R&B Up-And-Comer of the Month Mack Keane Has Long Been Instrumental Behind the Boards — Now He’s Taking the Solo Spotlight With ‘Wide Eyed’

The LA-bred singer-songwriter is bringing blue-eyed soul into 2026.

Jul 22, 2026 - 19:37

R&B Up-And-Comer of the Month Mack Keane Has Long Been Instrumental Behind the Boards — Now He’s Taking the Solo Spotlight With ‘Wide Eyed’

Even if you aren’t intimately familiar with his still-growing catalog, you’ve almost certainly spotted Mack Keane’s name in the credits of some of contemporary R&B’s most exciting and expansive projects. Between Destin Conrad’s Grammy-nominated Love on Digital, Omar Apollo’s God Said No (Live) and Joyce Wrice’s Overgrown, Keane’s talents as a songwriter, instrumentalist, producer and vocalist have helped an exciting, ascendant pocket of the genre streamline their respective sounds.

For Keane (born Mackenzie Paul Keane), his lifelong love affair with music began in his childhood home. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Calif., Keane is the son of actress-singer Paula Mulcahy and Grammy-nominated songwriter-producer Tom Keane. Keane’s grandfather, Bob Keane, was also a musician and the founder of Del-Fi Records, which notably released Ritchie Valens’s classic “Donna” / “La Bamba” single.

Pursuing music was less of a question and more of a natural endpoint for Keane, 29, whose career took off with his 2016 “Model Behavior” single while studying at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. By 2019, Keane began firing off his first two EPs (Donna Ave and Aquanetta Dr), but he “didn’t know what the f—k [he] was doing.” Once he linked up with Filipino-American DJ-producer ESTA. (born Francis Esteban) for 2022’s Intersections, clarity followed.

“With those first few EPs, I was doing everything myself from writing to producing, with the help of a select few friends who would kick it at the studio with me and my manager,” he tells Billboard while traveling between stops on his Wide Eyed Tour. “I was just making songs because I wanted to express myself in that way. Once I started working with other artists and writing and producing for other people, I learned what I want to do, how I want to do it, what I like and what I don’t like.

“That’s why I see [Wide Eyed] as my first album,” he continues. “I’m stepping into the artist that I am.”

Keane always planned to put out a solo album after Intersections, but his work on other projects — and a particularly busy period in his life — forced him to scrap what he had been working on in favor of 2025’s Entries, a mixtape that felt like a more immediate purging of his emotions. After hunkering down with key collaborators like twin brothers Austin Daniel Brown and John Sterling Brown, Keane whipped up Wide Eyed, which arrived May 8, via a partnership with Rob Walker’s recently relaunched Star Trak Entertainment, once home to N.E.R.D., Clipse and Kelis.

At once strikingly candid and quietly hopeful, Wide Eyed relays the myriad life lessons Keane has internalized throughout his 20s. From the mixture of Stevie Wonder-esque chords and Fleetwood Mac-inspired guitars on the standout “Honeymoon Dreaming” to the sparse soul of “Bloodshot,” Wide Eyed grounds Keane’s take on blue-eyed soul with notes of funk and hip-hop.

Keane’s been playing shows across the U.S. on his Wide Eyed Tour in support of the record, which marks a quick return to the live circuit after opening for Destin Conrad’s Love on Digital Tour last fall. “Every night, I’m so surprised because they’re singing every lyric, and it’s my first time experiencing that, so it’s special,” he gushes. “And I’m with Austin and John; we made the album together, and now we’re all onstage together!”

As his Wide Eyed Tour nears its finale on July 31 at San Francisco’s Cafe du Nord — and his recent guest appearance on Chris Patrick’s “Run It Back” continues to get love in hip-hop circles — Keane is already thinking about his next record, which he says already lives in his voice memos.

Below, Mack Keane opens up to Billboard about the long road to Wide Eyed, his relationship with Destin Conrad and how the Odd Future era informed his own maturation as a young L.A. artist.

When do you first remember your brain registering music in a special way?

I shared a room with my older brother for the first five years in my life, and I remember being two years old hearing my mom come in and sing us lullabies. She would actually write songs to put us to sleep. My dad also plays the piano; there was so much music and so many musicians around my house my whole life that it wasn’t even a question… it was everything. Growing up, my dad had a recording studio in the garage, so I’d be there chilling on his lap while he was working with musicians.

Do you remember the first song that was stuck in your head as a kid?

It was probably “Isn’t She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder; I remember my mom playing that a lot. And my dad also would play “Can’t Hide Love” by Earth, Wind & Fire. But I always loved “Hey Harmonica Man” by young Stevie too.

What music did you gravitate towards in your adolescence?

I listened to everything, but I was always in the vein of R&B and soul music. I also had a rock phase. My older brother is a guitarist, and he was way more into progressive rock and metal, so sometimes I would listen to Tool, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Incubus. He even had me on Avenged Sevenfold when I was a kid. [Chuckles.]

