Singer/songwriter Max McKnown has broken through with his song “A Lot More Free,” which went viral on TikTok before becoming a radio hit. The song is somewhat unusual in that it’s about heartbreak, but it’s not necessarily sad — it’s more about the positive side of going through a breakup.
“I think a lot of songs kind of ignore the redemption that can be found when you escape a bad situation. And so that’s what ‘A Lot More Free’ is,” Max tells ABC Audio.
The song includes the lyrics, “Is it crazy that I’m grateful for all the pain?” and “When you love somebody and the love grows cold/ The sun starts shining when you let it all go.”
However, Max says he doesn’t want to go into too much detail about what inspired the song.
“I had been through some pretty difficult emotional heartbreak [and] relational betrayal,” he says. “And I purposefully have learned that I don’t like to go super far in-depth on specifically what I was feeling when I wrote [it], like the exact story, because I’ve seen it relate to so many people now for so many different reasons. … So I kind of leave it to the fans to decide like how it impacts them.”
Max also added musical elements to the song to symbolize his emotional state.
He explains, “When ‘A Lot More Free’ was being written, it was my personal kind of claim of freedom over that heartbreak I went through. … Everything down to the harmonica, which is kind of this harsher sound, which represents pain and the heartbreak, and the whistle representing freedom.”
Max will release an expanded edition of his sophomore album, Night Diving, on July 18. His Forever Ain’t Long Enough headlining tour starts Aug. 21 in Kansas City, Missouri.
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