| Intro | Singer songwriter, born 1991 |
| Is |
Musician Artist Songwriter Composer Singer |
| From | United States of America |
| Type |
Arts Music |
| Gender | female |
| Birth | 23 January 1991, Georgia, U.S.A. |
| Age: | 29 years |
| Star sign | Aquarius |
Mackenzie Scott (born January 23, 1991) is an independent American singer, songwriter, musician and artist who performs under the musical pseudonym Torres (stylized as TORRES).
Biography
Mackenzie Scott was raised in Macon, Georgia, United States. She started singing in her high school’s musical production of Fiddler on the Roof after being told by her family, “If you actually tried being serious, you’d probably have a good voice”. Soon after beginning to perform in musicals, she learned to play guitar and began playing and singing hymns during church services and at a nursing home every Saturday.
After high school, she left Macon to study at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated from Belmont in 2012.
In July 2012, while still a student, she recorded Torres over a five-day session at Tony Joe White’s home studio in Franklin, Tennessee with engineer and producer, Ryan McFadden. Following the album’s release, on February 8, 2013, she played her debut show as Torres in Nashville at The Basement. The album was digitally released on January 22, 2013.
She has since toured extensively in the US and Europe with a wide variety of musicians, including Lady Lamb the Beekeeper and Okkervil River, and opened for Sharon Van Etten and Hamilton Leithauser. Torres appears as a guest on Sharon Van Etten’s 2014 album Are We There? and released a single, “New Skin,” through Weathervane Music in June 2014.
On May 4, 2015 Torres released her second album, Sprinter to much critical acclaim. She has toured the US as a headliner, and toured Europe in the fall of 2015. She toured in October 2015 as an opening act for Garbage and her early musical idol, Brandi Carlile.
Carrying an ongoing opening act, Torres joined Tegan and Sara for their 2016 tour.
Critical reception
Music website Pitchfork Media named Torres’s debut single, “Honey,” best new track, describing it as “an arena-rock moment happening on an empty stage […] with its slow-burn intensity and coiled energy.” Following the release of the album, Pitchfork gave the debut Torres album an 8.1 rating calling the record “an overwhelming rush of feeling […] that connects with throat-seizing immediacy.”
Torres also gained the attention of some music blogs, such as Beats Per Minute, Drowned in Sound, and Pretty Much Amazing, as a standout artist for her mature songwriting abilities despite her youth.
Discography
Studio albums
- Torres (2013)
- Sprinter (2015)
Other releases
- “Torres” b/w “Motel Beds” (2014) (Record Store Day)