MACEY Announces Sophomore Album ‘Once’ + Releases New Single ‘We Still Happened’
Following the success of his recent singles Mona Lisa Money, Seaside Wishes, and the most recent Clementine, New Zealand–raised singer-songwriter MACEY today announces his highly anticipated sophomore album, Once, arriving this July 2026 via FiveAM / Warner Music New Zealand.
The announcement is accompanied by the release of the album’s latest single, We Still Happened, a track that stands as MACEY’s most universal and comforting message to date.
Written in London during a first-time collaboration with producers Luis Issermann and Will Farquarson, We Still Happened was born from a moment of deep reflection on the fragility of connection. “I was thinking about my partner at the time, and how I didn’t know if we’d always feel so in love – that ‘what if’ anxiety,” MACEY explains. “Then that line ‘we still happened’ came together. Even if we love and lose someone, or if the world ends in a natural disaster… we still happened. It’s a celebrate of the fact that I’m here, alive, and how lucky I am to even have that.”
Once serves as a vivid anthology of stories and characters, largely inspired by MACEY’s time traveling on the London tube. Across ten tracks, he moves beyond the autobiographical nature of his debut to explore the lives of others through a more mature, reflective lens.
“With this album, it feels like I’m looking at everything from a more mature and reflective place rather than reactive,” MACEY explains.
“I flew to London to do some writing sessions, and every day I was surrounded by people from every walk of life. I was observing everything – every character, every interaction – and of course, I started writing about what I was seeing.”
The album opens with lead single Mona Lisa Money, a folk-leaning fable co-written in Limehouse, London with Demi Louise and Kiah Gossner, chronicling a man who spends his life chasing wealth only to lose everything. The track debuted at #18 on the NZ Hot Singles Chart and received praise from Rolling Stone AUNZ, Sniffers, and more, signalling a clear evolution in MACEY’s songwriting.
Throughout Once, MACEY navigates themes of capitalism, politics, love, loss, grief, and resilience, weaving together indie-rock, folk, and soul influences that sit between classic Brit-pop and Americana – filtered through his unmistakable British-Kiwi sensibility.
With Once, MACEY steps confidently into his next chapter – more reflective, more expansive, and more assured than ever.
We Still Happened is out now on all streaming platforms.
Sophomore album Once coming 3 July 2026.
