Adri-Anne Ralph is an R&B singer-songwriter. In this episode, she talks about her emotional song "Victoria Song", where she tells us about missing the people and memories from her hometown in Victoria, BC. On every level, the musicianship of this song - from vocals to production - captures the longing for another place and time.
Discover Adri-Anne's music on Spotify Discover Adri-Anne's music on her Website
Host: Lisa M Arreguin Podcast Music: Joey Arreguin Sound Engineer/Sound Creator: Andrew Kim
Living Crazybrave Website Love and Laughter Music Group Website
Adri-Anne Ralph is an R&B singer-songwriter. In this episode, she talks about her emotional song "Victoria Song", where she tells us about missing the people and memories from her hometown in Victoria, BC. On every level, the musicianship of this song - from vocals to production - captures the longing for another place and time.
Discover Adri-Anne's music on Spotify Discover Adri-Anne's music on her Website
Host: Lisa M Arreguin Podcast Music: Joey Arreguin Sound Engineer/Sound Creator: Andrew Kim
Living Crazybrave Website Love and Laughter Music Group Website
You are listening to the Crazy Brave Songwriter Podcast. This is a podcast about the magic of making music one song at a time. The artists on the show talk about the creative process, what moves them and why they have chosen music as their means of expression. My name is Lisa m a songwriter, author, and studio owner of Love and Laughter music group, a family business that lives by its name. I'm happy to be your host for today, the music of singer songwriter Adriannene Ra is the focus of today's podcast. You'll undoubtedly find that her supple velvety vocals harken back to the vintage influences of r and b and classic soul. She is a performer session vocalist and published songwriter, featured as cut number 10 on her album entitled, how Long is an Eerily Haunting song that is the subject of our attention. In this episode, the song is called Victoria's Song, which honors the town and people she knew growing up and paints a picture of what it's like to remember where we come from, the influences that change us and the people that are forever a part of who we are.
Speaker 2:
Check one, two, check one, two, testing, testing.
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I grew up in Victoria Bridge, Columbia, which is a little city on an island and if you've ever been there it's beautiful, but I felt at some point that I had to leave and kind of spread my wings and<laugh> moved to the big city and<laugh>. So I eventually came to Southern California and kind of left behind that, that group of friends and family and just also my roots. There's definitely something about home that like you, you just long for that. Like rest I, I went away, but then I always came back to catch my breath. I was like living my dreams and living my life, but where I could just come back and rest and be myself was home for me. Um, being vulnerable in songwriting and singing is di has always been difficult because I really prefer to like process my feelings and everything privately, um, so that I can, I guess, react in a way that I feel like is appropriate. It, the place that I was when I wrote this song was I had been away in California because of visa issues. I had to go back to Victoria. The kind of place that I I had there was not really there anymore and it didn't feel like home anymore and it was, I think it was the things fall apart. The center cannot hold when the center is just a memory inside a soul
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Fall apart center cannot hold. It's just a memory. Seasons as they change days, wax, sand, nothing will ever uh, remain the same.
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I think what comes most easily to me is the lyrics, but what makes a song for me, what makes me love a song is the melody. So usually I'll start with a lyrical idea, like a phrase or even just one line that's like a phrase with a melody attached to it that just came to me and then I'll kind of flesh it out lyrically and then I kind of have to figure out the melody<laugh>. But that's always the hardest part because sometimes like you get stuck with your lyrics and the natural rhythm of the words and how you say them. There's times where I start with lyrics and I've like literally written lyrics to the entire song and then I go back and kind of sing hama melody or sing the first line and then continue with the melody and then I edit what I've written to fit what came naturally. And if either comes to me like a line of lyric or a line of melody, I record it right away cuz otherwise I will forget it. I have probably roughly 400 lyrical ideas on my phone,<laugh> so many
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Laughter and I promise be
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My home. Writing a song from scratch and seeing it go from nothing to the fully recorded version, the truest expression of the experience that it can be. When I started songwriting, it was very instinctive. I just kind of wrote what I felt. I kind of had a vague idea cuz I listened to the radio a lot. Before I even go to a producer, have like three or four songs that I'm like, I like this about this song. Can you have that element? And I want this element from that song and I want this element from this song. And then the more specific I can be, the more it'll turn out like what I want. I'm always thinking about what I'm writing, stripping it down like emotionally to the bone. I would describe this song as nostalgic, sad, lonely, and bittersweet.
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And now let's take a listen to the full song for your listening Pleasure. Victoria's song.
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When I think of you, I think of cherry blossoms blowing on the wind like summer snow. When I think of you, I think Van Summers winding streets, windy beaches and sunshine glow. Now I love the streets, I see the, I feel like a you apart Santa cannot hold. It's you are
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Good to me.
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Laughter and I to myself. You be my home. Even when I ran away, I always came right back to your arms to catch my breath. Find you never gone too far. Now I walk to they're millionaires but feel like a stranger. You when it's just a memory inside soul seasons as they
Speaker 5:
Change
Speaker 4:
Days, Santa cannot. It's just,
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This is Lisa again and I wanna take this moment to applaud the team at Love and laughter music group.com, a safe and knowledgeable spot for musicians who wish to learn more about writing songs and recording great music. This episode is a product of living crazy brave.com, another hub where musicians can cultivate new awareness about what it takes to honor the sacred art of making honest music. Lady Gaga has said that writing is like heart surgery. Through the stories in their hearts, songwriters make a cultural imprint on all of us. By using the gift of translation, they translate what has deep personal meaning for them and give it back to us as a healing bal so that we might remember who we really are. And it's a tough business. This thing of creating, it's demanding personal and hard at times. So if you are currently a songwriter or want to become one, remember to stay in the pocket of creating once you start and don't let up because this is super important stuff. And above all, take care of yourself along the way.