just one kiss goodbye
a wee biography
Just one kiss goodbye is my newest song, and I’m so excited to share this one with you guys, as it is so unique and different from my other songs.
I wrote this song on the most random school night at about one in the morning. The original concept of this song included a completely new and extra part to the song, and the song was originally a bit slower, and had more of a solemn and flowing feel to the song. After writing all of the song, it altered into a more upbeat, charismatic and concise song. The topic of the song at this time was well overdue a song, and you can imagine how I felt when I finally wrote a somewhat good song on this story in my life, that I am more than certain other people can relate to, unrequited love.
The first factor of the song that was brought to life was the cover art. The cover of the song as it is now, isn’t what I had originally planned it to be. Originally for the cover, I planned to wear my blue double outfit thing that I wore to Olivia Rodrigo, with my guitar, in a field with trees, with the sun shining. But that all changed when me and my friend, Ella-Mae, went out together. We went to Titanic Quarter, as she needed to take photos of me for her art GCSE. There, she took the photos and one of them, we took as a wee joke, and when I saw it, I seen it as the cover for just one kiss goodbye, and now, it is!
When it came to recording the song, I tried to record it on my GarageBand with my music equipment. But of course, I’m not good at all of that stuff. I didn’t know what to do with this song, or what I was going to do at all for the next song. Fun fact, the day I attempted to record the song, I thought it was smart to have my headphones on full blast for HOURS, and as a result, I had the most painful migraine ever. When I thought all hope was lost for just one kiss goodbye, my mum told me I could bring it to a studio to record it there for my birthday present. I did just that, and I went to the Start Together Studio, at the Oh Yeah Centre. Recording the song was absolutely amazing, however much I didn’t have a clue how anything worked, and I was like a child star-struck at a Smyth’s Toys Superstore. The studio was amazing, it was beautiful, and I will definitely be back for the next song!
When it came to recording the song, it was very chaotic, as when I announced it, I was caught up trying to get ready to get the bus and train to my dad’s house, and I was nowhere near ready to leave, so you can imagine how that went, I was very late to get to my dad’s house. But I was so grateful for all the love and support everyone shown to me when I announced this song, regardless of me frantically running around corners of Belfast trying to catch my train on time.
As of today, Tuesday, June 18th, just one kiss goodbye comes out in a matter of weeks. I urge you to pre-save it, and to share it about to more people! All support means so so much to me, and I’m so glad I get to share this song, this moment, and this era with you. Be ready for July 4th, and I hope you like it x
ANIMAL
A WEE BIOGRAPHY
Wow, I can’t believe I’m actually releasing this song. Trust me, this wasn’t on my cards.
Animal is a song about that one person (if you know you know), who was always out to put everyone down, always putting themselves first, always caring of absolutely no one, destroying everyone in their path, you know what I mean, if I could swear here I would but I’m a nice person (that’s debatable). This song is to call out that person, addressing the insecurities that seep through when you are around the toxic-ness of that person, very relatable content. I think the lyrics really speak for themselves.
I wrote this song around February last year (2023), after getting news of the person leaving (yipee!). But, as said before, I wasn’t expecting to release it, at least not now anyway ( it is also quite risky seeing as a lot of people know exactly who it is about, and I don’t want to be cancelled not gonna lie). I have tried many times before to record Animal, but it never really worked in the way I wanted to. When I say I tried many times, I tried MANY times. But I tried one day, and it worked (yipee!), but I wasn’t planning to release it still, but to put it into future plans (wink wink?), and instead, I was planning to release another song, this song is now lurking in my lore (character development). I showed my step-dad, (the producer of Animal) both of the songs and he saw something in Animal, and we agreed to work on Animal.
Little secret, all of the guitar apart from the acoustic guitar you hear throughout, was completely improvised, the guitar melody playing through the verses and the guitar solos were all ideas I came up with on the spot, I find it so hard to sit down and plan a guitar solo or anything like that, so I tend to mostly just improvise it on the spot, and I’m so glad I did, I’m really proud of the guitar solos and think I couldn’t have done better if I tried. This song changed so drastically from its original thoughts in the recording stage in the best ways, it developed so much more and was channelled in a very different manner than I planned to. It was originally meant to be a slower, more piano song, but instead became this rock ballad with guitar solos, which I love. It adds more to the meaning of the song, and I write too many sad and slow songs, but that’s just me :)
Now the very fun part, getting the photo. Me and Keilah went to get the cover art for the song (at this rate she’s my professional photographer and needs payed for her work). We trekked what felt like a whole country to the forest to get some photos. I had no idea of what I wanted for the art, unalike Barely Alive, where I had an idea, so I tried loads of different things, including lying and sitting on the ground (put simply, it was muddy, the trousers needed washed), I even tried climbing a tree, I fell. We decided to just get some photos while I’m just walking and looking about, and we got the photo that is now the cover for Animal (woop woop).
