hey,
i know a lot of you are around my age, navigating your early 20s. maybe you’re in your late teens, maybe you’ve made it through to the other side… (does it get easier?) either way, i’m sure you all know the feeling of not having any clue what you’re doing or where you’re going with your life. i feel this way a lot. i think it gets easier as we grow, i hope that’s true. i’ve started to feel clearer as i’ve gotten older… sort of… but i think there will always be unknowns. maybe we just learn to trust the process a little more?
whatever happens as we grow, whether it gets easier or not, i know this feeling is real for me and so many other people. so i wanted to put it into a song for my latest, it’s called ‘Rollercoaster’ and it’s out in the world now. there’s not a whole lot to say about it because i think it speaks for itself. every part of this song came so serendipitously. i barely even remember writing it, it’s just poured out one day.
it was the first thing Simon and i worked on together for this new project. i sent him the voice memo (listen here) a few days after i wrote it and he had a play around and turned it into everything i had imagined and more, just at first go. as we worked together more, it became a mission statement for the project and feels full circle that it’s the final single.
making the video was the best process too. i’d had the idea for the snorricam / hoverboard shot for ages, and even tried to make the whole video on my own while in LA which was a whole saga… i contacted the snorri bros directly and ended up at their factory in LA, borrowing one of their prototype rigs to shoot this clip in my last few days over there. and i got my hands on a hoverboard off facebook marketplace. tracked down a charger for it, and finally charged it up, took it out to echo park, and couldn’t get it to work properly. i left it for a minute and walked around with the camera, trying some different shots, only to return to find the board was gone lol. lesson learned, don’t leave anything unattended in echo park! it was kinda a relief tbh, i had a flight home the next day and i didn’t know what i was going to do with that damn hoverboard lol. so, i tried walking around with the snorricam prototype to at least capture some footage and maybe get something for a video, but sure enough, the mount broke too as it wasn’t designed for the camera i was using… sorry snorri bros!
the next day i was on a flight home with no music video in tow. but it was for the best (trust the process!) when i got home my friend Nico helped pick up the vision and i’m forever grateful to him and a bunch of our friends who came to be part of the shoot, even after i told them they had to wear bags on their heads :’) it ended up being my favourite video we’ve made. i think it says a lot, while staying super simple.
check it out here:
as for other updates from this month, i got to support the wonderful Eloise at her sydney show last week which was a joy. i was so nervous about it, not knowing what to expect, but the audience was so lovely, and i think it might have been my favourite live experience yet? i’m so excited to play more shows this year. planning things as we speak…
thinking back to what i said earlier, about ‘trusting the process’… that’s something that’s really been on my mind recently, and i want to touch on it. there’s a lyric in rollercoaster: “I want to be something bigger than myself”. i think this sums up how i feel about making and releasing music, making any sort of art, and especially sharing things in a live space - it feels so much bigger than just me. as an artist, i feel like a messenger. like a vessel, communicating feelings and ideas through these songs, that ultimately take on their own individual meanings for the people who hear them. it’s got nothing to do with me. that’s my favourite thing about this process, and i’m so grateful to get to experience it and live it. in the time that’s passed since i wrote rollercoaster i’ve started to realise, you don’t have to know where you’re going. it’s all about that exact thing: trusting the process. the lyric at the end of the chorus, “maybe i won’t find out” is an acceptance and surrender to that trust that your life is worth something more than the meaning you create for yourself. as a human being, alive right now on this planet in the middle of an infinitely vast universe, you are part of something bigger than your own existence, and everything you do proves and contributes to it. even just by being a good person, a good friend, a good partner, a light in someone’s life. all of these things are invaluable and lead to chain reactions. a smile to a stranger, a hug to a friend in need, a kiss to a lover, any simple act of kindness. these are the things that really matter. that’s the magic of being alive.
on a side note - writing all this down reminded me of everything, everywhere, all at once, my favourite movie of last year. i was so glad to see it take out the oscars this month. if you haven’t seen it yet, let this be your sign that you should! it’s brilliant.
until next time,
much love
- chris