Angelina Mack's first song, "Free," was her emotional response to bullying in middle school. She created her second, "Stop A Fight," as a plea for understanding amidst the racial justice protests that exploded in the summer of 2020, driven by the teenage Mack’s fears for her mixed-race family. Both songs drew passionate responses – thanks from strangers, YouTube views, and media attention.
The experience made Mack realize she wanted music to be her life.
"The feeling that I gave people hope – that's what I got hooked on," said Mack, 18, a freshman in the Modern Artist Development and Entrepreneurship (M.A.D.E.) program at the Frost School of Music. "Hearing people felt deeply about something I'd created was so validating."
This fall, Mack’s hopeful message earned her the Chris Trousdale Dream Award from BMI, which includes a $2500 prize. The award is granted to young artists making a positive impact through music.
Mack grew up immersed in music and straddling cultures. Her father, Al Mack, of African and Japanese descent, is a singer, drummer, songwriter, and producer; and her mother, Cristiana, is an Italian part-time journalist; they are Quakers who value social justice and peaceful activism. As a child in Brooklyn, Angelina studied classical music with acclaimed pianist Edith Hirshtal, sang in the celebrated Brooklyn Youth Chorus, wrote poetry, and fell in love with Stevie Wonder, Carole King, and Miles Davis. Her father's renowned musician friends and colleagues often gathered at their house for late-night living room jam sessions.
"I was introduced to a passion for music that helped spark my passion now," says Mack.
Her family moved to the Philadelphia area as Mack started middle school. A shy newcomer, she struggled not just with typical pre-teen bullying but also coming to terms with looking white, while her adored father and darker-skinned older brother, Miles, were seen as Black.
"My brother was treated differently than me," Mack says. "I didn't understand it."
"I was finding my identity; I was mixed. People would say you look white, you act white, you are white. I wanted to associate with the other parts of my identity."
Her father helped her pour her feelings into "Free" for an 8th-grade project. Shy about performing, Mack sent him out of the room when she recorded. At the school presentation, parents and students lined up at her computer to hear a song that expressed what many had experienced. Some parents wept, and even some of her bullies listened.
"I wasn't confident about my song," says Mack. "So, the fact that other people felt so confidently about what I could become was really powerful for me."
The protests after George Floyd's 2020 murder brought new anxieties. Mack had had nightmares about her father and brother being arrested after Trayvon Martin's 2012 killing. She'd listened to her father warning her brother how to behave if he were stopped by a policeman and not to wear a hoodie at night. However, the dangers of COVID-19 made her parents reluctant to let her participate in protests, and posting on Instagram felt inadequate.
"I wrote ["Stop A Fight"] because it was something I could do," Mack says. "The inspiration came from my entire life." After her brother posted "Fight" on Soundcloud, a listener offered to produce a video. It drew 17,000 views on YouTube in two weeks, and was featured in primetime on the the three major TV network affiliates in Philadelphia, as well as in magazines and newspapers.
The reaction convinced Mack, "This is what I'm meant to do – create music that gives people hope or inspires positive change."
After a summer songwriting intensive at U.C.L.A., Mack decided to pursue her music career at the Frost School, drawn not just by its stellar reputation and exceptional program, but the satisfaction of her peers. “Everyone I met there was so happy and confident in their choice,” Mack says. She’s currently working on new songs featuring her father and musicians from his soon-to-be-released projects, artists who’ve played with a host of jazz and pop luminaries including Miles Davis, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Bruno Mars, John Mayer, and Esperanza Spalding.
Mack is excited to continue honing her craft and learning new skills at Frost, and confident she’s in the right place. “Live four years in paradise and do what I love?” she says. “Sign me up!”
