Inside praise.’s World of Storytelling

At just 21, Praise McNealy — known artistically as praise. — has emerged as one of the most intriguing new voices in music. Born in New York and now based in Charlotte, he crafts a genre-fluid sound that blends folk, neo-R&B, alt-pop, and soul into widescreen, cinematic songs that unfold like short films. His rise has been anything but accidental, built on a foundation of storytelling and an instinct for blending intimate detail with sweeping emotion.

Before his debut singles “you still wear my clothes.” and “hills.” racked up millions of streams, he was a budding filmmaker scoring his own projects. “I wasn’t really into music in New York,” he recalls. “My family’s very deep-rooted in music, but I just wanted to find something else to be my thing. Filmmaking helped so much with being a storyteller. I’m such a visual person — the music is a gateway for me to get the films off, just for other visual learners like myself.”

Moving from the relentless pace of New York to the slower, more open rhythm of Charlotte allowed him to create with less anxiety. “As a person coming to North Carolina, it felt nice to not have to constantly watch over my shoulder,” he says. “I’m way much more in love with Southern hospitality than I am New York attitude and mindset. Each step — New York, Charlotte, now LA — was very much needed for where I am in my life right now.” praise. began writing songs at 18 out of necessity, not ambition. “When I started, it was like, ‘Hey, I’ve been making songs because we needed music for the movies,’” he explains. “I would just be making songs based off the movie I was working on at the time. Once I made the song, then I made the film around it.”

That deep connection between visuals and sound is still obvious in his music videos and his storytelling-driven lyrics – separating him from other emerging artists. “I love to take the most small detail and make it so big,” he says. “That’s how you get songs like ‘you still wear my clothes.’ I’ll write about pasta, or the month something happened, because that’s how I explain the overall picture.”

Growing up around radio and older mentors also shaped praise.’s creative instincts. “Being in radio as a young person changes your brain chemistry,” he says. “I almost always rather be around older people… it’s a comfort in that. My dad always taught me, ‘Shake a person’s hand, look them in the eye.’ So in creative spaces I’m drawn to people with experience, but who still look to me for guidance because it’s my vision.”

Grounded in this perspective, he resists the idea of making songs to chase trends or please algorithms. “It will always come from here,” he says, pointing to his heart. “My innate thing isn’t music. I didn’t start that way. So I’m not going to the studio thinking, ‘They’re gonna like this.’ I know what my fans like to hear from my heart and my soul, but I’m not reverse-engineering it.”

That authenticity has earned praise. a fiercely loyal following, especially during a time where the next generation is craving true artistry, relatability, and comfort. His breakthrough track “you still wear my clothes.” came from a real moment of heartbreak: “This girl would not give me the closure I needed,” he says. “The music was my way of trying to grasp the whole thing.” Fans’ reactions surprised him. “When I heard people be like, ‘Yo, I feel you,’ it was like, really? That’s crazy. But it made me get over the situation quicker because I had other people to talk about it with.” He describes his lyrics as both confessional and communal: “It was never like a diss track. It was like, ‘Hey, I need someone to talk to because the person I want to talk to won’t listen to me.’ Then I listen back to it as if I’m them. It’s a messed-up way of thinking, but it worked. It built a community.”

After his 2024 debut album me and my friend named he(art)., praise. recently released the EP LOST as both a reset and a declaration of range. “I got tired of making a folk song and someone being like, ‘You’re the greatest rapper,’” he says.

“LOST is everything. It’s not a specific thing. It’s whatever you want it to be. It’s like the car ride where you want to listen to folk, then rap, then a sad song. It covers all bases so everyone knows I am that guy in each category.” He also sees LOST as a prequel to his upcoming album. “The album will be explaining how I got to LOST,” he reveals. And one of its standout tracks, “Angel,” still feels ahead of its time. “That song won’t make sense right now, but it’s going to make sense soon. When they get it, it’s going to be huge.”

Despite his love of the studio, praise. is embracing live performance with growing enthusiasm. “I didn’t love it at first. I thought I’d be on some Frank Ocean shit, like I don’t want to go live. But then I rehearsed for the first time and I was like, fuck, this is addictive,” he laughs. “Hearing a song live is so much more different than hearing it on Apple Music or Spotify. It’s a way to act, to be emotional in your face with your hands. It makes the music breathe.” He’s also teasing new releases, including “matters to me,” which arrived after unexpected TikTok traction. “I was looking for another track to put on the EP anyway, and it’s nice for it to just show up and I don’t have to go look for it. It feels nice to just be.”

Even as his profile rises, praise. remains focused on storytelling in all its forms. When asked what kind of film he’d like to score, he describes a story about “a turmoiled relationship handled gently” — whether that’s between two people, or between a person and their own vices. “Turmoil can look like normalcy until it’s not anymore,” he says. “I think about everything in such a big way that I could score that perfectly.” It’s that expansive, empathetic worldview that sets praise. apart. He’s a singer-songwriter who thinks like a director, a self-taught producer who sees songs as scenes, and a young artist who’s already learned how to balance vulnerability with vision.

“My art can be anything,” he says. “Whatever you want it to be.”

With LOST out in the world and an album on the horizon, praise. is poised to enter his next chapter on his own terms — blending genres, weaving stories, and turning small, intimate moments into something cinematic and unforgettable. Listen to LOST now below.