Gratitude Project Day 9
Today I am grateful for my voice.
People sometimes ask me what I'd do if I wasn't a singer. I usually tell them that I'd probably end up on top of the bell tower in Baker Park picking off children with a sniper rifle. That's a bit extreme, but it's not completely off the mark. We're working on the new album, so our producers, Jeremy and Lani, were given a sheaf of lyrics to look through. Jeremy later commented that he didn't realize I had such an anger issue. It's a funny thing to say because I'd probably tell you I'm one of the happiest people I know. Thing is, those emotions ~do~ come up inside of me. I get into towering rages. And then I write a song and the feelings that spawned it bleed out of me into the words on the page. Every time I reread the lyrics, every time I sing the words, every time we perform the song in front of an audience, I get a chance to go through those emotions again, to cleanse, to purge. So they don't live inside of me--they find a home in music. I think if I kept all those emotions and concepts inside I'd be pretty awful.
Best of all, the darkest, ugliest emotions inside of me help create something beautiful. Something I hope brings people joy. I definitely take joy from my work. There are moments when I'm singing something high and legato that feel utterly magical. The only description I can give you is that it feels like flying ought to feel. Free, unencumbered, beautiful. It's a wonderful alchemy, to take something painful and angry and make it into art. And I would not know that incredible experience without my voice.
People sometimes ask me what I'd do if I wasn't a singer. I usually tell them that I'd probably end up on top of the bell tower in Baker Park picking off children with a sniper rifle. That's a bit extreme, but it's not completely off the mark. We're working on the new album, so our producers, Jeremy and Lani, were given a sheaf of lyrics to look through. Jeremy later commented that he didn't realize I had such an anger issue. It's a funny thing to say because I'd probably tell you I'm one of the happiest people I know. Thing is, those emotions ~do~ come up inside of me. I get into towering rages. And then I write a song and the feelings that spawned it bleed out of me into the words on the page. Every time I reread the lyrics, every time I sing the words, every time we perform the song in front of an audience, I get a chance to go through those emotions again, to cleanse, to purge. So they don't live inside of me--they find a home in music. I think if I kept all those emotions and concepts inside I'd be pretty awful.
Best of all, the darkest, ugliest emotions inside of me help create something beautiful. Something I hope brings people joy. I definitely take joy from my work. There are moments when I'm singing something high and legato that feel utterly magical. The only description I can give you is that it feels like flying ought to feel. Free, unencumbered, beautiful. It's a wonderful alchemy, to take something painful and angry and make it into art. And I would not know that incredible experience without my voice.