Singled Out: Laura Warshauer's Explode

"A red light, stop sign, could a green light just let me go/Maybe, in a while, please tell me yes or no..."

I was sitting at the house I grew up in in New Jersey, with our family's little West Highland Terrier, Melly, keeping me company. It was one of those chilly November nights, where winter hasn't yet set in but you can feel it coming. It was like so many late-fall evenings that I'm very accustomed to, having grown up on the east coast. I was anticipating a move to Los Angeles, having extended my stay in New Jersey to perform at the Billboard Emerging Artists Showcase at the Gramercy Theater in New York City.

In between running songs for my upcoming performance, I started strumming away at my usual chords and just sang those lines over the top. I loved the feel of the melody. It had a certain bounce, and the lyrics had a poignancy that seemed to say a lot, with a little. It's about that push and pull feeling that I think we've all experienced, whether it's a relationship (any kind of relationship), or the everyday struggles we face trying to make our way in the world and build careers or pursue whatever ambitions we may have.

I wanted to put this song in the context of a relationship so that people could relate and understand, even though for me, it was really about my struggles pursuing a life and career in the music industry. It was important to me to give this driving sense of urgency to not only the lyrics, but to the actual feel of the song. I knew inherently what the point of the song was, but when I got to the line "My head is ready to explode" it really clicked. And then, "My heart is ready to explode." That's how I was feeling at that moment.

And I liked that it could be anyone who feels like they're waiting, waiting, and still waiting... for the phone to ring, for someone to show up, or for the dream job to appear. It's about wanting to get to the other side of the tunnel, and the anticipation of when that's going to happen.