Katherine McNamara On "Just Like James," Her Song Supporting The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund
Katherine McNamara is perhaps best known for her roles as Clary Fray in Freeform's “Shadowhunters" and Mia Smoke in the CW's "Arrow." But she's also a singer and a champion of empowerment campaigns such as Girl Up and more. BUILD sat down with McNamara to check in and talk about "Just Like James," her new song with proceeds going to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
Video Transcript
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BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to "BUILD at Home." I'm your host, Brittany Jones-Cooper. This is my home in New York City. And I'm really pumped because today I'm going to be chatting with Katherine McNamara. But before we bring on Katherine, I want to remind you guys about the campaign No Kid Hungry, and I want to remind you to visit nokidhungry.org. Because of school cancelations, 574 million school meals have been missed. So there's a lot of kids in need who depend on that food every day. So if you're looking for a way to help, visit nokidhungry.org.
And now I want to switch gears and welcome our guest Katherine McNamara, who we know and love from shows like "Shadowhunters." But she's here to talk about some new music. Katherine, how are you?
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: I'm good. I am readjusting to this sort of new way of life we've all had to become accustomed to.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: I know. It's crazy. Where are you right now?
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: I'm in Los Angeles. I'm on my own. So I-- it's been a little over three weeks since I've had human contact. And it's been odd. I've learned that I need human interaction and sunshine to feel normal. So you know, I'm getting it as I can. But you know, thank goodness we live in a world where technology can still keep us all connected in a way.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Absolutely. I have been also social distancing solo. And it's been fine. I mean, obviously, like you said, we have our health and, you know, everything is good, but it is sort of like week four, and I'm starting to feel like I could go to a brunch, would be great.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: Yeah. I'm a very social creature, so it's been very strange. And especially, you know, this was-- this happened to be a period of time where I was excited to be in LA and have a little time off and be able to catch up with folks. And then global pandemic, of course. But you know, we make do as we can. And I'm actually-- I'm reorganizing my house, I'm [INAUDIBLE] creative new ways to work out. It's been, you know, self-care, as well.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: What has been a creative way you've found to work out, or a new workout that you've tried?
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: There's been several things I've tried. I-- one thing that I discovered, I went and bought one of those sort of obsidian slide boards that mimics how you do hockey and things like that. But before it came in, I just took a dish towel and put it under one of my feet, and was able to do, like, side lunges and other things that you can kind of take the friction away. I've also [INAUDIBLE] I have a little patio outside my door, and just jumping rope or doing jump squats or whatever part of my workout I can do outside in the fresh air has kind of been amazing.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: It's amazing how those simple things mean so much more now. I'm the same, I [INAUDIBLE] been going outside and doing like, you know, jumping jacks, like super simple stuff. But it does-- it is nice just to get outside. So I'm glad that you-- and I also saw that you've been baking a little bit.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: I have. I'm a huge baker. And you know, my grandma taught me how to bake, so it's something that always comforts me. It's therapeutic, in a way, and it kind of makes me feel like home. And plus, it's a quarantine, you know, everybody needs [INAUDIBLE].
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Absolutely. And you know, you said that that's comforting for people. Music is also very comforting for people. I know I've personally been relying a lot on music just to sort of spend the day. And so you have a new song out which is really cool that fans can enjoy listening to this song, but it also has a charitable side to it. So can you talk about that?
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: Yeah, thank you. It's sort of a new old song. You know, one of the first things I did when I started social distancing is I made a playlist that actually I made public on my Spotify that's my social distancing dance party, because that's one thing you can do in your house, you can be active, you can dance. It lifts your spirits, and you can listen to some good music.
And I happened to be cleaning my computer, and I found this file of old music from about six years ago that I never released. And I went, it's not doing any good just sitting here on my computer. You know, it's a silly little song full of a bunch of puns and plays on words, which people know I love. And you know, maybe it'll entertain someone, and it's a bit escapist, given that it's, you know, James Bond and [INAUDIBLE].
