Wednesday, June 18, 2014

NEW ALBUM SONG BACKSTORY - PART 1

Thought I'd share a few blogs about some of the new songs I wrote for my upcoming album release in September.  I like to give the backstory on why I write certain lyrics and how they were inspired, and the whole process of what it took to make the song and the people involved. It's like the most fun part of doing what I do as an artist.

We're still figuring out what songs are going to be on the new album, but the ones I know for sure I'm going to talk a little about here.

The first one for sure is called RUNWAY.

Written by: Spencer Kane, Jor'Dan Armstrong, Teddy P
Music by: Tyshane
Produced by: Jor'Dan Armstrong, Teddy P

So this is probably one of the most exciting new songs I've done in my short career because it involved some amazing people to get it done.

You all probably know Jor'Dan Armstrong already from our song "FAVAH" which I released a little while back. It has done quite well in the Christian R&B/Hip Hop genre. I love working with Jor'Dan because he is such an amazing vocalist and producer. Like when I'm in studio with him, he just inspires me and challenges me vocally to give 110%. He is really creative with vocals and I just feel like he understands how to pull out of me the best possible vocals I can give on a track. He actually vocal produced two new tracks on this upcoming project of which RUNWAY is one of them. I'll talk about the other song in another post.

Teddy P is a wizard at vocal arranging. He hears harmonies and vocal rhythms like nobody I've been around. He's just amazing. Like when I work with him and Jor'Dan, it's like being around royalty. Lol. We all sit in a room and just work through lyrics and possible melodies and hooks for the music until we all agree on something. It's like magical because it just flows. Teddy went to college specifically for vocal production and arranging. He's got a degree in doing what he does with me. He is the music director at his church and you can just tell he is gifted by God to do what he's doing.

Ok, so Lecrae is one of my musical heroes. I've been listening to his music for the past 8 years of my life or so and just love what he's doing. So when I was contacted by one of the Grammy winning producers from his album "Gravity" I was blown away that they wanted to make a track with me. I spent two days working with Tyshane creating the music for Runway. We did it via skype, so it was quite amazing to work piece by piece with him until we both agreed on the vibe the track would have. He is amazing at what he does and I think the final track you guys hear will show that.

So, like when I sit to write lyrics for music, I do a few things to get inspired. The main thing I do at first is to think of situations or issues I've been dealing with or know that people are dealing with around me. As you know, being an independent artist can be great but is also very difficult because you're never sure if you're going to be able to afford to continue making music and traveling and stuff. It's very time consuming and costs a lot of money to keep making quality music and touring. So the hope is that you either sell enough music to pay to keep doing what you're doing or that you find a label partner who will sign you so you can keep doing what you love.

Recently, like the past 6-9 months I've been exploring options to work with some labels and have been given some opportunities that could have really changed my life. One opportunity would have moved me to Los Angeles, which would have been awesome, but it was still a bit scary to know I would have had to move at 17 years old and not even out of high school yet. Again, awesome, but still scary.

So I wrote this song RUNWAY about knowing that my life could change at any moment because it seems that opportunities keep presenting themselves and could require me to do something completely different than I've had to do so far, or move away, or travel more and stuff.

The lyrics talk about going through change, but also always being ready to take off into the next phase of your life. I trust God as my guide to help me be ready for change and in the lyrics I really try to remind myself that I've always got God by my side.  Like the Bible says we aren't supposed to get worried about stuff, but it's hard. The Bible says sometimes we go through tests and other times we get blessed. So either way, I just know that I want to be ready for what God has planned. The idea of RUNWAY was like getting prepared for a new direction in life and being ready to go... on the runway ready to take off.

Here's the lyrics:


RUNWAY

I got my bags packed
And I ain’t looking back, No
Ain’t no more living in the past
I got no time for that
I gotta do what I gotta do

Gotta hit that
Runway, Runway, Ohhh
I gotta do what I gotta do
Gotta hit that
Runway, Runway, Ohhh
As long as I got you
Yeah

Tell me what’s keeping
Keeping me so stressed
I gotta give my all
So I can give my best
Can’t be afraid of
What may be next
Is it gonna be easy
Or is there a test

Cause I’ve
Learned a lot from my past, IQ
I ain’t ever looking back, Rear View
Still looking for a change, Brand New
Hands up to the sky

Gotta hit that
Runway, Runway, Ohhh
I gotta do what I gotta do
Gotta hit that
Runway, Runway, Ohhh
As long as I got you
Yeah
Runway, runway
Gotta do what I gotta do
As long as I got you

I won’t be knocked down
Finish line in sight
I’m on my way
Waiting to take flight
I’ll change my altitude
Take it to new heights
Can’t wait another day
I’m changing my life

Cause I’ve
Learned a lot from my past, IQ
I ain’t ever looking back, Rear View
Still looking for a change, Brand New
Hands up to the sky

Gotta hit that
Runway, Runway, Ohhh
I gotta do what I gotta do
Gotta hit that
Runway, Runway, Ohhh
As long as I got you
Yeah
Runway, runway
Gotta do what I gotta do
As long as I got you

Well you opened my door
I’m really wanting to explore
So show me all the reasons
That I can’t ignore

I lift off with an attitude
Cause I know there’s some things that I gotta do
Gotta
See things that I’ve never saw
Gotta
Reach my goals whether near or far
And I’m
Not gonna leave til I’m done
I’m taking a trip to the sun
Cause I wanna be where the stars at
They’ll look at me like I’m a martian

Gotta hit that
Runway, Runway, Ohhh
I gotta do what I gotta do
Gotta hit that
Runway, Runway, Ohhh
As long as I got you
Yeah
Runway, runway
Gotta do what I gotta do

As long as I got you

Anyway, I thought you guys might like to read some background about why I wrote some of my new tracks :)

I'll post another blog soon with the same thing about a few other songs I know will be on the new album.