(upbeat music)
- Hello everybody, welcome back to the Phantom Power.
Artist Hour, it's Sunday.
That's the day we put out the Artist Hour, right?
This, and if you don't know what this is,
this is a listener-supported value cast.
There's no ads, there's no commercials,
there's no sponsors.
And if you like it, if it brings value into your life,
I would ask that you give me some value in return,
be it with your time, your talent or your treasure.
And I would hope that you would do the same,
not just for Amber Sweeney, who is on today's show,
but for all the other artists that we have
on all of our shows, be it the music hour,
the music review, or the random business hour.
That's what value for value is all about.
It's not just about the Bitcoin,
it's not just about the money,
it's also about your time and your talent.
And as always, welcome your feedback
and song suggestions and artist suggestions
and you can find me on Nostar, Telegram, Instagram,
mastodon, all that fun stuff.
So today, we have Amber Sweeney,
who has pretty much her entire catalog over on Wavelake,
and I would encourage you to dive into it.
It is fantastic. She is a real unique songwriter,
neo soul, blues, gospel, rootstruck, type of stuff
and a million dollar voice.
She's here in Nashville now
and we'll get into her background,
but we're gonna talk about all of the things
that she does to make a living now
and all of the challenges as well.
Great conversation.
And she was actually the first artist
that I've had in studio in house for an interview,
just about every other time or every other time I should say.
It's been done over, you know, Zoom, Google, whatever.
So I was thrilled to have her in studio.
Before we bring her on,
let's check out one of her tracks.
We are going to listen to Breathe by Amber Sweeney
and then we'll bring her on.
Everybody ready?
Here we go.
♪ How do we stop ♪
♪ When other roads ♪
♪ Is really living the moment ♪
♪ When everything's moving so fast ♪
♪ We're looking at screens ♪
♪ And standing every child ♪
♪ I wonder where I was ♪
♪ So disconnected ♪
♪ But I love it when you ♪
♪ Simply hold my hand ♪
♪ And just breathe with me ♪
♪ I'm there ♪
♪ Slow down with me darling ♪
♪ Go easy when you're loving me ♪
♪ 'Cause every moment counts when we together ♪
♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ How do we sail the sea of emotion ♪
♪ Whatever one is losing their mind ♪
♪ We turn on the TV, see what is strange ♪
♪ And telling ourselves that we're going fine ♪
♪ Are we really fine ♪
♪ I love it when you ♪
♪ Looked me in the eye ♪
♪ And just breathe with me only ♪
♪ Slow down with me darling ♪
♪ Go easy when you're loving me ♪
♪ I said I'm on the counts with us ♪
♪ Out of my way with you honey ♪
♪ Slow down with me darling ♪
♪ Go easy when you're loving me ♪
♪ 'Cause every moment counts when we together ♪
♪ When we together ♪
♪ Ah, ah, ah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ I love it when you ♪
♪ See me hold my hand ♪
♪ We can talk about the world ♪
♪ Take the walk around the world ♪
♪ Take it up ♪
♪ Whoa ♪
♪ We can lose ourselves ♪
♪ Look at both the journey ♪
♪ And the darkness eyes ♪
♪ We can finally space the day ♪
♪ I'll burst in stone ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
♪ And just breathe with me only ♪
♪ Slow down with me darling ♪
♪ Go easy when you're loving me ♪
♪ 'Cause every moment counts ♪
♪ Every moment counts ♪
♪ Out of my way with you honey ♪
♪ Slow down with me darling ♪
♪ Go easy when you're loving me ♪
♪ 'Cause every moment counts ♪
♪ Every moment counts ♪
♪ Just breathe ♪
♪ Oh baby breathe ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ Slow down with me ♪
♪ When we together ♪
And that is Breathe by Amber Sweeney.
Today's guest in studio.
You are the for Amber.
Welcome, you're the first person I've had in studio.
- Thank you, really?
- Yeah.
- That's awesome.
- Well, everybody else is always
galloping around the world
or they're on the other side of the planet.
So it's nice to get a local.
(laughing)
- I know it's such a nice space too.
It's like, yeah, it's fun to be here.
- It's a little cozy.
It's a, and we're, and I didn't know, again,
like I didn't know how to do it in here,
like with Mike Placement and everything like that.
So it's kind of, like,
I hate to say it, but you're kind of like the guinea pig
for like how this is gonna work in the studio.
- You use music, guinea pig?
- Right, I'm thrilled to have you here.
I've reviewed your music,
and of course we've known each other just full disclosure.
We've known each other for a while,
and I've reviewed your music in the past,
all the way back on the second episode
of the Phantom Power music review.
We did, I did the song we just heard, Breathe.
- That's right, yes.
But let's start from the beginning,
like what's your musical background?
Like how did you get into this whole thing?
Like I don't care if it's all the way back in fourth grade
with the recorder or ukulele, like, how'd you start?
- I actually started playing the guitar
when I was six years old.
- Okay.
- And from what my parents tell me,
I would have started sooner, but my hands were too small.
Like my mom tells me that I was just like,
I came out of the womb, like, and music was my jam immediately.
- Yeah.
- Like, I think there's a picture of me somewhere
floating around where I'm like, you know,
the three-year-old and like a little diaper,
or not a diaper at that point, but like, you know,
a t-shirt underwear with like a tennis racket is my guitar,
and a plunger is my mic stand, like, sing it along,
and I've got like, cool later, something all over my face.
- Yeah.
- So, I mean, it's definitely been,
I think music was my first language.
And so, yes, I started from there with guitar,
and then, you know, I grew up in the Evangelical Church,
which no longer associated with that, but, I mean,
I learned a lot, I grew up in LA, so I mean,
I got mentored by some really incredible people
at these big ass churches.
- Nice.
- Like, one of them was the bass player for Captain and Tineel.
He was one of my early mentors.
I got to learn how to play bass and drums and piano,
and like, everybody was just, I think, also enamored
with the fact that I was so obsessed with music,
that they just kept giving me opportunity after opportunity.
Like, I learned how to run lines for giant,
like, 48 channel sound boards when I was like 13 or 14.
- What, where in LA did you grow up?
- When I was little, we were in Long Beach,
and then, we moved to Ventura County when I was like nine,
and so, like, between more park and Seamy Valley.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
And then you moved here from Portland, right?
- Yes.
- Okay, so connect the dots.
So, how'd you go from LA up to Portland?
- So, I joined a rock band after high school
with a couple of actor guys,
and they were from the Southwest Washington area,
just outside of Portland, Oregon.