But you know, that I wanted to do something charitable, as well. A few years ago, I released a song called "Glass Slipper" to benefit GirlUp. And it did really well in the sense that it helped GirlUp a lot and it helped spread awareness for them, as well as give people some entertainment. And I wanted to do something again for COVID. So Google and the World Health Organization are doing something really special right now in that they are-- Google is matching every donation for the next month that's given to World Health Organization for their COVID response fund.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: That is so cool. And so with this song, do we-- do I have to go download it from somewhere specifically for it to count, or how does that work?
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: It's available wherever you find your music, whether that's Apple Music or iTunes or Spotify or Google Play or Amazon Music, any of those sources. And what's so great about it is I-- you know, I give major credit to the-- I didn't write the songs, but the songwriters and producers have donated their proceeds. I'm donating my proceeds. Every dollar, every cent that's made off of this song from every download, stream, purchase is going to go straight to World Health for the next month.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: That is so cool. What does it mean for you to get to share your art and then have it have, you know, a positive benefit or impact on people?
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: Well for me, I'm-- I feel very lucky. I get to do what I love for a living and, you know, hopefully bring people some joy through that. But in this world that we live in now where technology and communication is so easy and so entertainment-based, I find that it gives me a little bit of a platform to do some good. And especially in times like these, anything I can do to spread positivity, spread awareness about important causes and make somebody smile, I'll do anything. So if this does well, I have a few other songs in the docket that I may release in the next couple of weeks, as well.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: I was going to ask, are those old songs, or have you been writing anything new? Has this been a time where you've been able to create new music at all?
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: I have been creating many things [INAUDIBLE] on the producing side, my director aspirations have been brewing, as well. You know, because I-- as an actor, I can't really telecommute, it's giving me other creative things. Although there have been-- I don't know if you're familiar with the 24-hour plays?
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: No.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: So there's an organization through a Broadway charity that does 24-hour plays, where normally they'll get a group of actors together and writers will stay up all night writing one-act plays. Then the actors will get them in the morning, rehearse them, and put them up at night. But now that we can't all do that together, they're doing the viral monologues every week. So I did that a few weeks ago, where they-- the writers will stay up all night writing monologues, send them to actors, who will record them at home. And then they post them on their Instagram.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Oh, I love that.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: --in this. I did it about a month ago, and I'm doing it again, as well. And it's so fun. So we are finding ways to be creative. But yeah, the other music I would release would be old. I don't really have a proper recording setup here in my apartment in LA.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: That's-- I mean, that's fair. How would you know that you were going to have to stay in your apartment for months, weeks at a time, you know?
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: Yeah. I had about a day in-- not in advance, but I had about a day of heads up, because my mom's an infectious disease scientist. So [INAUDIBLE] she sort of understood a few days before this was going to happen, so said, you know, you might want to go get a case of water and a couple cans of food, maybe order some adjustable weights on Amazon, which I was able to actually order a treadmill, as well. So my first day--
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Whoa.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: [INAUDIBLE] a treadmill.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Oh my god, you were so much better prepared than I was. I ordered a robe. I literally knew what was coming, and I ordered a silk robe because I wanted to be comfortable. You were so smart to order a treadmill. I wish I had.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: You know what? A robe I did not order, but I have enough fuzzy animal socks that it's getting me through.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: You just gotta stay comfortable at this point. Also while I have you here, I have to talk about this new series, "The Stand," that you're a part of. And the premise of it seems-- I'll let you describe the premise of it, because it seems very serendipitous that we're in this moment.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: So it's funny how life imitates art sometimes, or art imitates life, depending on how you want to look at it. But Stephen King wrote this brilliant book called "The Stand," and it's now being made into-- or it was made into a mini series for CBS All Access. And it's-- it basically follows the story of a disease that breaks out and destroys society and the world as we know it. And then the survivors end up going into one of two camps, be it following Mother Abigail, who is this sort of religious prophet played by Whoopi Goldberg, or Randall Flagg, who is a-- pretty much the devil incarnate, played by Alexander Skarsgard in our version.
