VIDEO CONTENT:
Here’s a short video demo of all the keyboard parts & beats that went into the song:
And here’s the full official music video for the song that I hired a friend of mine from film school to create (I graduated from University of North Carolina School of the Arts with my masters degree in film music composition in order to step into my career that I’ve been doing over the last decade writing music for television shows, films, and video games).
Overall we wanted this video to have some overtones of overcoming depression with deep self-discovery. See if you can catch those nuances:
My friend Adam Perry filmed moving water colors during the underwater scene and placed them behind the actress as she pretended to float/swim in front of a green screen.
Another cool thing he did was on the second verse you see her walking normal through the woods. Then to give a contrast for the first verse he filmed her walking backwards through the woods. In the edit though he then reversed the footage so it made her walk on the first verse look like she was walking very strangely through the woods. It’s subtle, but for me this kind of represents the strange mental “walk” that those of us have who struggle with depression.
LYRICS
Open up
Can’t you feel it inside your bones?
You’re bleeding out
Taking this in all on your own
And through the night you lead them
As you raise your flag of martyrdom
But underneath the smile you feed them
You’re breaking down
Look in their eyes, you’re not alone.
Look in their eyes (repeat)
Breaking free from the chains that hold you down.
You’re on your knees begging for an answer to your plea,
“Will I ever break this pattern?
Or will the pattern never cease from breaking me?”
Underneath the words unspoken,
you’ll hear it now..
Look in their eyes, you’re not alone.
Look in their eyes (repeat)
I think about the time I've lost
Under-appreciating all I felt for sure
A blur but beat regaining.
Not about what I get,
But what I put in to this whole mess I've made
The rest is yet to save.
But these thoughts of what I gave up?
It's asphyxiating.
Focus on what you're giving.
Carry on to a life worth living.
Go forward head high
Shoulders back and humbly realize
Who you are and how we're meant to climb with every fall.
That is all a part of why I need to stop
And look in their eyes
Look in their eyes, you’re not alone
Just look in their eyes
And you will find your home.
SONG LORE
Writing Process
This song started with the same chord progressions as another song from my “Visionaries” album called “Don’t Won’t Can’t” (just in a different key). I came up with the lyrics for “Not Alone” after I wrote the lyrics for Don’t Won’t Can’t, and I couldn’t decide which lyrics I liked better so I kept both!
Each song is in a different key and instrumentally are composed differently enough that they sound totally different now, but if I strummed the chords from each in the same key, I could sing both sets of lyrics over the same chords. :)
My favorite part about creating this song was recording all the "chatter mind" talking parts going on in the background towards the end of the song as the melody/chorus continues cutting through it.
Song Meaning
I always hesitate to share a song’s meaning because it’s usually specific to me, but I truly feel these songs are meant for each listener to interpret and find their own meaning. I’d hate for my meaning to get in the way from a listener finding their own. Also, over time I usually find different meanings come out of my songs for me so it’s always changing.
That said, for me “Not Alone” started as a song about depression but then turned into a song that represents finding that light in others' eyes. When things get tough I can recognize that everyone is going through "something" and can therefore relate in some way or another. They say the eyes are the windows to heaven or the soul.
Just like the “chatter-mind” parts I spoke of above, life has a way of filling the mind with so many negative thoughts and voices, but when I recognize the people that have been placed in my life to help me refocus on what's important, that helps me cut through the noise.