I finished writing a new song yesterday.
For me, there is no greater news than when people tell you they love your song, since that’s when your heart finally speaks out loud.
Reoccurring good news throughout my whole life has been the presence of music. I remember when I saw Lorde live in March 2018. Right before she sang “Writer in the Dark,” she made a speech that I will never forget.
She said, “I had a moment where I just looked at myself dead in the eyes and thought ‘this is who you really are.'” Lorde talked about how she wrote the music and never forgot exactly who she saw that day.
This speech is one of the forces driving my music and acceptance of myself.
I have performed all my life and since I was little, I loved to jot down lyrics. With the help of my Fender acoustic, I finished my first original song, “Lost their Light,” in eighth grade.
That was the first video I ever posted to my YouTube channel, so I can still go back and see how much my lyricism has changed.
My new song, and most recent source of good news, is called “Stuck Below With You.” I wrote it after experiencing living on my own for the first time: which is pretty important to a young person’s life, I would say.
The chorus says, “I don’t mind carrying the world on my back/ Everyone loves the girl on attack/ I realize these friends that I have, they fly high/ Should I meet them in the sky?/ Or am I stuck below with you?”
This song is my very own “Liability” by Lorde, in that because it has a reprise, a follow-up, that belongs with it. It has something more to say as time passes.
I write about observed and experienced relationships, stylized fantasy, imperfection, faith and the evaluation of one’s self and utilizing the tools we have to create the most beautiful existence possible.
I have trouble being vulnerable in an everyday setting. Writing songs, however, breaks that barrier. I believe that music shouldn’t be explained. When you write a song, you don’t owe anyone an analysis; music is meant for interpretation. That’s the beauty of it.
The best news is when an artist who is personal to you, releases music; you know you can’t be alone in any moment. Songwriters who inspire me daily include Lorde, Harry Styles, Grace Repasky, Marina, Joni Mitchell and John Lennon.
David Bowie once said, “I think it is terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people’s expectations. If you feel safe in the area you are working in, then you are not working in the right area. When you don’t feel that your feet are touching the bottom then you are in the right place to do something exciting.”
I hope my feet never touch the bottom. Because hearing the silence, scares me to death.
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Email Beth Gonzales: beth.gonzales@pepperdine.edu