- Okay, thank you for your wish.
- And so, Vancouver, yeah.
So, I followed them, you know.
They wanted, they were getting married,
and they were starting to have families,
and it just kind of felt like time
to sort of get the hell out of dodge.
And so, I think it was 20 when I moved,
but, yeah, I moved up to the Northwest,
I fell in love with it.
I was in that band for another few years,
and then, they sort of kicked me out, ish.
And then I joined another duo,
with another gal that was a part of, you know,
our little friend group.
And then, she was also on TV, and then that ended,
and then, yeah, I mean, it's,
I've had a really weird, fun career,
but, you know, it's definitely taken,
I would say the first 10 years of me living in the Northwest
were at the service of, like, other people's interests,
as far as music went.
Like, I was part of the music for our church,
like I would lead Worsher for that,
and then, like, in these rock bands,
I was sort of, I was a side player, you know,
I was the bass player, and background singer,
and then when I was in the duo, like,
you know, we co-wrote all the songs,
but then I sort of got, like, really thrust into,
producing all those songs,
and because of the nature of what she did,
also, the songs ended up on television,
so, I mean, I had to learn how to do things
like totally sink or swim.
I had to learn how to produce on the fly,
I had to go back in, like, higher bands,
and figure out how to M.D.,
in a different setting, other than, like, a church setting,
and then, make sure that music was ready
to be placed on television,
and all that kind of crazy stuff, so.
- Wow, okay.
- Yeah, but once that all ended,
I kind of, like, hit this spot where,
I think it was 2012, and I was like,
okay, am I gonna keep doing this music thing?
Because this is all I know, this is all I feelin' me.
And I hadn't had the opportunity to do it quite so full time.
And suddenly, I did, and so my best friend, Jessica,
was like, listen, if you really wanna do this,
I'll help you.
I'll help manage you.
I don't know anything about managing music,
but I'll help you.
And the first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna get involved
in not only our local community,
and the Vancouver Battleground area of Washington State,
but we're gonna go figure out who's who in Portland,
in the Portland music scene.
- Yeah.
- And we're, you gotta go get to know everybody there,
because you've spent your whole,
the first 10 years in this, like, little bubble.
- Yeah.
- And so, that kinda kicked everything off,
and that totally changed the trajectory for me in a good way.
- And did that kinda coincide with the 2006 release
that had the one that had mysterious on it?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so,
when I left the rock band,
I had like a little brief period,
we were sort of trying to get back to an indie,
like being the front person.
- Yeah.
- And then, and so the guys were like,
"Well, you know, it felt kind of like a consolation prize,
like, hey, you know, we sort of asked you to leave the band,
kind of, they don't, I don't think they see it that way."
But, that's it.
- They never knew.
- Yeah.
But they ended up, you know,
making sure that I could get this little EP done,
this acoustic EP, and that was very sweet of them.
- Yeah.
- So, yeah, that's where the series came in.
- Well, I wanna talk about that song, but real quick,
let me ask, like, when did you start writing
and what was the impetus for your songwriting?
- I started writing at 13.
- Okay. - Yeah.
And I think it was, oddly, and, okay,
this is some of sound really silly.
I had like finally, like somebody finally taught me
how to like actually play bar chords.
(laughing)
- They're a bitch.
- Yeah, they are, man.
- Put down that K-Po, learn to play these ones.
- We're at a bar these days.
- Like an adult.
- Yeah, here's a little squeeze ball thing.
If you need to strengthen your hand.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, no.
So, I was playing, I was playing bass.
I'd learn how to play bass at this point.
And the same guy that taught me how to play bass was like,
here's how you play bar chords is very similar.
He gave me some really cool tips and tricks.
And so, I actually, at that point,
was able to start really like listening to some
of the songs that I love just to listen to,
and figured them out by ear,
because now I had a whole new landscape to wander through,
with understanding this little bit of theory and coding.
So, that just sort of inspired me to write.
And so, I was like, well, I wonder if I can put
these progressions together in a similar way.
And like, I hear that in my head anyway.
Let's see if I can replicate that.
And most of it was chord, in melody.
And that still holds true for me today.
Like, I'm very lyric melody forward.
But, yeah.
And then I was just going through a lot of shit in life.
Like, my parents were getting divorced.
- Yeah.
- You know, there was a lot of things happening
just in my, in my home life.
And I needed an outlet, man.
I needed something that I could just get lost in,
that took the focus away from how painful things were.
- Well, where specifically does your music theory
knowledge come from?
Because like the chord progressions on breathe?
(laughs)
Well, like, where does that come from?
Does that come from church?
Does it come from,
like, where you listen to ACDC?
Like, I mean, ACDC isn't used those time chords.
But you know what I'm talking about, right?
- Yeah, so, okay, here's the interesting thing.
So like, my, my mom in particular was such a blues fan.
- Yeah.
- And, so, I mean, we would listen to like,
all kinds of blues music and stuff,
but also like that, that opened up my little world to jazz.
So even as a kid, like, jazz and blues,
were some of my favorite types of music.
And then came, you know, '90s R&B,
and I fell in love with that, of course.
- Yeah.
- And so, I mean, you just sort of, I don't know,
it just, those things always sort of spoke to me.
And so, little bits over the years,
I would pick up a little tiny,
a little bit of theory here, a little bit of theory there.
Like, if you asked me anything about theory,
it would be all wrong.
- You gotta be kidding me.
- I would be like, I do this all the time.
I like write charts, and I'm like,
I give them to players, and I'm like,
this is probably way wrong.
But, you know, correct me and help me figure out what I need,
what I need to do better next time.
And usually everybody's super gracious, but I hear it.
I just, I've always been away.
I hear it, and I just try to find it and play it.
- It's just been, asmosis, it's been ingrained in you,
because like, when I listen to your chord progressions,
and when I break down your songs, I'm like,
okay, where the hell did she go to school?
(laughs)
- No, like, because like, I hear, like, like,
like when I hear mysterious, like, the first two things
that, the first two orders that came to my mind,
talking Patty and Leo Gaki.
- Wow.
- Yeah, just cool.
- Because of your chord progressions, right?
But then I hear something like, hit and run.
- Uh-huh.
- And then I'm like, okay, now we're moving into a listen
to Williams, Oni De Franco, Melissa Atheridge,
tied vibe, right?
And then I hear uninvited, and I'm like, okay,
there's just-- - Well, that's Linda Perry.
- There's just, really, because I--
- I didn't hear the-- - That's actually her song.
