Jordan McGuire brings new alt-pop to NEPA for Valentine’s Day

Jordan McGuire is an alternative pop singer, songwriter, and musician who grew up in the North Pocono area and now makes sweet jams to lift your mood. His latest heartfelt single, “Pick Me Up” debuts on Feb 14 to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

McGuire brings something refreshing to the often hard-rock-focused music scene of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Listen to these soft singles to prepare a more whimsical V-day mood. “What I draw from a lot is having a singer-songwriter vibe where you’re telling a story,” said McGuire.

This is pull-up-the-lyrics-to-listen-along kind of music and Jordan McGuire crafts each song element himself. A few artists he pulls inspiration from for his indie, alt-pop sound are Dave Matthews, Ed Sheeran, and Jon Bellion.

“I grew up listening to Dave Matthew’s Band all the time and I try to be a little bit like Dave in that there’s something going on in the songs, but it’s kind of weird so you don’t quite know what it is,” said McGuire.

McGuire’s musical origin story differs from the typical one we’re used to hearing where ‘they’ve been playing guitar since before they could walk.’ Jordan McGuire said, “I played piano when I was really little, then trombone in middle school but nothing really stuck. Drumming on ‘Rock Band’ is where it really started.”

Yep, after acing the popular video game that revolutionized the 2000s, McGuire finally caught a bug for musical performance. He decided to challenge himself beyond the Rock Band controller by picking up the drums for real.

“I think it’s a pretty fun way to look at it,” he said. “Looking at how it all started, it’s definitely not how everybody comes into music.” Then, when McGuire couldn’t bring a whole drum set to college — he adapted again into the budding artist he is now.

The new single, “Pick Me Up” is the perfect song to drop on Valentine’s Day and will appear on McGuire’s upcoming first album, “What I Wanted to Hear”. It’s a dreamy love song that incorporates a variety of unique sounds with lyrics that everyone can relate to.

“For me, that’s a really special song because my brother helped produce on it as well,” he said of the single release. Reality show fans may actually know Jordan McGuire’s older brother better as “Johnny Mac” from “Big Brother 17”.

McGuire’s upcoming album, “What I Wanted to Hear” is an episodic story from beginning to end. So, McGuire recommends you follow along with the lyrics because the songs build off of each other. He hopes to drop the full album, recorded with Eric Ritter at Windmill Agency, in Summer 2023.

Until that full-length release, he’s sprinkling out the singles and debuting music videos on social media to go along with them. His most recent music video, “Truth Is” went up in Jan 2023…and it’s a bop!

The music video recreates TikTok trends and reflects a cozy, authentic setting that goes right along with the chill vibes the song induces. McGuire said of the video, “I’m not good in front of a camera, so I found people I was comfortable with. I tracked down Sarah and Eric Novroski at Novro Studios to film the video, and they were just great.”

He’s already ready to get rolling on producing the next album as he continues to expand his musical knowledge. He can’t wait to show fans what he’s learning along his singer-songwriter journey so far, including learning video editing, writing new songs, and starting new projects.

McGuire spent a lot of time working up the courage to commit to a full-length album, so he’s just honored that people want to hear what he’s working on. “Any support I get or anyone that benefits from listening is all the bonus, because making it was wild enough,” said McGuire.

Catch Jordan McGuire’s latest single, “Pick Me Up” when it drops on Valentine’s Day, Feb 14 by clicking here to sign-up for his pre-save list to get notified when it hits the airwaves. You can listen to his music on every major streaming platform; Spotify, Apple, Amazon, etc.