Red Light Management

BECCA MANCARI ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM THE GREATEST PART OUT 6/26 VIA CAPTURED TRACKS

May 9, 2020

SECOND SINGLE “FIRST TIME” CENTERS ON HER COMING OUT STORY 
 
PERFORMING “FIRST TIME”, “HUNTER” AND MORE – TODAY AT 5:00PM EST 
ON NASHVILLE SCENE’S “NO CONTACT SHOWS” AND MANCARI’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL
WATCH HERE
On Wednesday, Becca Mancari announced her new album ​The Greatest Part​ out June 26 via Captured Tracks, her first for the label. ​Along with the announcement, Mancari releases her second single, “First Time”. The song is sonically upbeat but emotionally heavy, featuring a beautiful melody juxtaposed with its painful story. ​BooklynVegan referred to the song as “a lyrically impactful song that tells Becca’s coming out story with storytelling that’s as captivating as the song’s hummable refrain.” This follows the release of the album’s “shimmering” (Rolling Stone) first single “Hunter,” which greeted traumas from her cult-like evangelical upbringing with vivid and unflinching melodies.
On the new single “First Time” Mancari says, ​“​‘First Time’ was a song that I did not at the time have the strength to write when I started, but as soon as the first line of the song came out of me I knew there was no going back. I came out years ago, but never really told my story. When touring people started coming up to me after shows to tell me their own stories of coming out and how hard it was for many of them to do so, I wanted to write a song that not only is my story, but also a story that many others share. I wrote it from the perspective of looking back at my younger self, asking her, ‘did you find your way out?’ I don’t think you have to be queer to relate to this story though. I think a lot of us have childhood pains that we carry into our adult lives, and my hope is that when you hear this song you feel less alone and that you do indeed find your way out.”
Produced by Paramore drummer Zac Farro, ​The Greatest Part​ marks a significant sonic evolution for the Nashville-based songwriter, expanding beyond the homespun rootsiness of her critically-acclaimed debut to incorporate a grittier, more experimental palette, one fueled by explosive percussion and fuzzed out guitars. The lyrics are similarly raw and intrepid here, peeling back old scars to explore the emotional and psychological turmoil Mancari weathered growing up gay in a fundamentalist Christian home, while at the same time examining the ties that continue to bind her to the family she loves. It’s that dichotomy, that friction between grief and joy, pain and forgiveness, sorrow and liberation, that lies at the heart of ​The Greatest Part​, Mancari’s captivating new collection.
Mancari’s musicianship has been praised by ​NPR ​for its “exquisite self-awareness” and hailed as one of the year’s best by ​Rolling Stone​, w​ho applauds her “confident vocals [and] spacious, hazy production,” yet the ​The Greatest Part​ is her most vulnerable work to date. “This record was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to write,” says Becca Mancari. “At the same time, it was also the most freeing.” Though self-reflection is nothing new for Mancari, ​The Greatest Part finds her digging deeper than ever before, excavating new layers of her psyche in an effort to make sense of where she’s been, where she’s headed, and most importantly, who she’s become.