I knew I wanted my EP cover to be an overlap of big beautiful yellow sunflowers. However, I had not written any songs that referenced sunflowers at all my junior year. This left me in a in quite the predicament.
The second semester of my Creative Writing 2 class, I only wrote one song. It was about a month after the mandated lockdown started in my state, and I wanted a fourth song for my EP. I started writing this song with the album cover I wanted and the phrase, "no rain, no flowers" in mind. To me those four words really represented the situation the whole world was (and still is) in.
I wrote a previous blog post ab
out album themes, and I did not think about themes when creating this EP. However, before writing Sunflower I realized I had unknowingly written every song first semester about one of my mid-teen crises. I described it to my creative writing teacher as,
"Victims of Circumstance was - "Oh no, my best friend lives a thousand miles away, I'm gonna die. White Noise was - I don't know what I want and how to please everyone in my life, I'm gonna die. Terminal Velocity was - I don't know what the right choice is, I'm gonna die."
Seventy five percent of my EP was written about teenage dramatics. And while everything I went through first semester was difficult for many reasons, I knew that it would end, life would go on, and I would be ok. This mind shift is what sparked the creation of "Sunflower".
During my first semester of junior year, I tried a lot of things to boost my mood when I was having a particularly hard day or week. I would wear yellow, the happy color and my favorite color, to help get me through the school day. I would try aromatherapy by diffusing essential oils in my room. I'm not really sure if these DIYs helped, but it made me feel better that I was at least trying something (lol). These tactics created my first verse of "Sunflower".
It’s been raining all week long.
I’ve tried color therapy,
at home remedies,
anything and everything
to cure these allergies.
But this seasonal depression is crippling.
Then came the chorus. I knew I wanted to incorporate "no rain, no flowers", because it was my biggest inspiration for this song. I continued the chorus by expressing that the have to have the bad to give yourself perspective. If you never struggle or experience adversity you won't be able to appreciate the positive parts of life as fully. Then I added the sunflower aspect. Sunflowers bend to face the sun. However, eventually the sun sets and they don't know where to turn. I decided that the night helped sunflowers appreciate the sun even more.
no rain, no flowers.
vulnerability gives you power.
I know we like to face the sun,
but what are we to do
when it hides behind the moon,
the clouds, the rain;
it’s such a shame.
So we just wait
for this to fade
to feel the warm light on our face
The second chorus I wrote based on my first experience with social isolation. I had little to no motivation to do anything when quarantine first started. I would sleep in my clothes and wear them the next day, and participate in solitary activities like reading, while my twin sister played solitaire next to me.
I’ve been sleeping in my clothes
and wearing them the next day
‘cus all I do is play cards alone.
Solitaire for solitude,
then look outside and say, “Hey you”;
to the drowning flower;
trying to stand tall next to my concrete tower.
Then chorus 2.
No rain, no flowers.
Vulnerability gives you power.
I know we like to face the sun,
but what are we to do
when it hides behind the moon,
the clouds, the rain;
it’s such a shame
So we just wait
for this to fade
to feel the warm light on our face
Instead of having another verse and a concluding chorus I made a kind of bridge. I wanted to end the song by saying we have to make the most of what we have, and that these rough patches really create a new appreciation for the little things in life.
Bloom where you are planted,
do what you can with what you’ve been handed,
and we’ll never take the sun for granted
again
I hope you like my song "Sunflower" and hearing about the process of writing it.
Until next time,
thanks for yielding!
Alexis
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