I covered her song.
- Oh, that's a cover. - Yeah, that's a cover.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- But even, okay, but I could say,
what I was gonna say about that, I could say about Breathe.
I could be like, okay, I hear a little bit,
I hear a little bit of Jill Scott and Eric of the Do.
- Yeah, I love both of them.
I mean, I listened to both of them so much.
- Because, yeah, so it's the jazz,
it's your lovely mother pounding jazz and blues
into your head.
- I mean, she just liked, I mean,
she had a couple of favorite, like Stevie Ray Vaughan
was one of her favorites.
And so, like, and then I just sort of gravitated
towards my out, like one of my favorite records in high school
was Miles Davis kind of boot.
- No. - Yes.
- Really? - Yes.
- So basically you just added yourself
as like the loner.
- High school kid.
- I mean, I don't know, I did all right with friends, you know?
But I was also in bands in high school,
so people were like, all right, yeah, I guess you're cool.
- Yeah. - I mean, I felt like the imposter
amongst everybody, but still, I mean,
I wasn't never like popular, but.
- High school sucks.
- It does.
- It sucks for everybody.
- Yeah, it really does.
There's nothing, there's nothing fun about it.
No, yeah, I was just, I mean, I think,
like I can't tell you how many adults, like,
all meet now in life, who are like,
I remember you as like, you were just so obsessed
with music.
And I was like, I know, isn't that weird?
(laughing)
But they're like, but it was so cool to see you grow
and like, do all this stuff, and I'm like, that's cool.
I'm glad you thought it was entertaining.
Like, I was so lost in it.
I had no idea what else.
I mean, I also, again, I think music is fascinating
on its own, but I mean, I think for a lot of us,
when we're going through really difficult things
in our life, and we need like an escape,
like, of course, we're gonna find it in music, you know?
Because it's such an easy thing to get lost in, you know?
Whether you're writing it, whether you're listening to it,
it's like a favorite artist.
You just, you turn to these things for comfort
and to not feel alone.
And for some reason, music has the ability to do that.
- Yeah, it's a mis, it's a beautiful mystery, isn't it?
- Yeah.
So let me stick on writing a little bit,
and then I wanna get to all the things you're doing now,
'cause you touched on it a little bit.
But I was having this conversation on one of the other artists,
with Abby Mjor, who's a pop singer songwriter
down in Australia.
And we talked, and I asked her, like,
do you ever write about those flash moments in life,
where something happens and it's like a gasp?
And in that gasp, you feel a million different things.
Like, do you take that approach?
Or when you're writing about something, you're like,
all right, I just went through six months of hell.
Let me try and put this in a four-minute neo-soul.
- Right. (laughs)
- Like, how do you approach it now?
Is it structured?
Do you make time every day?
Like, what do you do for your writing?
- Well, living in Nashville changes everything about songwriting.
- Yeah.
- I mean, I've been here for two and a half, almost three years.
- Yeah.
- And it has changed everything for me
about my approach to songwriting in a good way.
- Yeah.
- I read the first of the while, it sort of,
that sort of hit me like kind of like a freight train in some ways,
where I was like, wait a second, I have to rethink all this.
Like, I'm kind of old, I don't know if I want to rethink it.
(laughs)
This is gonna be a lot of work.
- Yeah, damn it.
- Yeah.
So now my approach, and I will say that,
I think we all went through some just shit
through the pandemic.
And so I, I will say that we collectively took
some really big hits in that, that I don't know that I fully
been able to wrap my head around, you know, four years later.
But also, I mean, I went through a lot of other stuff too.
I moved from the Pacific Northwest to Nashville,
which is completely different.
- Oh my God, you know me both, man.
I came here from Seattle, right?
Like, this is a different planet.
- Yeah, so there was that, which I think is,
I mean, just a move in and of itself is,
it sort of really kicks up a lot of dust in your world
and you realize, oh, there's some cracks in that part of
foundation that I didn't know were there.
- Yeah.
- You know, I went on a, I lost a lot of friends
through the pandemic, like not just because the relationships
sort of shifted and moved on, but also I lost,
I mean, people died and I had friends pass away, you know?
My grandfather passed away and that is certainly due to COVID,
but like, just people that were in my life that I loved, you know?
- Yeah.
- And it's been a consistent basis over the last like three years
or four years that it's like trying to, it becomes compound grief,
right?
And so I haven't really had the mental capacity to approach that.
And also, I mean, dealing with like, really personal shifts
and around how I see the world foundationally.
You know, like I've always been somebody, yes,
I grew up in the church, I've always been somebody
who is like, I loved studying things, I loved history,
I loved learning.
And so I was constantly getting in trouble
because I would question, you know?
My authorities and be like, well, what about this?
This doesn't really make sense.
- Yeah.
- And that never stopped and as technology has advanced
and we were able to get podcasts and have access
to more people and more thoughts, you know?
I found myself like digging into more information
and learning even more and those things challenged so much
of what I've felt with foundational beliefs for me,
that I was like, oh, oh, I have a lot of extra things
to also think about on top of this compound grief.
So I have had a very difficult time approaching those subjects
because they feel so conflated.
They feel so mixed up, like, you threw it in a jar
and shook it up and now it's just, you know,
shit everywhere.
And so I'm grateful for the time being here in Nashville
because I feel like it's forced me to rethink songwriting
and to be a little bit more intentional
and try to find ways to be more concise.
And also not be afraid of writing hard songs.
Songs that would be hard for people to hear.
- Yeah.
The writing process in Nashville is so interesting
when you get to the point of having like,
back-to-back writes in three hour blocks.
- Absolutely. - Right.
- Yeah.
- Because then you're like, well, wait a second.
Am I doing art here or am I making or like,
I equate it to making a burrito.
- Yeah. - You know?
- Uh-huh. - It's like, well, I gotta go make,
I gotta go make a burrito with these two dudes
I have no idea about.
- Yeah. - Right?
- Yep.
- It is, but once you do that enough,
your skill, you really sharpen that blade.
- Absolutely. - Yeah.
- When you start to learn, like I was saying earlier,
like I've always been music and melody forward.
- Yeah. - Like that's always the first thing
that comes to me. - Yeah.
- And since I've been playing since I was,
you know, a little girl, I mean, as long as I can read
and write, I've been playing an instrument.
It's pretty easy for me to jump in
and really come up with either a fast court progression
or somebody's got a different melody that they're singing,
at least find the key that they're in
and follow the progression that their melody is leading us towards.
