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Jensen McRae’s sophomore album, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me!, grew out of two back-to-back breakups—but McRae does not describe heartbreak as something a person simply gets past. In an interview with Teen Vogue, she explains how she shaped the album around the changing feelings of grief and why she wants listeners to give themselves room for setbacks.
What happened in the years behind the album?
McRae told Teen Vogue that the album’s narrative material came from two back-to-back breakups. The Associated Press reported that she wrote its songs throughout her early 20s, after one relationship and the rise and fall of another. She finished the record the previous spring in North Carolina with producer Brad Cook.
The album, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me!, was released on April 25, 2025. Dead Oceans announced it as McRae’s sophomore album.
How did McRae want the songs to tell the story?
McRae was conscious of how many breakup albums already exist. She told Teen Vogue that she wanted each song to be the best representation of a particular feeling or period, rather than repeating what another songwriter had already said: “I wanted to make sure that every song that ended up on the album was the best representation of that feeling or that period, [and avoid repeating] something someone else had already said, because, obviously, everyone’s written a breakup album.”
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That aim makes the record less a single, tidy account of a relationship ending than a collection shaped around distinct moments in its emotional aftermath. Her description centers on the work of finding an honest form for those moments.
What does McRae mean by saying healing is nonlinear?
McRae’s message to listeners is not that grief disappears on schedule. “Healing is not linear, and you can’t punish yourself for feeling like you take a step forward and then two steps back,” she told Teen Vogue.
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For someone listening while still in acute pain, she offered reassurance without dismissing how overwhelming it can feel: “For anyone who listens to this album when they’re in the actual trenches, I just want them to know: I believe you that you feel like the world is ending, and I also promise you that it’s not.”
Why is the album called I Don’t Know How But They Found Me!?
McRae connected the title to Back to the Future: it is a line spoken by Doc Brown. In the Associated Press profile, she also linked the film to resilience, recalling the reveal that Doc Brown survived because of a bulletproof vest. She related that survival to events that felt as though they should take her out, but did not.
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How did the label describe the finished record?
Dead Oceans framed the album as looking back at heartbreak from a more self-assured perspective. That is the label’s description of the release; McRae’s own comments focus on writing about specific emotional periods and accepting that grief can move unevenly.
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