Over the past couple of days in New England, and in many locations around the United States, it feels like spring is coming! It’s been 73 degrees in Boston! It feels like a time when our bodies and minds are longing to lighten up, be free, relax, and enjoy life! That’s the spirit of my latest song, “18” that releases today.
This is a song about feeling how it felt to be 18 and feeling that way again, right now. It’s about being uninhibited and free—who doesn’t want to feel this way? It’s about remembering a time when you had no cares, when your life was an open book, when all possibilities existed, and the path in front of you was wide open. Life was a freaking adventure! It’s a song about feeling free to take risks, feeling free to explore, being naturally uninhibited, and not apologizing for it. It’s about being comfortable in your own skin and with your true self. The song is a reminder to continue to take risks and chances as an adult. It’s about feeling totally alive in your body and mind, and connecting the adult version of yourself with your passionate, adventurous and exploratory self.
I hope the song takes you back to the emotions you felt as a young adult. That you recollect life-defining moments like falling in love, heartbreak, sex, partying with your friends, spring and summer days and nights that went on and on…and making moments last forever. It’s about consciously reliving those moments right now in your adult body and mind—magical moments that you had at 18 (or later) when you were living life all out—living life out loud.
So, crank up the volume, dance with complete abandon, and sing along to “18” here…
The single is now available for download on iTunes.
It’s the idea of reconnecting with a high school or college friend and being together as if no time has passed—you don’t skip a beat. It’s being able to relive those moments you shared together when you were growing up…like it was yesterday…moments that were ripe with possibility.
Being children of the ‘80’s, my co-writer of “18”, Jim McGorman, and I wrote this song with the intention of evoking `80’s nostalgia and bringing back fond memories using iconic pop culture references that most people can relate to like Bon Jovi, Patrick Swayze, and Madonna. There was a certain magic to the ‘80’s, especially in storytelling. Vulture magazine described it well when they referred to the ‘80’s as “the time period (that) offers an escape, either to find memories of one’s youth or to the last full decade before the internet staged a coup on our attention spans.”
I have never put a swear word in a song before and it was done on purpose to make a statement. To me, it feels angsty and rebellious and risky, like a choice I would make when I was 18. And, it’s being used not to alienate and put someone down, but rather to unite and bring people together over shared experiences, good and bad. The song is a reminder to continue taking risks and taking chances as an adult the same way you did when you were 18.
Can’t we all use more of this free spirit in our lives? Is the Spirit in each of us contracted, burdened, heavy laden? No! The Spirit is light and free and creative and loves to laugh!
On this earth realm, it is easy to get mired down in the story of life—we can get so weighed down! Some of us actually look back at when we were 18 or in our 20’s or later and feel guilty about our choices. We judge ourselves and sometimes get stuck in what we labeled as our “mistakes”. It sometimes takes decades to forgive ourselves for choices we made.
What this song and message is about is letting all that go and loving who you were then and who you are today. Love yourself madly! You deserve that love—the 18-year old who you were then, and the adult you are today, deserve every ounce of your love. That creative, carefree, little bit crazy, little bit wild, fun 18-year old is still there in you, and that’s a good thing! Don’t ever lose it—tell him or her how much you love who he or she was, and thank him or her for all they did to help weave the unique tapestry of your life. I dare you to summon him or her back—bring back that passion, that aliveness, that boldness, that lightness, that freedom.
“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
~Buddha
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