Doing the work and letting go: the story of LION

In Tokyo, 2019 🍒

LION has been out in the world for a whole week! Thanks to everyone who has listened, streamed, shared and said nice things about it. It means a lot 🩷

I thought I might share a bit more background about LION. Back in 2019, about 6 months before the pandemic hit, me and my family had an incredible holiday in Japan. And it was here that the song came together!

I had written the verses earlier, but every time I tried to write a chorus, nothing would come up. So, after pushing and pushing, I decided to just let go.

Suffering from really bad jet-lag one night, I was lying awake in our tiny little studio apartment in Tokyo and, in that strange dreamlike space between wake and sleep, the chorus to this song landed in my head. The chords, the lyrics, the melody, the rhythm, even the vocal tone I would use to sing it and how a band would play it - it was all crystal clear in my head!

My family were all asleep, and I didn't want to wake anyone, so I just lay in bed silently singing it over and over in my head, praying it wouldn't be gone in the morning.

It was three weeks before I could sit at my piano back in Melbourne and see if it actually worked or sounded any good. Thankfully, it was OK!

I've never had quite an experience like this before or since. Generally, I have to work a bit harder to find and create my songs. But inspiration just landed in my lap for this one and for that, I'm grateful!

If there is a lesson to be remembered here for me, I think it has something to do with letting go. Sometimes we need to DO THE WORK and other times, we need to know when to STOP DOING THE WORK, and that balancing act is one of the hardest things that I've had to figure out as an artist. I'm still working on it!

If you want to listen to LION, check out the links here.

Mezz xx