And so that's been really good,
but it has sharpened my skills as a lyricist, for sure,
because you get to the point in the story faster
and you start asking different questions.
You're like, okay, what the hell are we,
what are we trying to say in the song?
What story are we telling?
- Well, and it's interesting too,
'cause you can get into a write with somebody
and you're like, you walk in there and you've got a great idea.
And the other people that you're working with
can either absolutely destroy it
or turn it into something even better.
Like you're really walking a fine line.
- For sure.
- You know, and you really have to cultivate relationships.
Until you get to that point where you're like,
okay, I'm bringing my best idea.
'Cause I've heard, not only from what I've done
and from what others have said,
it's like don't ever walk into a Nashville write with your best idea.
- Oh yeah.
- Unless, unless you go then.
- Unless they are, you're absolute writing besties
and you're like, all right guys.
And you can kind of push back and say,
no, no, no, no, no, no, I don't wanna go that way.
I wanna stay true to this.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, you know what's also so cool.
Okay, so this is sort of tangential to that.
When I first moved here,
I went to a show that a friend of ours
from Seattle was playing Jessica Lynn with.
- Yeah, Jessica.
- She was doing around with this group
at the listening room here
and one of the guys that was in that round
is named Mark Elliott.
- Why do I know that, babe?
- Well, I've ridden with him a bunch.
- Okay.
- And that night I saw him
and there was just something so,
his storytelling, the way that he could paint
the picture with words, I was immediately,
I was like, I have to write that guy.
I mean, I have to get,
I was like, I wanted to grow anyways a lyricist.
And I knew that the only way to do that was to find somebody
who was as skilled as this man was.
And so I went up to him afterwards,
I was like, you don't know me.
(laughing)
I'm here, I'm good friends with Jessica Lynn Whitty
and I came here to see her,
but like, I just moved here
and I would love to write with you.
And that's such a Nashville thing.
And it worked out.
So he came over and the very first song,
it was just like boom, it was something so special.
And I would say that's one of those rare instances
where like after that,
there was always the best idea on the table.
- Yeah.
- And every time he came over to write,
every single time he came over to write,
like he kept saying he was like,
I don't, like we've never hit the point
where we're like, we can't find a good idea,
let's go grab a beer.
I can never happen because something always came out of us
that was so beautiful.
- Yeah.
- And I am so grateful for that experience
because I had that and then I had the other shitty rights.
Where you're like, oh, yeah.
- Yeah, I'm glad I didn't bring my best idea here.
- Well, and let's be honest,
you've probably had more rights that didn't pan out.
- Oh yeah.
- Yeah, I mean, that's just the way it goes.
You know, you're gonna have,
like for you, what do you think the ratio
is like for every 10 rights,
you get one good song, two good song,
like, or is it one every 20?
Like, what is it?
- No, I feel like it's probably one, one every five or 10.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
But I mean, it's the pessimist, the experienced, I guess,
the experience in me says that like,
what are we doing with these songs?
- Yeah.
- You know what I mean?
At some point, you're like,
you're building relationship and that's valuable.
And so I find the value in sitting in the room
with somebody and being like,
you know what, I don't think this song is gonna go anywhere
or do anything, but that doesn't really matter.
What matters is that we're connecting on
whatever level we're connecting on here
and who knows where this relationship is gonna go.
And you know what, maybe you will.
Maybe some other song that you write with somebody else
is gonna hit and this will be something
that you pull back in later that you're like,
you know, and I really love this,
or you know, you'll pull me into a right in the future
and you'll do something that's really magnificent.
And so I don't mind the dud rights, you know,
I don't mind it when they're just totally bad
'cause I feel like it's so much more important
to build a relationship.
- Yeah, that's true.
And you never know,
like even if you write something
and it's not for you per se, you're like,
ah, this is more from a male point of view or,
you know, it's not a topic I feel comfortable with.
- Right.
- It very well, like somebody else might cut it.
Somebody, you know?
- Yeah.
And I honestly, like, I've had, I've had,
I also have been on rights where like, I got cuts,
even though like, this guy named Alex Harris,
NSAI set me up with, this right with him
and we did a Zoom right for a song.
And he's a soul singer.
And so I was super grateful for that
because a lot of the rights I do here in Nashville,
or country, and I'm not a country artist.
So they're never for me.
They're always for whoever else is in the room.
- Right.
- But this one was really cool
because he's got such a fucking cool voice,
real baritone, like, cool sounding voice.
We wrote this song and he cut it.
And it's on his, it's on him and he released it
and I'm like, this is super fucking cool.
You know, and I had some other friends who, you know,
are getting ready to do some independent releases
and they're cutting the songs that we wrote.
And like, that feels really good, you know?
I mean, is it a major cut?
No, but any time you see a song go from right to recording.
- Yeah, it's just another notch on the resume.
And for those who don't know, for those who are listening,
who don't know.
- And tell everybody what, in SAI is--
- Nashville Song Writers Association International.
They have chapters all over the world.
- Yeah.
- It's a good thing.
- Yeah, you can become a member of.
And they're just, their whole goal is to be a meeting place
for songwriters so that we can one get together
and write songs, but also, you know,
they provide a lot of educational resources.
Once you get in and really start building relationships
with them and they start to see, you know, your growth,
they become advocates for us as well.
So they start to like, okay, well, we see where you're going
with this and we can help you get in touch with these people.
So they will sometimes orchestrate
or facilitate at least an introduction
in relationships so you can move forward.
But, they're just, I love them.
I think it's a really good reputation.
There's, I mean, there's a lot of quote unquote,
column associations, column guilds, whatever around town.
And NSAI has a gold star next to them like they're--
- Absolutely.
- Yeah.
- And I mean, they've been advocating for like,
I mean, to kind of take us into the streaming world
and stuff, they've been advocating forever
for, you know, streaming and royalties
and songwriter rights and making sure that there's protections.
- Yeah.
- Like they had a hand in the Music Modernization Act
in the Macy. - A big hand in the Music Modernization Act.
- Yeah, absolutely. - Yeah, absolutely.
- Parts of the man. - Parts of the man.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, I mean, and that because of what they were advocating for
and because of that, you know, Kandah MLC and Bart is also
made play a big role in the MLC,
the Mechanical Licensing Collective.
And I mean, they are, they are doing good,
really good work on behalf of songwriters in particular
and particularly self-published songwriters.
