Singled Out: Rachel McIntyre Smith's First Love

Keavin Wiggins | 09-30-2022

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Rachel McIntyre Smith just released her debut EP, "Glory Days", and to celebrate we asked her to tell us about a song from the effort and she's selected "First Love". Here is the story:

Contrary to its name, "First Love" is not a love song. It's a song that adds another dimension to the theme of stuckness that runs throughout my EP, "Glory Daze."

It all started when I was organizing my childhood bedroom. I discovered this box where I had shoved everything from my first love. There were love letters, dried corsages from prom, photos, and mementos from dates. I sorted through each item and relived the moments associated with them. I kept playing these romanticized, rose-colored recollections over and over again in my head. Even though there is no chance of us ever getting back together, I couldn't get rid of the box because of how much I loved those memories. I thought to myself, "Why am I holding onto this? Does that make me a has-been?"

Soon after, I was talking with my dad about the drug problem in our hometown. I told him that I didn't understand why people kept doing drugs when it made them lose all their money, their health, their family, their community, etc. He said something along the lines of, "I've been told that the first time someone does meth, it's the best feeling in the world. Every time they do it afterwards, they are trying to replicate that same high, but no high is ever as good as the first. They ruin their whole life chasing that feeling." When he said that, the song "First Love" clicked in my brain. I opened my notes app and wrote the opening line, "I've heard addicts spend their life chasing the feeling of their first high, but it's something they'll never find, and I wish I couldn't relate"

This song probably took me the longest to write of any of the songs on the EP because I had so much to say. I wrote several verses that didn't make the cut. From start to finish, it took me around four or five months to be happy with all the lyrics. This song is definitely the most vulnerable on the project so I didn't want to rush choosing the words.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the EP here