Behind the Music: “June”

     As the world begins to return to normal, it has been interesting to hear my loved ones’ accounts of the ways that the pandemic impacted their lives, particularly during the chaos of the initial shutdown. In my own experience, the pandemic hit only two weeks after I’d moved across the country to Nashville. Having planned to pursue music during the remainder of my gap year, I suddenly found myself unable to pursue this dream, and unexpectedly isolated in an unfamiliar city.  

     Struck by the spontaneous changes and confusion in my life, I began reaching out to friends to hear about how the pandemic was affecting their lives. The story of one friend in particular stuck out to me. She had just started dating her boyfriend. When visiting home for her college spring break, she was told that she couldn’t return to school for the rest of the semester. She expressed how difficult it was to be forced into a long-distance relationship so early on. This conversation stayed with me and inspired me. After we hung up the phone, I continued to reflect on long-distance relationships, and wondered how many couples found themselves suddenly thrust into similar situations.

     In the fall, I began my own college experience. While engaging in online coursework and experiencing college in a significantly more restricted manner than I would have outside of the pandemic, I was able to better empathize with students who had undergone the start of the pandemic at school and the particularities of the difficulties and disruptions it had brought to college life. I met multiple couples whose experiences echoed the story my friend from home had shared with me on the phone. When one of my best friends (who was also in a long-distance relationship) told me about her impending engagement (and the much-anticipated end to her long-distance struggles), it sparked something in me. I had to write a song expressing the intricacies and difficulties my friends had shared with me about these relationships.

     In order to make the song more applicable to future, post-pandemic situations, I removed the pandemic from the equation. Instead, I placed myself in the headspace of a college student who finds herself in a long-distance relationship over the summer. I felt like an actress, stepping into the mind of her character. I consulted a variety of friends and sources (even revisiting previous episodes of a podcast I enjoy whose host often discusses her long-distance struggles), to help capture the bittersweetness and longing I observed in all of them. The resulting product was “June”.

     Once I had mapped out the lyrics, structure, and emotions I hoped to convey in the song, I called up my producer and we got to work. In the following weeks, we slowly brought the song to life. I can’t wait for you to hear the finished product!

 Here is a link to “June” on Spotify (or listen below).

Here is a playlist of songs that inspired the sound/concept of the song.

If you would like to financially support the cost of creating “June”, please consider purchasing a tshirt/sweatshirt! All profits will go towards the cost of producing the song. Link to June Merch

Thank you so much for listening + for your support!

From left to right: Ben (cello), me, Caroline (violin 1) and Sean (violin 2) in the studio, tracking strings!

Here’s me tracking the piano :)