And they're working their asses off to get around the country
and make sure that if you're an independent songwriter
who publishes your own music or, you know,
you are a partner with a band who's publishing their own music
or whomever, they're going out and they're putting on these
different, like, they're partnering with Music Business
Association to do road shows or like Portland Music is a,
I'm looking at advocacy group in Portland, same thing trying
to advocate for the music community in their local cities
and stuff and so MLC partners with them.
And that's all because of the Music Modernization Act.
It's all because of the stuff that NSA I did.
So it's really, it's really cool to see that in real time.
And so let me tell you this, I was actually,
I was at the final judicial hearing for the Music Modernization Act.
- Where? - In New York City.
- No kidding. - It was wild.
- That's cool. - Like, it was weird.
First of all, I'd never been to a judicial hearing.
So I was like, I've seen this all.
- Well, I have, but I can't talk about it.
(laughing)
- Yeah.
And you think these things are gonna be really boring?
And to some extent, they are kind of boring.
But what was exciting about this was,
so it had like, Aloe black and,
oh gosh, why can't I, I think it might clink,
book or tea, Jones,
it's like just some incredible people sitting at the witness table
in front of, you know, this panel of Congress people.
And they're talking about, you know, the reasons why,
that giving their testimony, this is why,
this is so important.
And it was a variety, but it was a lot of different things,
like most bills in America are.
One of the things is the classic act,
another thing was like fair play, fair pay, kind of stuff.
And so there was just a lot that was sort of put into this package,
but it was really cool to hear their perspectives.
Like hearing Booker Tea Jones be like, listen,
like all of my buddies who I made music with in the '60s,
are broke as shit.
They can't, you know, they can't afford to live in a tiny little apartment,
and yet their songs are still at the top of the charts.
- Genre-rating. - You know, and massive income,
but because of an arbitrary law or rule that was written,
that dates pre-1972 songs are, you know,
not able to collect royalties on behalf of these artists,
like it was really cool to hear the passion in that,
and to watch these Congress people like get it.
And I think, oh gosh, I'm totally thinking about names right now.
Hakeem Jeffries was one of the ones that was on that committee.
And so to be able to, you know, give his compassionate response,
like thank you for bringing this to our attention, we didn't know.
You know what I mean?
And that gave inspiration for like, well duh, of course they don't know.
If we're not telling people what's going on,
then they're never going to do anything about it.
Yeah, and there's so many people in this industry
that are willing to just do anything and give all of their rights away,
and you know, that it's really, it's an uphill battle
to get it right and fair and just and equitable and sustainable
for the aspiring artists who are making a living out of it.
Because I mean, there's so many people who will play a gig for free.
You know? - Yeah. - There's so many people who like,
don't give a shit if they don't get paid.
Oh yeah, the devaluation of music is, but here's the other thing.
So on the other side, the devaluation of like our, our, our indie world.
- The culture? - The culture, right?
Yeah, I become, yeah.
- Oh man. - Yeah.
- America kind of sucks.
But the devaluation of music has been, it's odd because on one hand,
we live in a time where anyone can make music
and anyone can put this music out in the world.
And it doesn't, you don't have to go through a big major label, right?
And so that is unique in and of itself.
The major labels are actually making more money
than they've ever fucking made.
And so that's wild to think about like that's happening.
Also, we have these opportunities to sort of like wild west
and go do what we want as artists.
And yet there's this giant road in the middle
that's broke as shit.
- Yeah. - Because we don't know how to monetize our work.
Because there are the people who have got and played for free, you know?
Like when you push back on a venue and you're like, no, I'm not gonna,
I'm not gonna pay to play at your venue.
And I'm not gonna put, you know, play for free.
If you want me there for two or three hours, setting tone
and creating ambiance and engaging your people
so that they continue to eat and drink, like, no, you pay me for that.
- Yeah, exactly.
- And they're like, wow, now I got somebody to do it
for like half what you will or a quarter of a week.
- Yeah, and they're gonna suck because when you hire me,
what you're getting, and we have, I have this conversation
a lot with people.
It's like the reason why my rate is so high is because you're paying
somebody to come in there who's been playing piano professionally
for 30 years.
- Yeah.
- I've done more gigs than you can count.
Like, I'm gonna bring some value in there.
Like, you're paying for my time when, like, as soon as I start
packing up my gear to getting there and getting back
and you're paying for the experience.
- Yeah.
I had this fun little conversation with one of my best friends
who's an amazing drummer I toured with him for a couple of years.
He's in Jersey.
And he pissed off all of his buddies in Jersey recently
'cause he said, "Guys, I'm not going out
unless I make X amount of dollars."
And I'm like, "Good for you."
Like, you know, I'd rather be home with my wife and daughter
if you're not gonna paint me what I'm worth.
- The rates for live music in particular
haven't changed since the '80s.
- Oh yeah.
It's weird.
- Yeah, it's crap.
- It's weird.
And you think about like inflation.
I mean, that also gets into more of a larger political
conversation as well.
And I think the bigger situation here is that
kind of similar to what we're seeing, you know,
between the Walmart CEOs and the workers.
You know, there's this massive gap between
who's got all this fucking wealth
and the people that are doing the work
to create the wealth for these guys.
And I think the same thing exists in the industry
largely from it, but largely from an independent perspective.
And so I feel like because of this massive wealth gap,
it does make it difficult when we as independence
go to a venue or a bar or whatever it is.
And we're like, "Hey, we wanna play here."
And everybody's sort of looking at each other
like with a hand, you know, on their little holster,
little gun on their hip, like, "Well, who's gonna draw first here?"
'Cause at some point, we've become the enemies with each other.
Instead of being like, "No, this should be a mutually beneficial thing."
Yes.
Maybe I can only draw 20 people in here,
but what do you have for me as well?
And I can guarantee you that those 20 people
are gonna at least spend $50 a piece, you know,
in this establishment.
- Well, and that's one of the things that I love about
the artists such as yourself who are putting their music
up into this space, it's a mutually beneficial relationship.
If people find value in your music,
they're gonna give you some value in return, you know?
And I mean, even if it's only like 10 cents,
or even if it's only like 60 sats or whatever it is,
that's a hell of a lot more than you're gonna get
on any of the other platforms.
And every now, then you'll get somebody who's like,
"Damn, Amber is dope, I'm gonna send you $3 bucks, right?"
- So awesome.
- Yeah.
It's groundbreaking.
- Yeah.
- No, you're good.
So let me, before we kind of dive deeper into that,
let's go over all of the things
that you're doing right now to make ends meet as a musician,
because I know like you're doing rights, you're doing gigs,
you're doing producing, you're doing custom songwriting,
you're doing some stuff in AI, like what are you doing?
