believe in it. With social media, you kind of have to let it go and trust that it will find the right people. But, it’s definitely hard. 

Are you playing any other shows this year? 

I’m going on tour with Willow Avalon! And this week I’m doing a writers round at the Bluebird Cafe. I’m really excited.

Your music leans country, but I wouldn't say it's 100% one sound. How does it feel walking the line of genres? Do you put yourself in any of them? 

That is a great question because no, I don’t. What got me into music in the first place was hearing Brandi Carlile’s “The Story” for the first time. That was the moment where I knew I had to learn how to play guitar. I’ve always loved Patty Griffin, she’s a huge influence of mine and her work leans more Americana. I just spent the last few years in Austin, I think there's something to that place that brought out those roots. I love Americana music, but I also love pop music. I think it's fun to be able to pick from different places and see how it comes together. I’m not going for a specific genre. I'm just going to the studio and saying, “Let's not listen to anything. Let's actually just try to start from scratch and make something that makes us excited.”

Country music is, especially in Nashville, such a tight-knit community. But I feel like we're in a time where genres are so arbitrary. It wasn't always like that. 

Yeah. People really felt like they had to live in a box. When I was younger just making songs, they sounded super soulful. At that time, people didn't know how to receive that. It’s definitely cool to see how we've moved forward and new things are coming because of it, which is so exciting. 

That’s why I gravitate towards your music because it blends so many genres I love, but it's not living in only one of them.

No, totally. I get so bored so quickly. That's another element [of my songwriting]. I have to find something interesting that grabs my ear. If it's so predictable and down the line…I just need something to make me not bored anymore.

A lot of people have shown your music love on social media, are there any that stand out as a pinch-me moment? 

There have been a couple of those moments. Sorry, okay, my dog is being crazy right now.

What's your dog's name? 

His name's Butter! He might make an appearance at some point…But yeah there’s been a couple unique ones where I'm just like, “Wait, what?” Ella Langley liked one of my posts, which was a video of me and my dad singing. Kendall Jenner liked one of my videos and I was like, "There's no way this is real.” 

Kendall Jenner makes sense. I can see her listening to your music in her G-wagon driving down the PCH. [Laughs] This is your first project, but you’re not new to making music. How do you feel about the timing of actually putting out your first EP? 

I’m grateful for timing in my life. I've made music for a while, and there have been moments of my life where I'm like, “Why don't things happen for me? Blah, blah, blah.” But this feels like the right time, because it didn’t feel like I was trying so hard. It wasn't bothering me as much to struggle through it. I’ve paid my dues and I'm seeing the beauty of it. There’s more maturity inside of myself. The things that I've gone through, now I'm really grateful for. I just wrote a song called “Luckiest Girl Alive,” which is probably gonna come out after the EP. The hook is “I'm the luckiest girl / I got nothing that I wanted and everything I need.” That summarizes the way that I feel about the music. 

This EP is a reflection of my twenties. Waking up to the realities of this world is hard and this industry is pretty rough as well. For a long time, I let it make me very bitter. Now I can reflect on it. There was bitterness, but there were also fights that I had to fight in order to have gratitude. Everything is full circle. When you look at it like that, it serves the purpose that it was always supposed to serve. 

It makes you think, would you have even been ready if you put out a project 5-10 years ago? 

100%. It’s so hard to tell yourself that when you're going through it. You're like, “I just want it now!” For the people who get that early, sometimes it's not a good thing. There’s pros and cons to both, especially for an artist. When I first started writing music, I was writing it with one of my best friends who’s also from Georgia. Now, she comes to Nashville every other week and she wrote on this EP with me. That's always the secret hope, right? That you can make art with your best friend and be on the same page. I’m actually seeing it happen in real life. I’m like “Wait this is actually my job now?” That’s so crazy. 

Speaking of songwriting, what’s your process like? 

It’s a mixture of things. I do keep a running notes app of ideas and thoughts. I get really bored with chords. If I’m feeling like I've been doing the same stuff and have nothing inside of me that wants to write a song, I'll go listen to classic rock deep cuts and look up the chords. That’s one of my paths to writing, figuring out the musicality of something that inspires me, learning something new and then writing from that place. I’m now in this space of writing with new people all the time, which is new for me. I’m finding ways to get inspired and watching documentaries.

What kind of documentaries? Music documentaries?

Yes! I was watching The Beatles Bible on YouTube last night. Also the Jeff Buckley documentary. I'm a big Paul McCartney fan. Anytime I'm really stagnant, I listen to RAM to get reinvigorated.

Are there any other pop songwriters that inspire you? 

Hayley Williams. Especially when she started doing her solo project and released ‘Petals For Armor’, I became obsessed. It didn't get the flowers it deserved, but it’s often the record that I go back to when I’m uninspired. 

I feel like a lot of people don't know about the first solo record because it came out during COVID, but it’s so good. 

It’s such a bummer that, at the time, she didn't get to tour it. She’s amazing. 

What's the story behind “mean!”? 

The EP circles around the title, pretty ruthless. It’s about growing up and realizing that your twenties are great, but then the world stops being as kind to you – especially as a musician. Even being on tour with Zinadelphia, I remember we had a conversation one night about aging and wondering if, when you turn a certain age, will it ruin your career? It’s so relatable, not just as a musician, but just as a woman in general. Time is never kind to us. We've got to stay pretty. We’ve got to stay fit. Sometimes you have to get mean.

Especially as a southern woman, just putting that out there. 

As a southern woman, you have to be polite or you're bitch. It’s crazy. You could say something and then it’s taken out of context. But if a guy says it, it’s respected. That's the reality of being a girl. Speaking of, I love that Kassie Ashton song, “Bitches.” That’s one artist I also have my eyes on. She’s so good.

You said “bad bad love” is about friendship, which I thought was interesting because my mind immediately went to romantic love. It can apply to so many things.

I think it's funny, the friendship thing. There's something about girlfriendship breakups that sometimes feel more difficult than regular breakups. It’s really hard to describe.

“love of my life” definitely stands out sonically. It’s so raw.  

I wrote that one on my own while I was living in Austin. My whole family now lives in Colorado, except for my little brother. There's sort of a sad thing in chasing after a career like music, there's not a whole lot I can be doing in the middle of nowhere Colorado. This song is a message to my family. It’s hard watching my sister have kids and not being there all the time. From a sonic standpoint, the reason why it sounds so different is because I had tried to re-record that song five times. For whatever reason, every time I tried to re-record it the energy of it was missing. It wasn't originally supposed to be on the EP, but once my team heard the stripped down version they were like, “Yeah, let’s put that one out.” It’s the most vulnerable, just me and a guitar. I think it's cool because the EP, production wise, has bigger songs. But, “love of my life” is the heart piece of the whole record.

What’s the most southern thing about you? 

The most southern thing about me is that I have to have sauce on everything. I want this on a t-shirt. If I go to a place and there's no sauce…kiss my auce. I realize now that it is so southern. I always forget that my mom does this, but when I go home she mixes sour cream and those powdered ranch packets. It’s so good.

Who are your OnesToWatch? 

I have two that come to mind. One, Gabriella Rose. I've been eating that record up. The other one is my best friend Lauren Scott. She's a writer and I’m just so excited for her. I grew up learning music through church and her husband is actually a gospel artist, so she's written quite a bit on his stuff. She wrote on “bad bad love” [on this EP]. I’m starting to bring her in most rooms I’m writing in, which I’m so excited about.

Listen to pretty ruthless below: