Singled Out: Maeve Steele's Shimmer

Keavin Wiggins | 09-04-2021

Rising singer/songwriter Maeve Steele recently released her new single and video called "Shimmer" and to celebrate we asked her to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

I wrote this song in the summer of 2020, shortly after graduating college and moving to LA. Along with the lockdown and uncertainty of a new phase of life came an overwhelming sense of staleness. Writing had always been a means of exploration of what I was feeling, and suddenly I was at a point where I just didn't have much to write about. Like so many others in need of inspiration, I turned to Joan Didion. I reread her essay "Why I Write," and something in it really resonated with me. She explains that, to her, writing does not have to be a vessel for some great discovery or transfer of knowledge, but instead it is an just be a means of communicating the images that "shimmer around the edges." We all experience the world, and we all experience it differently - writing is just one way to communicate it. That sentiment, along with the word shimmer itself, struck a chord with me. As simple as it sounds, Didion reminded me that I didn't have to write about how I was feeling, I could write about what I wanted to be feeling. Lyrically, this song came from that mindset.

Often when I write songs, the ones that grab me the most are the ones that seem to just fall out. Shimmer was definitely not one of those songs. It was a messy process, with about 4 rewrites before I took it to the studio with Brian Malouf. It really did feel like a puzzle I had to pull together, and I think that's because it was thematically so foreign at the time. I did have to force it, because it was born out a daydream as opposed to reality, which was a new process for me. Production-wise, this song definitely became dreamier as we continued to work on it. It's interesting how it sonically mirrored the mindset it was written in.

Looking back, I wrote this during an adjustment period of my life when I was really learning how to be happy. When I was writing it, this is song was about how I wanted to feel. Now when I think about what it means to me, I think of it as a song about finding joy or excitement in any situation. I love that this song can mean different things to me at different times, and I hope it can do the same for others.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below or stream here