Everybody, like you got a million balls in there.
- Everything you said.
(laughing)
- Yeah, I mean, it's a hustle, right?
Like, I think just because of the nature of the journey
that I've had in music, I have a lot of skills
that allow me to get creative in doing music and music on me.
- Yes, I do, I've been producing more,
I've been writing a lot of custom songs
through a company called Song Finch.
- Mm.
- Of course, you can also order one for me directly.
- Nice.
- And then I've been, like, I do demo work for people,
I'll do session work.
Yeah, I play like gigs.
I've been dipping my toe into this world
that you guys are bringing me into and trying to fit.
I'm like, how do I learn about all this?
- Yeah.
- And just really trying to figure out
like how do you guys own my skills?
- Yeah.
- I think is, it would be easy for me to probably jump
to an entry level position on the pro music side
and maybe work my way up to something in there.
If I was just like, I need a steady paycheck
and a good health insurance plan
and vacation time or whatever,
but I feel like I would die a little bit if I did that.
(laughing)
Yeah, I feel like.
All right, so Song Finch, Song Finch?
- Yeah. - Right, okay.
So they can find you there
and you can write a custom song for them.
So if I said, hey, is there a set rate in there
or-- - Yeah, they have a set rate, yeah.
- Okay.
- I think they charge, like, I think it's like $200 a song.
You can add extra verses
and sometimes they're more produced,
but sometimes they're just a guitar and a vocal.
It just kind of depends on--
- Yeah. - You know, the vibe and time.
- And what do you end up writing for people?
Are you writing like, just somebody say,
hey, can you write me a song about my wife?
Here's how we met and--
- They have a very structured format.
So you feel out like a little questionnaire.
Who's the song for?
What is the song about, is this an anniversary or a birthday?
Do you want that named in the song?
- Is it a divorce?
- The divorce, yeah.
Yeah, oh my gosh.
- That would be cool.
- Some of my friends have gotten the divorce songs, yeah.
I'm like, that is insane.
I'd be like, fuck you.
♪ The city's over ♪
- You're not getting half--
- Yeah. - You're lucky to get an eighth.
- So glad we had that three notes.
(laughing)
- No, that's awesome.
- Yeah.
- I haven't gotten that one yet.
That would be interesting.
That would be interesting when it--
I've had some weird ones though.
- I found out he slept.
Hippon, rather, and I'm just kidding.
- Dude, he would be amazed at some--
most people don't get that in-depth,
but sometimes people do.
- Oh yeah.
- And you're like, okay, I'm not adding that in the song.
(laughing)
- No.
- Wow, that must be pretty cool to do it though.
- Yeah, yeah.
- To custom write songs for people.
What are most of the requests that you get?
- Most of them are for like anniversaries.
- Yeah.
- That's sweet.
- And it is super sweet.
Or birthdays, like it's really, really sweet.
And they, I mean, it's interesting
the differences between people, because, like I said,
some people will be really detailed
and I actually appreciate having more detail.
- Hmm.
- Yeah.
- Because the more information I get,
the better the story I can tell,
versus like a generic, like, oh, it's for my husband
and he's just amazing and I love him
and I want, you know, a song for him.
- Yeah, well, come on, sweetheart.
You gotta get one.
- It was a little bit more than that.
- Where'd you meet?
- Where'd he from?
- Yeah.
- Does he like the Portland Trailblazer?
- Yeah, he got, give me something to go by.
- I actually got to write one for a football player.
- Really?
- Yeah, I mean, he's a retired.
He was a tri-fripple player, but he was pro football player.
- No kidding.
- Yeah, I was like, oh, this is really cool.
What was the topic?
- I think it was for his birthday.
- Okay.
- Yeah, it was really, and his, it was a really, really sweet song.
Yeah, that was really fun.
I mean, it's some sad ones too.
- Oh, I bet.
- I don't mind the sad, you know?
- Yeah.
- 'Cause yeah, there you can kinda,
there you can kinda tap into something.
Like, I think in some respects, sadness and pain
is more easily shared than happiness.
- For sure.
- In some respects.
- Yeah.
- And it's definitely a really strange experience
because I don't interact with any of these people.
- Yeah.
- If they find me after the fact,
like, 'cause you, you can, I have my socials and stuff
on my little profile.
You know, sometimes they'll send me videos
like with their reactions and that like is so sweet.
I'll spall.
You're like, oh my gosh, I love this.
They're so happy.
And then, you know, other times, like,
I'm just sitting there bawling because I'm like,
I'm so sorry you're going through this in your life.
I wish I could say something else about it, you know?
- Yeah.
- That's gotta be a really cool experience though too.
'Cause that, I mean, that's like, you know,
it's like somebody hiring you to pan a portrait.
- Absolutely.
- Yeah.
- I think they should charge more.
But yes, absolutely.
It is like that.
- Yeah.
- Now tell me, what are you doing with AI?
Exactly.
- So I use a lot of AI.
- Okay.
- So everybody's been freaking out about it.
Like, even in real life,
you'll have conversations with people and they're freaking out.
They're like, oh no, it's just gonna,
everybody's gonna lose their job.
And, you know, I was talking to my best friend about it
and we were like, it feels a little bit like
when the internet came out.
Everybody was freaking out.
They're like, no, it's gonna kill jobs.
And I mean, to some degree, like,
there is some truth that will eliminate some positions.
And there's definitely some greedy ass CEOs out there
who are like excited to lay off and have been laying off
their staff 'cause they're relying on
this AI to do some of these tasks.
But as somebody who is running their own business
and has lots of different, you know,
balls in the air and plate spinning,
it's nice to be able to get on a chat GPT
and have some really well-crafted props
and help me reduce the amount of time it takes
to like, write a bio or rewrite a bio,
you know, or when I'm sitting there,
like, I need a really good marketing plan for this, you know.
- Particular song or whatever.
- Yeah.
- So it'll spawn some ideas for you?
- Yeah, I'm working on social media stuff.
You're like, okay, I need you to ask me questions
until you feel like you understand, you know,
what my goals, you explain some of your goals
and you just ask me some questions
until you feel like you understand, you know, who I am
and what my business is about or what the song is about.
And then I want you to come up with like,
a content calendar for the next 30 days
that I can use for social media.
And whether you use all the ideas or not,
I mean, that's up to you and your discretion.
And sometimes it gives you really terrible ideas.
- Right.
- And a lot of times it does at least do enough
where you're like, great, I would have taken five days
to come up with this because I don't know
what the hell I'm doing in this world.