It wasn’t until I was in Scotland that I completely settled with the idea of Animal and brought it all together. There, I planned out everything and made the title for the cover etc.
The announcement of Animal was very scary, I was scared that it was just going to blow by everyone as I had already shown the world my music before, and didn’t think people would take much notice to it, but I was proved wrong (yipee!), and hopefully the release of Animal does well, and I hope the right people find it. This song strikes a chord with most if not all people in the world today, and I hope you enjoy it.
BARELY ALIVE
A WEE BIOGRAPHY
This song is one that I love so so so much, from writing it to performing it, every aspect of the journey that Barely Alive has taken me on and will continue to take me on, is an amazing experience, and hopefully not the last (wink wink).
I came up with the guitar for this song first, somewhere in and around May 2023, it started off with the main picking pattern, which felt like it fell out of the sky. I was playing guitar outside in the rain whenever it hit me (Because it does nothing but rain in Northern Ireland), and immediately I knew that I had to make a song with it. I came up with the story of the song through my own personal experiences, that are rather painful for those who can relate. This song is about the fear that comes with knowing that a friend is in danger and not being able to do anything to stop or prevent it from happening. I think this is one of the most painful things someone could experience, because you never know what could happen, and all the sense of powerlessness, unable to stop any harm, makes it much worse. Savour every moment you have with your friends and family, you never know when things could take a turn for the worse.
After I wrote this, I had shared a snippet of the song, and I really loved all the positive love I got from everyone. It helped me realise that maybe this song wasn't just another silly one, but something that I could actually work on. I continued to work on it and tried recording it. However, due to a mix of not having the right equipment and me having the attention span of a squirrel, I never got to complete the recording, but I knew that I really wanted to record it and get it out there, I wanted it to be my debut single.
As December came around, I had the chance to sing at the Oh-Yeah Centre Youth Open Mic Night and saw this as a chance to sing Barely Alive for the first time in front of anyone ever. It was very different to what I was used to, singing your own songs live is much more daunting than singing a cover of someone else's song. I came out of the Oh-Yeah Centre differently, it helped me realise more about Barely Alive, I hoped it would be something that people enjoyed, and it was amazing to see that everyone did, I absolutely loved it. That really pushed me to continue to push to get my original music out there. I wanted it more and more each day.
On Christmas Day, I got recording equipment, and I was so happy, to know I was able to finally produce Barely Alive and hopefully get it on streaming platforms, it was all I could have ever asked for. The first thing I did when I got it was go straight to recording. And there I was, for days on end non-stop recording, I had waited such a long time for this and wasn't going to stop until it was done. The feeling was amazing, that I finally got to have a chance to release my own music, at that point it felt like torture, releasing music is my dream. After the long, long days of recording and editing and recording and editing and recording and editing (and on and on and on), I finally finished it, it was such a relief, to finally get to know that Barely Alive would be put out on streaming platforms, it felt like I had won the lottery.
Right after I finished, I rang my friend to ask her to come help me get a cover. We went to our local park, and I didn't dare to think of checking the weather, how could I ever be so smart? The park was filled with big massive puddles and mud patches (I slipped and fell near face first right after the photo for the cover was taken, safe to say my brand-new clothes were needing a wash), but we continued, I wasn't going to stop now, not after all the months of dying to release it, not after all those days not communicating with anything but my recording equipment and about 500 cups of coffee, and I didn't. We got the photo and I headed to organise and pull everything together.
On January 1st, 2024, at midnight exactly, after all the failed recordings of it, after all the hours and days writing it, after all the work I put into it, Barely Alive was announced, and on January 19th, Barely Alive won't just be a song I would sing to myself, or a song that's constantly stuck in my friend's heads (sorry guys), Barely Alive will be all yours.
Stream Barely Alive on all streaming platforms NOW! Thank you for reading my story of me, and Barely Alive, I'll wish you the best, my friend.
Harley :)