WHEN?
I started making my album in May 2020 and released it on October 13th 2020. It started off with a single I released in April called Dark Angel. After I released this song, I just had a desire to create more and more. For years, I've always wanted to create an album, but I never knew how. Eventually, it became clear what I wanted to make it.
WHY?
I always wanted to create an album. It just seemed so cool and fun to me since I was a kid. But I never knew how to, or I wasn't good at recording before, etc. But as I got better at recording and producing my own music, I knew it was time to do this! I wanted the album to be about several different ideas. I wanted the titles to be one word. I wanted the topics to be important to me and deep and emotional. This album isn't a typical album following a certain sound or one idea. But, I wanted to make it different, just not too much where it doesn't make sense. I think although there are a lot of different sounds they still all fit together and make the album work.
WHAT?
Song 1: I started writing down different song ideas in my notes on my phone. I pretty much either wrote what ever popped in my mind, what I was feeling, something I cared about, inspiration from another artist or something I thought would be fun. The first song Dark Angel is about finding a way to get the darkness out and see the light we have.
Song 2: The second song I wrote after Dark Angel for my album is called Lies. This song was inspired by the world. By culture, news, politics. The musical aspect was inspired from an artist my band from school was covering a song by. That artist is Carole King. I really love her musical characteristics in her songs. I love her overall sound and so that gave me an idea for Lies.
Song 3: The 3rd song I wrote after lies was In Your Eyes. This song actually sprouted while I was writing Lies. I came up with this chord progression I really liked and it didn't really fit in Lies so I decided to create a new song from it. For this song, I didn't know what it was going to be about. I just started playing the progression and singing along with it. The first thing I said was "I see the end of the world in the eyes." I don't quite remember what made me think of that line. But after I sang that line I decided I would evolve the lyrics around that line.
Song 4 and 5: The 4th and 5th song I wrote are Blessings and Truth. Both these songs were inspired from God. I want to actually create a christian album sometime in the future. I wanted them both to be a slower ballad type song and just more focused on the musical aspects, the chords, using complex melodic lines, and have a lot of passion in both songs. These songs mean a lot to me. Truth might be my favorite song from the album. That, or Giving Up.
Song 6: The 6th song I wrote is called Numb. Numb was about going back to my original song that started the album, Dark Angel. I wanted to write a song with a similar feel and sound. The lyrics are quite different though. I was riding in the car with my boyfriend and dad and I was asking them for one word song ideas. My dad was really into the song Numb by Linkin Park so he suggested Numb. I decided I wanted to use Numb but give it a different meaning. Most songs titled numb are about heartbreak and so they feel numb inside. I wanted to make this song about being numb to the problems around me. I used numb as a term for choosing to let go of the pain. This is just my idea for this song. But I think this song could really have many different meanings.
Song 7: Next, I wrote a song called Moments. I wanted to write a song more upbeat. I am also a sucker for love songs. I love writing love songs! But I am trying to expand my horizon on my songs. This song is about all the wonderful moments I've shared with my boyfriend (:
Song 8, 9, 10: For songs 8, 9, 10 I decided to go back and take some older music I enjoyed. Song 8 is a song called "There's Nothing Like" that was the first song I recorded in my studio at school. I enjoyed this song a lot. I remember my friend telling me it was authentic and the cut we recorded was acoustic. I thought it would be nice to have one acoustic song, just piano and vocals. Song 9 is called Fires. I had been planning on adding this song to the album from the start. I felt like the sound and topic fit with the album. Fires is another song about the world and about the fires going on all the time lately. Song 10 is called Giving up. I wrote this song a few years back. It was about a friend who I knew was struggling. The piano was inspired from a Coldplay song called Swallowed in the Sea.
HOW?
It took me about 6-7 months to complete this album. It usually took a week to record the piano and vocals then a couple more weeks to add other instruments and mix it for each song. I started getting the hang of these things and started to get to know what effects and things I liked using the most. I changed it up for some songs and other songs I used the same effects. I didn't add too much effects overall. The instruments were all MIDI or loops besides the vocals and piano. I recorded on my upright piano for every song. I also sang on every song and sang some harmonies. Only one song I had a friend sing in, I'm hoping to feature other artists in the feature! I recorded everything at home where I feel comfortable. My boyfriend helped me to produce some of the songs.
CONCLUSION:
Creating this album has been a big accomplishment for me. I didn't think I was going to do this at this point or for a long time. I am really glad that I did. There's definitely things I want to make better in my engineering skills and craft, but I am really proud of my album. I struggle with judging my self a little too much sometimes. Singing does not come natural for me, it never has. I did it more for fun. I want to get better though. I have to work really hard to sing on pitch and sound well. I struggled with this a lot in the beginning of my album. I was ready to throw everything out because I just couldn't sing correctly. Luckily, my boyfriend helped me to take some extra time to really work on my vocals which I don't do nearly enough. But, after this I felt a lot better about my ability to sing each song. Piano is my main thing, I love playing and writing music and playing jazz music. But I hope to be a singer as well. I look forward to releasing more music in the future!!
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