Alt-rocker JJ Wilde is releasing her debut EP "Wilde Eyes and Steady Hands" this week (June 21st) and to celebrate we asked her to tell us about the song "State Of Mind." Here is the story:
The difference between dark and light, the contrast between good and evil. The idea that maybe, you're not sure of what your next step is or what you're doing. The idea of giving up, and simply not doing it. These are things that are so common in every day life, but on a much smaller scale. "Am I doing this right?" "Is this all there is, should I be happy, or could there be more?" . To me "State of Mind" is always walking those lines. Never being quite sure what you're doing, but doing it anyways. Always on the brink of f***ing up. Procrastinating, wasting time, doing things your shouldn't, realizing that and then striving for more. This song also reminds me of a certain time of life. It brings back the memory of being absolutely uncertain of where the hell my life was going, but somehow being okay with that. Making stupid mistakes, rash decisions and learning from them. I was just trying to land on my feet.
The recording process for this was intense. It was fun and surprisingly easy, but intense. It was the first time I had worked with a co-writer Frederik Thaae, so that was a bit of a trip. I find that it is very difficult to let go of an idea and let someone else in. I get a little precious sometimes about my work. Frederik Thaae and I wrote everything musically from guitars, bass, drums, strings, everything. It was also my first time getting to co-write multiple instrumental parts. The writing I had done before was mostly just guitar and vocals, so this was a very exciting thing to be able to have Frederik play something and us tweak it into something that I wanted on my songs. Viktoria, a vocal coach and writer, was brought in to see how I would write with someone else, for lyrics and melody, and she was amazing. It was so cool to see the things she could extract from me by just simply having a conversation. I was worried that with someone else in the room my ideas would have to be shared or even have the other person put their spin on it. But with Viktoria, she sat back and let me run with ideas and never tried to put her mark on the song which I really appreciated. She just wanted to get the best out of me. She would suggest going to higher notes then I would normally sing and then teach me how to sing them correctly without hurting my voice which was amazing. I still use the tricks and tips she gave me from that session. And melodically she would suggest something that I didn't like at first, but only because it was new. We worked very well together, it was a good balance of me being stubborn and her forcing me to try new things. Together we wrote something that was in me to begin with, but needed a little push to get out. All in all it was an amazing experience and I can't wait to go back and do it again.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself right here!
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