When I was in Italy filming the video for “Speak To Me,” I fell in love with a song I heard on the radio there. L’amore Esiste by Francesca Michielin. It seemed to follow me everywhere, got under my skin and just wouldn’t leave. I couldn’t stop listening to it, over and over the whole way home. I started piecing together what the lyrics meant and wrote my own twist on them in English. I showed my idea to one of my dream producers, Guy Sigsworth, and somehow convinced him to come to New York and re-create the song with me. Dave Eggar contributed his lush string arrangement and we all just lived in this song for a week at Flux Studios on the lower east side.
What an incredibly fulfilling experience it was to make this beautiful thing. And with such a talented, down-to-earth, and inspired team- with no rules or limitations beyond the ones we created. Guy pushed me in new ways and I learned a few things. It was a unique honor to work beside someone I admire so much on something that at the time had no plan, no album to go on, and made no sense other than how good it felt. It’s easy to get bogged down by the “point” sometimes, when what matters most in my opinion, in music-making, is following your heart. Finding a way to satisfy that deep need to express something that can’t be said with words alone.
Love is anything but simple. And it manifests itself in countless forms. It can be inconvenient. Painful. Easier to ignore than to trust. But we are still connected, despite how alone we feel sometimes. Can we be brave enough to love, knowing it’s going to hurt? Can we drop our cynicism long enough to see beyond the frustrations, the discontentment, the fear of the unknown and the anger for all we can’t control? Love is all around. Even in the darkest places. And it is worth everything. Look out, look in. Love exists.
Artwork by Jennybird Alcantara
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