I was tapped into all this different s—t, but I was also doing my own discovery and finding Chet Baker, [Lonny Breaux-era] Frank Ocean and Tyler, the Creator and the whole L.A. scene. I was raised in Los Angeles, and seeing Odd Future and all that s—t was so inspiring.

I remember getting into Kendrick [Lamar] too, and tapping into all the L.A. artists who were coming up at that time. I was always an old head though, so I listened to lots of records from the ‘70s and a lot of Prince, Stevie, Rufus & Chaka Khan, James Taylor, Carole King, Elton John, etc.

That must’ve been a fruitful time to cultivate your own artistry, coming up in L.A.

First off, it made me proud to be from this place. I thought it was the coolest s—t; it was so L.A. skater culture. I started producing on GarageBand when I was around 12 or 13, and that era inspired me to make beats like the early Tyler, Frank and Syd [from The Internet] stuff. I love how whirly the synths were; all that MIDI s—t gave it a DIY feel, but it still felt soulful. You got your major sevenths and minor ninths, plus there’s a bridge going on, but you’re using these digital sounds. And having seen Kendrick perform back in 2012 and seeing where he is now, it really shows that this takes time.

This album is kinda devastating, man. What’ve you been up to in the past year since Entries?

I guess you could call it three years, actually. This album has long been in the making. It’s about me becoming a man and stepping into adulthood across life, love and relationships. I learned a lot in my 20s, man. I would get excited about feelings and emotions but not think too far in the future about what that really means. I would just go off the moment, which is a beautiful thing, but as we get older, s—t gets more real. And you gotta really dig deep and know what it is that you want, so you don’t lead people on in your story.

The whole record is the story of what I went through with somebody who taught me a lot. I’m a very vulnerable songwriter for better or for worse, so it definitely sometimes is scary to put out the songs that I do. But I like art like that. I like to be honest in my art.

When and how did you land on the title?

We loved making the song “Wide Eyed.” Me, Austin [Daniel Brown], and his twin, John [Sterling Brown], who played drums on the majority of the project, were jamming as always. John hit the groove on the drums, I did some other s—t on it, and then I was like, “This is too funky.” So, Austin tried some more somber chords, and I’m like, “Oh s—t, this is it!” I started singing, and we made the record in a day. It just felt so special and really important in my spirit.

My friend Jack McKain, who’s a photographer who shot some of the single covers, was like, “I feel like ‘falling short’ is not the sentiment of the album.” The album isn’t necessarily me failing; there’s also hopefulness, learning, accountability and honesty. So, we put our heads together [for a new title] and kept coming back to Wide Eyed. And that title captures being hopeful but also being naïve, so I thought it was perfect.

What song would you say made the album feel complete?

“Fantasize,” that’s the last record I made. It was actually kind of a last-minute fix. I was alone in the studio one day, made a couple of records, and that was one of them. It felt like the rolling credits, especially with the refrain nodding to the “Bloodshot” melody. And we made “Bloodshot” in six hours, which completely changed the trajectory of the album. I like that the record ends with one of the last things that I made. It also shows where I’m about to go with the next record.

What do you think it was about “Bloodshot” that reset the process?

We captured a feeling. I didn’t strive to have the perfect vocal or be perfectly on pitch. We just sought out emotion in the way we played the instruments and in the way I approached my vocal. Even Austin encouraging me not to use Auto-Tune allowed the record to really breathe. I wanted every record on that album to give me that feeling too.

What do you value most about your relationship with Destin Conrad?

My relationship with Destin has been hilarious. We first met at a Raedio writing camp for the soundtrack for the last season of Insecure in 2021. Me, ESTA. and Destin immediately connected, and we were all younger. Me and Destin locked [ourselves in a room and made our song “O.M.L.,” and we decided to keep the vibe going and do more sessions together.

Destin called me in for his music, and I started writing with him. I would make these hooks and give them to him, and he would finish songs so fast. He’s such a quick writer. We feed off each other so well. I love Destin. And he really helped me out by bringing me on the road, so I’m really grateful.

How do you define success and what are some of your long-term goals?

I define success by doing what I love with the people who I love for as long as I want. As long as I can maintain that and have the freedom to be creative and live the life that I want to live, that’s successful. I believe success is an active process; it’s not a thing that you grab.

In the future, I would love to headline Coachella and do stadium runs. I want to get into TV and films too. I love nature, so I’d like to somehow involve that in my work. Maybe I’ll be the Anthony Bourdain of music and travel.

What does decompressing look like for you?

It’s something I need to get better at. I’m a workaholic, man. But I like going somewhere beautiful and remote, hiking, jumping in a body of water, eating good and chilling, watching a fire sunset, and just doing nothing.

But in September, I want to work on my next album. I already got some stuff in the works, a bunch of voice memos.