- What do you think about it with respect to songwriting?
'Cause we're starting to see songs come out.
I actually reviewed one last week
on the fan-appower review.
- Oh yeah, how was it?
- It caught me off guard, to be honest with you,
because I'm a bit of a prick when it comes to listening
to new music.
- Right.
- Right?
- Well, I don't know that of you, but yeah.
- But here's how I go about it.
Like I'm gonna listen to like the first five, 10 seconds.
- Yeah.
- If I hear poor quality, I'm gonna get turned off.
- Yeah.
- If I hear a guitar or voice out of tune, I'm done.
I'm moving on.
If I like it, if something,
if the energy of the vibe speaks to me,
then I'm gonna skip head like 30 seconds.
Try to find the head.
I'm gonna jump around a little bit.
And then if I like it, I'll listen to the whole thing.
And I actually ended up listening,
and this was a really pop-y-pop song.
It was like, it could have been a Justin Bieber,
it could have been a, as I said on the review,
it could have been a song about,
that somebody would use to sell Pepsi or cheeseburg,
or something.
- And I'm sitting there and I'm like,
"Why am I listening to this whole thing?"
'Cause I'm like, I mean, I like pop,
but it's not my go-to.
- Right.
- So I was like, "What the hell,
"why am I listening to this whole thing?"
And I still can't, I mean, obviously,
the chord structure, it was hitting all the points.
- It was hitting all the points.
Now the lyrics were fluffy fluff.
- Was it? - Like there's nothing,
there was nothing there.
- Or the music didn't.
- But yeah, so I kind of put it out there
in the ether during the review.
I'm kind of like, "I'm still up in the air about this."
Like, I don't like it being implemented.
- Sure. - I don't.
- Yeah.
- I can't do anything to stop it.
I find it fascinating that the major record labels
have already launched tens of thousands of takedowns.
- Oh yeah.
- While simultaneously investing in AI.
- Okay, so I sat through a panel that As can't put on, on AI.
- Okay.
- And it was, like just a few months ago,
I'm super nerdy about this shit.
- Nice.
- Yeah.
- So I sat through this panel.
And it was all, it was like the main lawyers
from the copyright office and somebody from Warner Brothers
and a bunch of lawyers talking about the subject of AI.
And there are some cases out there right now
that are, they're the precedent setting court cases
on the use of AI.
And they were expressing that from the top down,
like everybody's goals to make sure
that like your biometrics can't just be used
to manufacture something and money be made off of you
without your consent.
Like that is total exploitation.
And everybody on that stage was like,
we're working very hard to make sure
that that doesn't happen.
And yes, they are investing in the technology.
Because they were talking about the biometrics
and how, first of all, the internet
has scrubbed all of our biometrics.
So they all, if you put anything up on the internet,
your biometrics are out there,
whether you think they are or not.
- Yeah.
- And so while there are companies out here
who are using that without your consent,
they're trying to solve that problem.
But they're also trying to create these systems.
And this was the question I asked,
I was like, are you ever gonna get to the point
where like you can mark the biometrics of my voice
and then just pay me a fee and then also attach like you do
as an ISRC code to a song so that every time
that my biometrics are used in this scenario,
that I'm gonna get royalty for it.
And she was like, we're not there yet,
but that's exactly I think where they hope it ends up.
- Putting it, yeah, like the equivalent to an ISRC code
with respect to your biometrics.
- Yeah.
Like your voice.
- Yeah, you know, I get it.
I mean, when we first started getting music into the space,
there was no ISRC code on the back end.
- Exactly.
- And you know who and I were like, all right guys,
you gotta implement this.
And they did.
- That's good.
- Yeah.
It's the only way that we're, and when you think about it,
it's like, at least in the States,
we have social security numbers, right?
So any job you get, there's some sort of taxation.
So if the government can take money out of our paychecks,
and we've moved to the same idea as far as being able
to track royalties and royalties is so fucking complicated.
Right? Like, I don't even begin to understand the fullness
of it.
We should also, when we're thinking about the new space of AI,
that is something that we should all be pushing for.
- Yeah.
- Is like, any time, like we have to figure out how to do that.
- Yeah.
- And is it gonna be a little bit more work,
but yeah, sure.
But the technology already exists out there,
as we're seeing, like you can come up with a Beatles song
through AI, it already knows how to identify our biometrics.
- Yeah.
- So is coming up with a database that would store that,
that everybody has to run that through,
would not be that difficult.
- Yeah.
- I would think for somebody who's involved in tech.
- Yeah, you would think, right?
Well, what should take so far on the whole,
you've got a bowl load of songs up on a wavelength already,
and you're getting some good responses from people.
Like, what's your response to value for value in wavelength
and getting a little bit of a Bitcoin?
- It's so new for me.
- Yeah.
- Like, I got really into the AI stuff,
'cause I use it every single day.
And so it was really exciting, and we were like,
let's try it like, here's this thing called wavelength,
and it's, you know, there's web three,
and there's all this Bitcoin stuff,
and I was like, what the hell are you talking about?
(laughs)
But I got kind of excited,
and so it has been nice to see
this emerging community happening over here,
and the fact that there are a lot of people
who are using Bitcoin,
and to see that come through quicker.
- Yeah, instantaneous.
- Instantaneous stuff.
Like, when I think about even,
it kind of feels like tipping, right?
- Kind of, yeah.
- So when people appreciate what they hear in a live show
that come in, they drop some money in your tip jar.
And I really appreciate that about this space,
about the wavelength space,
because it feels very much like that.
And I think that that is the difference between
like what the future is.
When I imagine the future for specifically independent artists
being able to accept tips like that,
- Yeah.
- That's very exciting to me.
I wish that in this, you know,
web two other streaming world.
- Wall-garden web two web two web, yeah.
- I wish that they had thought about that
when they were building their streaming sites,
but they don't care, they're monies for them.
And that would be too much accounting for them anyway,
but--
- They're controlling all of the data, they're controlling
who your listeners are in many respects,
whereas in the RSS world and the Noster world
with respect to your music, you can see it's like,
oh, Chad F was like, he likes my song.
And I can see his name right there.
- Yeah.
- And Chad just tipped me X amount and I got it.
- Yeah, look, he gave me all these sets.
- It's on my phone right now.
(laughing)
- Oh, that's great, honey,
when do you get your check from Spotify?
- Oh, I get my check in about six months.
(laughing)
- Yeah, exactly.