So you know, it's sort of-- it's very character-driven, and there's so many brilliant actors a part of it, and so many incredible characters. But it's very interesting, having just finished that, and getting to come onto this. Although I would say my experience with this is very different than my character, Julie Lawry's. So we'll put it that way.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Oh, I would hope so. I mean, I would imagine that your character has to go through some very heightened experiences in the show.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: She had a grand old time. She-- the devil's camp is in Vegas, and it's basically [INAUDIBLE] party. So Julie is sort of-- she's a pink-haired hellion that just runs amok and takes everything that she ever wanted. So that was a lot of fun, but--
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: That sounds like a lot of fun.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: Yeah it's sort of an absurdist look at what could happen if the worlds devolves. So you know, it's still escapism, in a sense, if it does come out at the end of the year as it was sort of planned to. But who knows anymore.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: That was going to be my next question, because there had been a lot of talk around this project, and I know it's supposed to be released this year. But do we know-- we don't know if that's going to happen yet or not?
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: [INAUDIBLE] no idea. I mean, I know they were sort of putting it together as we were shooting, so maybe they can do post-production remotely, but I really don't know. I know we finished shooting before all of this happened, so we'll see.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Yeah, fingers crossed. I know there's a lot of amazing projects that are sort of in a similar place. But luckily, in the meantime, there's a lot of other really great things to kind of consume out there. Is there anything fun that you're watching that you want to suggest to other people?
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: Oh, goodness. Well actually, I've been watching-- I've been going back and binging some things that I never watched, catching up on movies I've never seen, catching up on things. But also, I'm really loving John Krasinski's "Some Good News" that he's doing.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Oh my god, it's the best.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: It's amazing. And those are the kind of things, like the viral monologues and John Krasinski's thing and, you know, things that Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, James Corden are all doing, and like you guys are doing at home. We're trying to continue on with life as normal, and out of that is coming so many beautiful artistic things and collaborations and creative exploits that otherwise might not have happened, and just acts of human kindness that otherwise might not have happened.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Yeah, it's been amazing to watch all of that. I'm right there with you. It's just been this amazing kind of equalizer, where we're all in this together. And you're getting to see even these really big names stripped down to who they are. And it's been this really kind of nice, beautiful, collaborative time, as well.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: Absolutely. And you know, as the world heals, I always think the universe has a way of kind of equalizing itself, you know? In the sense that we've all been-- society's been pushing so quickly, and we've all been running ourselves ragged and pushing so hard, and going and going and going. And the world just goes, just take a minute. [INAUDIBLE] sleep, some self-care. Let's let the world heal.
And you know, I give huge credit and huge thanks to all of the essential workers and everybody in the health care system that is working tirelessly and working themselves literally to the bone to help the world save as many lives as possible. And I come from a family of science and medical professionals, and so I understand how difficult that profession is. And it's-- I give so much credit and so much heartfelt thanks to every single person out there.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: That is so sweet. I live in New York City, and every evening at 7:00 PM, you know, you can hear the applause and the cheers. And it is this reminder, even if you're in your own bubble doing your own thing, if you've forgotten what's happening, there is that sort of reminder every night of who's out there fighting for us. And it is just very humbling. And I'm with you. I just can't thank them enough.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: Yeah.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: And I can't thank you enough for joining us today. It's been a bright spot to my Monday morning for sure.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: [INAUDIBLE]
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: And for those of you watching, "Just Like James" is streaming now. So make sure you go listen to it, download it, help the money go towards the-- what is it, the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. And Katherine, thank you for joining us today.
KATHERINE MCNAMARA: Thank you so much. Have a great day, Brittany.
BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: You, too. Bye bye.
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