In case you took one have a look at 19-year-old Kenzie‘s Instagram, you’d see a smiling woman who loves spending time along with her buddies, taking part in along with her sense of favor and cuddling along with her boyfriend.
However, as everyone knows, social media isn’t at all times what it appears. “I really feel like everybody thinks that each one of those folks on social media are good and don’t undergo struggles. All of us do,” the singer and dancer tells Billboard.
That’s why Kenzie selected Friday (July 21) to launch “Anatomy,” a coronary heart wrenching ballad about her strained relationship along with her father. “It’s simply anatomy, you’re solely half of me / However nonetheless you don’t know me in any respect / You’ve been my lacking piece, so why aren’t you lacking me?” she sings within the refrain, her voice almost trembling in the way in which it often does when being so deeply weak for the primary time.
The tune, which acts as a musical remedy session, began out fittingly as a suggestion from her therapist. “Once I turned 18, I began remedy and it was an enormous second for me, as a result of I simply by no means trusted anybody to hearken to my feelings,” she explains. “It simply felt like a bizarre idea to me, you already know, speaking to a stranger. As I began doing remedy, she stored telling me write a letter to my dad and I felt that was so bizarre. So, I ended up simply writing a tune about it. I despatched it to her and I used to be like, ‘Right here’s my letter to my dad. Right here’s the whole lot.’”
She continues, “I ended up actually loving the tune and I hit the belief that there are individuals who will relate to this and I really feel prefer it may assist lots of people not directly. It additionally offers folks an opportunity to get to know me higher.”
The monitor arrived together with an equally goosebump-inducing music video, by which the Dance Mothers alum dances in an empty studio with the youthful model of herself. “I’m therapeutic my inside baby for positive,” she says of the clip. “It was actually essential to me so as to add a youthful model of myself within the video as a result of once I was youthful, I didn’t take into consideration all of those points. I believe the second I turned 18, all of it actually simply got here crashing down. I at all times used to make jokes about it. I’d simply be like, “Yeah, nicely, that’s my life.” You understand how youngsters are. Nevertheless it’s an actual life wrestle that folks undergo and it actually didn’t hit me till I used to be 18. Each time I watch the video, it simply makes me cry as a result of she’s so wonderful in it.”
Earlier than releasing the monitor, she confirmed it to her mom and sister — fellow dancer Maddie Ziegler — and, whereas she was “nervous,” the consequence was the whole lot she hoped for. “I despatched it to my sister and she or he simply FaceTimed me and didn’t say something and had tears coming down her face,” Kenzie remembers. “I additionally performed it for my mother which I used to be a bit nervous for as a result of it’s a sensitive topic. She’s simply so supportive and she or he clearly cried as nicely. She simply checked out me and was like, ‘that’s probably the most lovely tune I’ve ever heard.’”
In reality, Maddie ended up choreographing the music video. “I imply, she loves it a lot as a result of, after all, it’s her childhood too,” Kenzie explains. “It was so particular having her there with me as a result of it’s a massive second in my life to be speaking about this. Simply having her be part of it made me really feel at house and comforted.”
As for the way she perceives her relationship along with her father now, Kenzie says “Anatomy” (and remedy) has helped her immensely in coming to phrases with it. “I used to be actually hesitant to launch the tune, as a result of I’ve a lot love for my dad it doesn’t matter what as a result of he’s my household. I really like very deeply and I don’t maintain grudges,” she says. “Nevertheless it undoubtedly was therapeutic as a result of I simply really feel so content material and I really feel so pleased with myself. I truthfully don’t have these struggles anymore and I believe it’s as a result of I used to be so weak and bought to let the whole lot out.”
Shifting ahead, Kenzie needs to proceed being weak in her music — not solely to assist herself heal, but additionally to assist others. “I simply really feel prefer it’s simply so private and I actually look as much as folks which can be sincere and share their story to different folks. It helps different folks in some ways,” she shares. “Bottling it up and performing prefer it doesn’t exist isn’t at all times the healthiest means. I believe it’s essential to speak freely about what you’re going by means of, and never be afraid to share your emotions. It’s additionally not embarrassing! That’s how I felt for a very long time with my buddies that had a mother and pa, and I simply felt actually embarrassed and overlooked. I realized that it made me a robust individual and it’s made me who I’m.”
Watch Kenzie’s “Anatomy” music video under.