- Yeah, I mean, it's been a lot,
there's sort of be like, what's a sat, you know,
and like every time I look at the little account thing
that I have, I'm like, okay, hold on,
I gotta go find another website,
they can do the conversion for me,
and I'm like, what is this?
- Well, go to the Bitcoin magazine site,
'cause they've got an easy converter.
- Oh, that's good to know.
- Yeah, yeah, so that's a good one.
So, well, I'm glad that you're,
that you're in there and you're starting to get some traction
and you've had some really nice responses
from people over on Innoster and Fountain and everything,
so that's-- - It's been so lovely,
and I'm like, I feel bad,
'cause I'm so novice in that space
that I haven't interacted as much as I want to.
- It'll come around.
- Yeah, yeah, but I--
- And you're also a Pissierden Hell, for God's sake.
- Well, yes, that's, there's that.
(laughing)
Trying to be a bit of a damn booth.
- Well, no, what do you got coming up this,
what's next in the musical world of Amber Sweeney?
- So, yeah.
I'm starting to pick up some more gigs.
I've got, I think I'm playing at the lipstick lounge
here in Nashville in the 25th of May.
- Cool.
- And then the 10th of June, I am playing at the listening room.
- I saw that, that's a Monday.
I saw that on your website today,
and I looked at my calendar and I'm like, damn it!
- I think I got a thing that night already.
- You know what, I think that that show will be streamed.
- Oh, nice.
- It will live streamed, yeah.
- And tell everybody about the listening room,
'cause you, that song, "Suffer Jets", right?
- "Suffer Jets", yeah.
- That'll be a good gig.
- Yeah.
I do really enjoy playing the song, "Suffer Jets".
So that's the thing that started like 10 years ago,
here in Nashville by this guy, Todd Cassidy.
- Yeah.
- I mean, he was, he was getting frustrated at the,
the lack of visibility or the lack of places for female,
specifically female country artists to play in this town.
- Yeah.
- A lot has changed in the last 10 years,
but he's been consistent at every Monday.
There is a brand new group of female artists
that take the stage, and it's all songwriters,
and they share their songs,
and they've had, in the past, they've had artists like,
Ashly McBride and Kelsey Bellarini and Lany Wilson,
who've all been a song suffigate at one point in their career.
- Yeah.
- And so it's really fun.
One, it's fun to be on a stage full of women,
in such a male dominated space,
but it's also, I do enjoy listening to "Rumza Cool" Venue.
- It is a really cool space.
- Venue.
Nashville's so funny with their venues too.
Like you get this idea that like,
all of these venues are like,
Oak columns and neon signs and velvet ropes,
and then you could be driving by an industrial district
and go, "Oh my God, that's the canary."
Or that's final lounge, or like,
you have no, like there's so many venues around.
- Yeah.
- And then once you get inside, you're like, "Woo!"
- Oh yeah. - Yeah.
- Yeah, there's--
- Listening rooms like that.
- And it's so fun too, because anytime people come to town
and they're like, "Where do we go?"
I'm like, I always give them like, the listening room,
city winery, I'll give them a suggestion.
Like you can go down to Broadway if you want.
(laughing)
- Good luck.
- I will not go with you.
- Yeah, Broadway is not really,
I mean, Broadway is fun for the tourists.
I get it, but like if you want Nashville, Nashville,
it's-- - Yeah, you gotta get it.
- It's really not Broadway.
- Yeah, not at all.
- But there's great, I mean you could throw a stick
and there's great music here.
- Yeah.
- Throw a rock and it hits two guitar players.
(laughing)
- Well, before it hits the ground.
- Exactly, yeah, exactly.
- Well thank you very much for coming on.
Coming in, being the first in studio.
- Yeah, it's me.
- It's me, having me.
- Yeah.
- We're gonna wrap it up with believing in love, right?
- Yes.
- Okay.
- Off of a, it was,
EPI put out in 2017, but I love,
it's just such a big, beautiful song.
And everybody that played on it,
I just adore them.
- Well, every time I hear your stuff,
I'm always like, all right, what's the keyboard player doing?
'Cause whoever you've got playing keys on your records
is killing it, so.
- I got a few guys.
A believing in love.
Oh my goodness.
You have to all send you the credits.
(laughing)
I think, I know I had,
yeah, I'll have to send you the credits.
He played with, like, he did some stuff with like,
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, but he's got his own projects
and like, he's-
- You see back in PDX?
- In Seattle.
- Oh, is it, is it?
- I actually, the whole record,
the believing in love EPI did up in Seattle
at Land of Bridge Studio.
- Did you really?
Oh, that's a great studio.
- I love that place.
Yeah, I'm really good friends with all the owners.
- Nice.
Well, we need to talk offline,
'cause with, every time we sit down and talk,
we always find out that there's more people
that we know.
- Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
- So.
Anyways, Amber, thank you so much.
- Thank you so much.
- Yeah, good to see you.
- Thank you.
- And this is believing in love on the Phantom Power artist.
Power.
♪ I'm giving you the rest of my love ♪
♪ I believe ♪
♪ I made the coffee strong today ♪
♪ I did a sleep well last night ♪
♪ Just wondering how I pushed you away ♪
♪ And what was it who was the make this all okay? ♪
♪ Maybe I'm trying ♪
♪ I'm trying ♪
♪ To show you my love and give you a smile ♪
♪ I'm gonna spend the rest of my life ♪
♪ With you by my side ♪
♪ I'm leaving in the love that's in our eyes ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Hey ♪
♪ I believe ♪
♪ I'm traded at Shiz for beauty before ♪
♪ And gained a little world with my soul ♪
♪ But baby, I'm giving you everything ♪
♪ I made my way on this narrow street ♪
♪ But I never meant to go in a glow ♪
♪ Just baby, I'm trying ♪
♪ I'm trying ♪
♪ To show you my love and give you a smile ♪
♪ I'm gonna spend the rest of my life ♪
♪ With you by my side ♪
♪ I'm leaving in the love that's in our eyes ♪
♪ Baby, I'm trying ♪
♪ I'm trying ♪
♪ To show you my love ♪
♪ I'm trying ♪
♪ I'm gonna give you a smile ♪
♪ I'm gonna spend the rest of my life ♪
♪ With you by my side ♪
♪ I'm leaving in the love that's in our eyes ♪
♪ Yeah, I'm leaving in the love that's in our minds ♪
♪ Oh, I'm leaving in this love ♪
♪ That's so divine ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ I believe ♪
♪ So am I ♪
♪ Oh ♪
(gentle music)