Behind the Tracks: Evie and Callie
ArtsTrain speaks with Evie and Callie about their experience on The Academy and creating original music with fellow young musicians.
We had the chance to catch up with Evie (15) and Callie (13), two of our incredible ArtsTrain Academy songwriters, about their songwriting process and inspiration behind the songs.
AT- Can you tell us a bit about each track on the Bromley Academy EP?
Evie - “Yes, so Call You Back feels like our main song, because it’s the most catchy and I think it stands out the most. The song stemmed from this voice memo the music leaders had shown us from one of the pre-project ArtsTrain workshops. It was quite messy at the start, as we recreated what other students had come up with! The chorus was a much slower tempo at that point than the final song turned out to be (which is quite fast and upbeat).
The lyrics are about that frustration that everyone’s had at some point - of ‘Why can’t you just grow up and talk to me?’ We had the catchy chorus, and we made a completely contrasting ‘A section’ so that the chorus could stand out.
Then, Pretend stemmed from Theo’s bassline originally. I find that when I hear music it often puts an image in my head, or colours in my head. So I had these colours and I attached feelings onto these colours. I got a blue / purple vibe from the music in Pretend, and I was feeling conflicted as at the time - I liked someone but I had to force myself to stop liking them as I knew they didn’t feel the same way. My thoughts were ‘I can easily forget you, and pretend you didn’t mean anything to me but I’ve already told all my friends about you.’
The first verse is about all the happier moments - ‘call you’, ‘fall for you’, ‘miss you’ and the chorus is about ‘I need to get over you now’. In the bridge, there’s this stabbing in the instrumental - in the brass - and this fitted well because the song was about that feeling of frustration. There’s also a section there where I just repeat the lyrics ‘get out of my head’ over and over again - that’s my favourite bit!
With Rosie, I remember starting to write this in a session in a small group. Erik had pulled up a Garageband keyboard on his phone, and we created the most basic triads. I then starting writing about a manipulative situation I was going through which was really hard to say out loud. A lot of the time, when I write songs, it’s stuff I’m trying to say or can’t say out loud, so I sing it instead - it’s always the way, it’s therapy to write about it.
AT - Is there a reason you called the track Rosie? The name isn’t mentioned in the song.
Evie - Well it’s actually not that deep at all! We thought that it’s quite a vague song, there’s nothing that really gets repeated, or a ‘main hook’ really. I remember there was this one night we all stayed up late together until midnight feuding about Jaiveer’s pet hamster who was called Rosie. We had this whole thing about ‘Who killed Rosie, who killed Jaiveer’s hamster?’. The next week, everyone listened to me sing this really deep, emotional song where I had poured my heart into it, and they said: ‘It’s giving… Jaiveer’s hamster’. So in the end, we decided to call the song Rosie!
Also, it’s great as everyone can have their own interpretations of where the title comes from - e.g: rosy cheeks, Rosie as a person etc.
AT - Can you tell us a bit about the three tracks on the Bexley Academy EP?
Callie - Our song Fake Friends was based off a real life experience. When writing it, first of all, we came up with the hook ‘woah-oh’ that you hear at the start of the song. Then, the story behind the song was about people talking about you behind their back, and coming to realise that you’re better than them - putting a positive spin on it.
Been Lying was a very deep track, but it was about someone who’s going through something - and who has been lying to their friends as they had a big secret to hide.
With White Knight, the song was a story I completely made up - about a girl who was saved by her sister and that she was her ‘white knight in shining armour’. It was just about having someone there who protects you and that you can trust no matter what; someone who will hold your hand through everything. Similar to the theme of the other songs on our EP, it was about doubting that people were going to be there for you and wondering if you can trust them. So all three songs have that link there.
AT - How did you feel writing and performing these tracks?
Callie - I usually write songs and then bring my ideas into these ArtsTrain sessions to develop with the other members of the group. I come up with a melody first thenI think of words that fit in with that. As a singer, I find that melody is the easiest thing to come up with first, as I find it difficult to sing it otherwise if I go off just lyrics.
I feel like writing songs really helps get my emotions out, and getting my anger, sadness or joy out. When I sing these songs, it feels like a kind of revenge on my own terms, or the way of getting over things - it’s very therapeutic.
Special thanks go to James Yarde - Mixing Engineer and Music Leader, and Music Leaders Naomi Jackson and Anoushka Condgon for their support on our Academy programmes.