Blues rocker Diana Rein is gearing up to release her new album "Queen of My Castle" and to celebrate we asked her to tell us about the title song. Here is the story:
In the winter of 2017, a year had passed since I had written a handful of songs. I wanted to record them but I also wanted to write some new songs to create a more cohesive Blues vibe to my next album. I had already had a few meetings with Michael Leasure to start arranging the older songs and to start playing them together to see how they can be improved. This was before he came on board to be the Producer for the album. After seeing the direction the album was taking, I decided to take a few weeks to write new material that would fit right in with the blues and hopefully put our stamp on it.
I just remember sitting at my desk and showing up to write every day. I would record myself playing, as I usually do, with my computer's camera and my notebook handy. It's pretty rare that I ever start a song with lyrics. I usually always start with the rhythm guitar vibe first. But I had one lyric that just kept popping up. "You can call me a square babe, but I sure know how to roll." That little play on words amused me so I wanted to keep it. I jotted it down. Something about being square reminds me of just how square I was growing up. Always working to be the straight A student, valedictorian, over-achieving...I was a total nerd and I am proud of it. During college I became more relaxed but I still didn't lose the "square" completely.
During that time, the #metoo movement came into light as well and I really wanted to mold the song to have a more serious message for women. But I just wasn't quite feeling that the inherent vibe of that song was conducive to a serious message. So try as I might, it felt really contrived when I tried to make it more than what it was. I realized that this song had a very upbeat, playful energy. And all that I could think of was that women need to know their worth and be their own Queens. So instead of say being the Captain of My Own Ship, I made it to be the "Queen of My Castle."
When getting ready to shoot the video my husband and I had the idea of incorporating clips of Old Hollywood musicals and Actresses into the final video. But I came up against copyright issues. Since I didn't want to deal with that, I said screw it! I will just do it myself!! So I put my old nerd hat back on and I choreographed a dance, made sure I had some sparkles for some glam, grabbed my guitar and had a ton of fun. Sometimes you can empower others by just shining your light as bright as you can and being yourself. No matter what anyone says or thinks, your expression and creativity belongs to you. And when you know your Worth on top of that......you are sure to be the Queen of Your Castle.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!
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