ON THE RISE
Mack Holland started writing music several years ago, taking off with his first big single “Your Love Is a Thrill”. Since then, he has gone through a full journey of discovery and taken full to writing from the heart. With more of a Gospel spin on his sound, he has recently released his newest single “Lord I Thank You”, a timeless track about the grace of God featuring Holland and fellow singer Bernard Williams and award winning producer Kevin Bond.
This new single is truly a tale from the heart, focusing on how he impacts Holland as well as the way he affects us all. “I was really focused on the things he has given me, my family and job,” he explained. “Even the goals he has helped me to achieve.”
Holland hopes that his fan base can hear this song and use it to reflect on the way that God has affected them. “I really think this song speaks for itself,” he said. “It is really just about the way God affects myself and others.”
Following the release of “Lord I Thank You”, Holland is excited to take a step back out of the Gospel world with the upcoming single “My Favorite Girl”. This exciting new track is all about appreciating the great women in your life, and giving a little love to those who deserve it the most. Outside of this new single, he is looking forward to continuing to share music that really speaks from the soul with his incredible fan base.
With this new release taking hold and the holidays right around the corner, take the time to check out Holland’s Classic Christmas song, “This Christmas Is For You”. It's a great track to get into the Christmas spirit and fall head over heels for Holland and his music.
“I just want to continue recording great music, spending time with my family and thanking God for all of the wonderful things he has provided me,” Holland said.
If Holland and his music truly peak your interest, he suggests also taking a look at his book, The Mack Holland Book of Inspiration, Poetry and Song. Not only does this piece of literature give you a deeper understanding of the artist as both a person and a creative, it also helps to open your eyes to a greater understanding of love for the Lord. Holland is also excited about the upcoming release of the second volume of this project.
Be sure to stay tuned in to Mack Holland on various platforms for new music, visuals and social posts.
ON THE RISE
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LOS ANGELES — Damion Seraglio Bond and Hannah Leyla are turning up the heat with “Pina in Your Colada,” a playful tropical duet built around flirtation, humor and the kind of chorus that practically demands a room full of people sing along.
Featured as the opening track on Tropical Vacay, “Pina in Your Colada” drops listeners directly into vacation mode. Tiki lights are glowing, steel drums are playing, drinks are flowing and Hannah and Damion are trading lines back and forth like two people who have decided subtlety can wait until after the trip.
That exaggerated approach was intentional.
“I worried that if I hewed too closely to a serious sexual expression, today’s rather Me-Too sensitive folks might misinterpret the point of the song,” songwriter and creator Lloyd Eric Cotsen said. “By keeping it light-hearted and even cheesy over the top, it’s clearly aiming for fun.”
Cotsen envisioned the track as the kind of local favorite heard at a packed tropical bar, where vacationers already know every word and become part of the performance. That idea shaped the song’s crowd vocals and call-and-response structure, including Hannah’s equally confident answers to Damion’s advances.
Creating that chemistry, however, became one of the biggest challenges behind the track.
Cotsen used AI music platform Suno to develop the recording, but directing the male and female vocals proved considerably harder than expected. He ultimately worked through more than 160 versions while trying to get the exchanges right, eventually bringing elements from separate versions to a sound engineer to create the final result.
That persistence helped produce one of the song's defining elements: a performance that feels less like a conventional studio recording and more like stumbling into a beach bar where the entire crowd already knows the chorus.
“Recreating the vibe of a live performance in a bar with a crowd finishing the lines of a song they know and love was something I would have bet Suno couldn’t do,” Cotsen said. “It did it masterfully.”
That atmosphere also made “Pina in Your Colada” a natural opener for Tropical Vacay. Cotsen wanted the album to function almost like a vacation soundtrack, maintaining a tropical atmosphere while moving between comedy, romance and more reflective moments.
“It seemed like the most fun, captured the tropical spirit of the album best,” he said of choosing the song as its first track.
The project continues Cotsen’s genre-hopping approach to songwriting. His work has moved through folk-country, blues, soul, gospel and dance, while Tropical Vacay gives him room to explore Trop Rock and the stories that emerge when people temporarily leave their everyday lives behind.
For Hannah and Damion, that means a relationship that is flirtatious, competitive and occasionally more complicated than the beach-bar antics suggest. Cotsen describes the pair as having a “playfully combative romantic relationship,” with Hannah written as a confident character who can give Damion every bit as much as she gets.
And the fictional duo may eventually move beyond the digital world. Cotsen plans to host a concert with live singers performing selections from his catalog within the next year while continuing work on several additional albums.
For now, “Pina in Your Colada” offers a simpler invitation: turn it up, embrace the ridiculousness and pretend the nearest drink comes with a tiny umbrella.
“Pina in Your Colada” is available now on Spotify as part of Tropical Vacay.
