McMillin releases new genre-blending single “What It Was.” You can listen to the single here.
This song starts strong with four ear-piercing distorted guitar notes quickly followed by a much more mellow beat under a groovy bass riff. Now that he has everyone’s attention, McMillin’s smooth voice comes in with “Maybe it’s just better off this way / Some say you begin to die when you refuse to change.”
The guitar music stays mellow throughout the chorus with lots of variation in the drum set, a steady beat along with the occasional closed hi-hat and loud crash of a ride cymbal. The song builds throughout each verse adding more and more riffs from the lead guitar and bass guitar giving it that funky, bluesy sound. He sings, “And then it hits you all at once / It never will be what it was.” McMillin accepts that with time comes change but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss what used to be.
McMillin shares, “Stylistically, this song is more blues rock than my typical output. It wasn’t intentional at first, but I think it makes sense for the setting of this song being in Nashville. But I also blend it stylistically with hip-hop, especially when the pattern of the drums switches from straight ahead quarter notes to a J Dilla style swing beat for the remainder of the song.
I definitely believe this song is an evolution of my typical style and is very reflective of the artists I was listening to at the time. Artists like Marcus King, Gary Clark Jr, Joe Bonamassa and others really brought out new flavors I haven’t used yet and will undoubtedly color songs I write moving forward.”
