Hi!
If you click the video above, you’ll get seven minutes of me chatting and singing a song that I have been writing over the last week. Suddenly got some songwriting mojo in me, which has been nice! Tuning nerds: this song is in open D.
Whilst editing this video and transcribing the lyrics, I started to think more about what the song could mean, my mind wandering to this critique of Saltburn that I watched on Youtube this morning, whilst cleaning my room.
Now, I haven’t seen Saltburn, but I have seen The Talented Mr Ripley, which apparently, is just as good and also better than seeing Saltburn. If Jacob Elordi and Jude Law went head-to-head in the Hottest Posh Man Awards I’m not sure who would win, but for what it’s worth it seems like Mr Ripley is the better film out of the two. Both are about class, identity, and wanting to be like someone so much that you want to invade their identity and assume it.
Now that I’ve got that on the brain, when it comes to tweaking lyrics for my song, I might take it a little bit further into a story like this. I want to lean more into that character who wants what the other person has so much that they burn with it. Already there is an air of creepiness in the bridge, where I’ve got lines like, picture my skin in your clothes, and picture my heart in your bones. I dunno if they’re too creepy, but I like them for now. And also the line, if I could start again I’d ask God to be you. There’s something tragic about it which makes the listener sympathise with that pathetic feeling of jealousy, but is it really something that any of us would admit out loud?
Songwriting is always interesting because, for me at least, I start with what’s quite a normal emotion or situation and then try and raise the stakes a little. What then happens is that you get a story which is larger than life and goes that little bit further than normal circumstances would. And that’s what art is all about, isn’t it? Exaggerating aspects of normal life in a way that they appear more ‘real’ or interesting than reality itself. Drawing people in and heightening their emotions in a way that a saturation filter on a photograph would.
Anyway, hope you all have a good week. It’s my aim to start putting these new demos behind a paywall so that I can stop new songs being too distracting from the stuff I’ve got coming out later this year, but don’t worry, when that starts happening I’ll allow anyone who wants to get behind the paywall a free pass. It’s more about separating things rather than making extra money.
Liked the song? Check out some ways you can support me & my music:
buying a ‘Gneiss Guy’ tote bag on my Bandcamp
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Til next time! Be good,
Olivia 🌈✨🏔🎶
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