demo no.61: 'standing in the corner' (Patreon)

HEY GANG. here is your April demo, 'standing in the corner'! I had it ready to upload last night but something in the mix was bugging me, so wanted to sleep on it.. and with fresh ears it became clear the vocal was WAY too quiet in the mix. but HEY I yanked it back up & it's feeling so much better now. :) 

this is a song I wrote with my friend Victoria Canal about my younger self. it's a song about how despite all the growth I've felt over the last few years my spotty, cringe-y, greasy side-fringe younger self is always there, lurking in the shadows of my mind. it's like.. comforting? but? annoying? at the same time. she's both a friend and an enemy, it's weird.

this was the first song I had co-written all year and it felt amazing to have someone else share my studio room for a day, especially someone as talented as Victoria! she's a really incredible musician & writer so check her out :) collaboration is the best when the other person can help bring the song somewhere you never would have taken it alone and that was definitely the case with this song. 

we had a lot of fun experimenting with moving between keys & trying to make those changes feel fluid and intentional, without feeling too music school-y. any musicians in the secret demo club - try playing along to the chords! the verses are in G, chorus 1 & 2 in C.. and I think the last chorus is in F?! (the chorus chords are all the same relative to each other, it's just the whole song shifts up a few keys by the end. it was a really fun way to inject energy into the last chorus without just throwing loads of production at it.. I think with this one it's the writing that does a lot of the heavy lifting! 

as always, download the demo, own it, listen to it, make it yours! and as always let me know what you think.

lyrics:

You’re not an obvious friend

But I’ll be nice and pretend

I can tell you’re in the dark

You don’t have to try so hard

God it’s so exhausting just to look at you

I feel like dying my hair

To show everyone I don’t care

Everybody look at me, living out your fantasy

Having such a good time

Thought by now

I’d be bigger than this

God you’re always there

Standing in the corner

Of this room I’m tied to you

And I cant leave you in the past

I hate that

Threw all my clothes on the lawn

The girl that you knew is long gone

Locked and threw away the key

Now she won’t be bugging me

Looking for attention

Oh my god I

Thought by now

I’d be bigger than this

God you’re always there

Standing in the corner

Of this room I’m tied to you

And I cant leave you in the past

I hate that

You! you always seem to show up

when my guard is down and I least expect it

You never really grew up

You’re just way too loud in the conversation

It’s true

You would never admit

you’re a skinny little kid and you don’t know anything

Thought by now

I’d be bigger than this

God you’re always there

Standing in the corner

Of this room I’m tied to you

And I cant leave you in the past

I hate that