Book 2: THE MANY LIVES OF JULIET

It’s September of 2023 and I’m about to play my very first acoustic show in a few months. Carl (the infamous San Francisco fog) was out on full display and the day felt like proper, true fall.

Since the show wasn’t until the evening, we decided to turn the Saturday into a family trip to the city.

We spent the afternoon strolling along North Beach (Italian district) alleys, feasting on pizza and walking all the way to downtown for some extra caffeine fuel.

As the evening approached, we made our way to the bookstore where the acoustic show would take place.

And let me tell you: it was THE most aesthetically pleasing. romcom-coded location a hopelessly romantic, part-time delusional girlypop like me could possibly dream up.

It was giving 90s nostalgia, it was giving ‘Notting Hill’, it was giving Julia Roberts with deep brown butterfly cut hair, a leather blazer and beret.

And as I was waiting for the audience to arrive and the show to begin, I found myself wandering the store, browsing the bookshelves and fully taking in the aesthetics of the place.

I stumbled upon a book cover with a title that seemed to send my imagination into a spiral:

You see where this is going, right? :)

And in that very moment, it hit me: I should write an entire album of songs inspired by book titles. The song covers should look like book covers and the title of the album should be ‘At the Bookstore’.

In a fraction of a moment, in the most unexpected of places, I found a direction, a red-thread weaving through for the music I would be writing for the next year.

I couldn’t get that Juliet book title out of my head, so the next day I thought of this melody (these are all original titles of voice memos from my phone hehe):

And two days later, the pre-chorus that I was absolutely obsessed with:

Fast forward a week, I was cleaning my room and came up with the verse melody as I was vacuuming (true story lol). You can even hear the vacuum still running in the background (insert a face palm emoji here):

In the first few weeks of writing the song, I thought it was one of the best things I’d done thus far. Then, as my focus shifted towards finishing up ‘Diver’, my passion for this song started to slowly wash away (pun semi-intended). I had absolutely no idea how I would go about producing it, or even what direction the final song would take. An acoustic guitar-led ballad? A rock-ish Pop high energy bop? It wasn’t until I was so fed up with the song and had all but given up so out of sheer boredom and desperation, I started playing the chord progression as single bass notes on the piano. It suddenly all made sense! I would have a punchy, 8th note synth bass underlining the production that would turn into a glittering, synth Pop main character anthem. :)

Thematically, the song would capture a multi-faceted puzzle of a woman, a layered cake of contradictions - just like real women are in real life (duh!).

I used some personal details to get me started (like opening lyrics about Juliet being a Gemini - my birthday is May 25th), then expanded outwards from there. It started feeling more and more like a Jane Austen character, wild and free, gentle and strong, with wind in her hair, unable to be tied down by the world.

One of my favorite lines from the song that I feel truly captures its essence (kind of the song’s elevator pitch) is this little bit in verse 2:

floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee

she’s tame as a river and wild as the sea

And yes, that absolutely is a reused and repurposed Muhammad Ali quote - I had it written down in my notes for years, but had never before quite found the right way to use it.

I even added a couple of nods to ‘Diver’ and the ‘At the Bookstore’ project as a whole :)

one in verse 2:

she’s just like her mother’s mother

a headstrong, head-first diver daughter

and one in the post-chorus of the song:

on an afternoon at a small café

diving into books on a rainy day

As I was building the production, I was trying to find ways to incorporate the themes from the lyrics into the music. How can the two components work together to strengthen and complete one another?

The first thing I added was a four on the floor kick drum - a beat that very much feels like the sonic representation of strutting down the street. Think romcom opening where we see the main character walk down a busy NYC street, headphones on and wind in her hair:

The final drums were recorded by Chris Hill in Germany and oh. my. god. can we talk about that snare sound!?

ANYWAYS

The other detail I wanted to add were some very classical sounding strings and melodies that would harken back the influence of Jane Austen and the Regency Era that very much inspired the Juliet character.

I sprinkled little fills throughout the song, then ultimately decided to fully embrace the influence and do a completely strings-only quartet breakdown section in the song:

I finished up the production with some glittering synths that brought Jane Austen back into 2024:

Ultimately, ‘The Many Lives Of Juliet’ is a celebration of being a woman, of turning your life into a movie. It’s about embracing the magic of living and being your truest, complex, unique self.

I hope it brings a little smile on your face, some rhythm into your feet and perhaps even inspires an unapologetic power walk during your daily commute. :)