Many Faces of Love is a departure for me.
The songs on all of my previous albums have been very personal. Nearly all of them were inspired by actual people I knew or my own experiences. Many Faces of Love is a creative exercise.
I've heard that unknown performers (or my case, songwriters) have to find a niche to break out on streaming platforms like Spotify. I was particularly intrigued by a very prolific songwriter who found his niche writing songs about poop. Apparently songs about poop are very popular. This songwriter later started writing songs about cities all around the country. He found his niche(s) and now makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
I'm not trying to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on Spotify. Hundreds would be enough for me. However, I did think about carving a little niche for myself. I wasn't going to write about poop. I could, but poop isn't my cup of tea. Instead, I decided it might be fun to write songs about the most popular girl's names in the country. Hence this album.
Am I selling out? No. To sell out, someone would have to be buying and I don't expect that. However, I don't think I truly became a professional screenwriter until I started writing on assignment. I view these songs as a writing assignment.
When I write a screenplay on assignment, I always have to find something emotionally true to myself in the story. It's the same way here. On this album I tell fourteen stories built around fourteen names. While the characters are fictional, these are all stories I could find myself in. In fact, I would say that some of these songs are pretty true to my own experiences, but discretion prevents me from saying which ones.
I hope you enjoy the album.
Here are the tracks:
1). ISABELLA, MY SWEET CHICKERELLA. Okay, I love the story of this song about a man meeting the love of his life, but the track is an in-joke. A friend of my mother-in-law used the word chickerella to describe a certain intimate part of her body. I couldn't resist. It rhymed too easily with Isabella.
2). SHY AMELIA. I view this New Wavey dance tune to be a call for all women named Amelia to free themselves of societal constraints and let their freak flags fly. I hope an Amelia somewhere out there appreciates it.
3). MY LOVE, OLIVIA. I tried to invoke classic, late sixties Southern soul with this ode of love to woman named Olivia. So far I've liked every woman I met named Olivia. Hopefully all of the Olivias out there will feel the same way about my song.
4). SOPHIA. Sophia gets the yacht rock treatment on this track. It's about a heartbroken guy who takes a chance with the titular woman. This is one of my favorite songs on the album.
5). AVA'S DANCE. I tried to use a variety of musical genres on this album. This one has an R&B dance vibe. It's about a guy who meets an alluring woman on the dance floor of a club.
6). CHARLOTTE'S EYES. I take another voyage on the yacht with this love song about a woman with alluring eyes. Another one of my favorites.
7). SCARLETT'S SPELL. I often wondered how I would have fared if I wrote a nineties-style boy band song. This track is the answer. It's about a young man who finds himself the emotional prisoner of an older and more sexually experienced woman. Talk about the story of my life!
8). ARIA, TAKE A CHANCE. I encouraged heartbroken Aria to take a chance on the singer -- who is currently stuck in the friendzone -- in this house style dance number. That's a situation I am very familiar with!
9). MADISON, GIRL, WE'VE GOT YOUR BACK. I didn't like the idea of putting out another album strictly from a male perspective, so I wrote a song about a group of girls rallying around their heartbroken friend.
10). CHLOE, MY CHLOE. This is another R&B flavored song with a man singing the praises of the titular woman.
11). ENCHANTING AURORA. I return to the yacht club for this paean to the enchanting Aurora. Personally, I've never met a girl named Aurora, but I wouldn't mind meeting this one.
12). PENELOPE'S OFFICE. Ever have one of those office flirtation/friendships? I certainly have. That's what this friendzone drama is all about.
13). ELLIE, WON'T YOU PLEASE? I take yet another trip to the friendzone in this sixties-styled song about a man attempting to woo a heartbroken female friend. I hope it works out better for the singer than my attempts did for me.
14). CAMMY, SWEET CAMMY. In this New Wave dance drama, a man grows too close to an alluring married woman. That happens to the best of us, though not always to New Wave music. (Funny. I didn't like New Wave music back when it was popular, but I really like it now.)
I hope you enjoy the songs and the album. You can listen to it on these and other streaming services:
Amazon MusicApple Music
Pandora
Spotify
YouTube Music
My Albums:
Many Faces of LoveHe Said She Said
Many Sides of Love
Tales of Love and Death
Breakup City
The Elusive Farm Girl
You can buy the Kindle and paperback at Amazon and the Nook, paperback and hardcover at Barnes & Noble.
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 2, The House
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 3, This Is Us
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 4, Arrival
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 5, Methodology
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 6, Clara's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 7, Clara's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 8, My Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 9, My Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 10, My Tale, Pt. 3
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 11, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 12, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 13, John's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 14, John's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 15, Come Inside!
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 16, Marion's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 17, Marion's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 18, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 19, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 20, Lisa's Tale
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 21, Recap, Pt. 1
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 22, Recap, Pt. 2
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 23, Recap, Pt. 3
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