Behind the Song: “Walls (Revamped)”
“Walls” was actually the first song I officially released on streaming services. I remember sitting down and playing the opening chord progression and instantly getting that gut feeling to keep going. It really took off from that first moment of sitting at the piano. Here is an in depth look at the songwriting behind the song.
This song was written over 10 years ago back in high school. What inspires my songs the most are the stories of my friends and how they have affected my life. I find that telling someone else’s perspective through song is a very grounding experience. It puts down on paper their experience as well as my own thoughts. I’m sure this person knows this song is about them, but the point is not to blame anyone for the way things are. At least, this song isn’t about that. It’s more about coming to terms with reality and being honest about it. This makes the situations real and gives more validity to someone’s feelings and experience. While I’m sure, if I saw this person again, they would understand why the song was written at the time. I’m not trying to prove a point or even examine why toxic relationships happen. I’m just being an observer and telling the story.
I wanted this topic to come from a very heartfelt and intimate place which is why I made it a rock ballad. Even the strings throughout give the song emotional weight, and I really wanted to convey that here. I was so thankful for my college peers who helped record these strings in a last minute session. It’s amazing what can be done when people enjoy the music they play. There was enough time at the end of a session to record the strings all the way through just once. That one-take was what you heard in the original version. I was, of course, incredibly impressed that it all came together so well. I was limited by my lack of recording knowledge and experience as well as the amount of musicians I felt comfortable writing for at one time. I was working on performing piano quartets with violin, viola, and cello. My musical mind wasn’t quite ready for the expansiveness of a full string orchestra as I had for the Revamped version. While the chord progression wasn’t short, it had a pattern — another instance of my classical roots showing. The descending bass notes take the chords from F major to Bb minor overall but the progression is split into 2 parts. The first part could be considered to end with a deceptive cadence which instead of going to F Major, it goes to D minor (the relative minor). This is a classical technique used to extend the progression and keep the tension of the chords building. I found that having the progression be elongated to string along the listener until the end was essentially what the entire song was doing. It’s this huge build to the last chorus. After that, it keeps building and doesn’t fully resolve to F major until we hit the final chord at the very end — which is why I love it so much. It’s always bringing you forward and weighing more emotionally on the listener overtime. If you couldn’t guess, the lyrics and music are working together to support the themes of the song.
Revamping this song was a really fun task because I wanted something similar but new. I wanted to keep the base ideas and add on in different ways. I remember a conversation with Steve Turner, who arranged the strings for the updated version. I gave back a revision to him asking to keep certain melodies in. He wasn’t sure if it would work but he’d try it anyway. He eventually came back to me with a the melodies included and said that I made a good decision wanting them in because they reference the old work and it sounds more like me. That is of course one of the main concerns for Revamping these songs. I don’t want them to sound as though it’s a completely different song, but I really wanted to give them more life. In terms of the vocals, they needed to be full and all encompassing. I wanted the highs to feel higher and the lows to feel lower. The Budapest Scoring orchestra sounded amazing and I was so thankful they could play for my song, even though it’s a hefty 5 minute piece. I really grappled with the decision to have live players because it cost a good amount of money. At the end of the day, though, it was now or never. I wouldn’t be returning to this song again, and I wanted this final version to be as definitive as possible. I think I achieved that.
“Walls (Revamped)” is out now on all streaming platforms!
