THIS IS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE - Released July 2024
Ann Gray, on "This is What It Feels Like":
I wrote “This is What it Feels Like” about the newfound excitement and vulnerability of my first high school relationship, as well as the youthful curiosity that accompanied it. The beginning of the piece starts with my friends asking “what it feels like” to slowly be falling in love with someone, to which I reply, “it’s hard to describe, but I hope these lyrics answer their questions.” The song then proceeds to try and encapsulate the innocent, exciting feeling of a first relationship (or “what it feels like”), describing such with vivid lyrics as “I’ve got a book of red underlines of boys who wasted my time with hate songs woven in the papers / but I couldn’t find your fault so I found that drawing hearts was a better use of red marker” and “you asked me what color were your eyes, green if I had to specify / but look into mine a little longer just so I can clarify.”
CHARTERED TERRITORY - Released April 2024
Ann Gray, on "Chartered territory":
I wrote Chartered Territory after a particularly confusing, capricious breakup, one that mainly happened over text while I was studying abroad in Paris. The song combines both the distressing nature of a prolonged breakup ironically mixed with the beautiful scenery of France, as I tried not to think about it and let it ruin my trip (although such was obviously in vain if you listen closely to the lyrics). It contains such evocative, emotional lines as “and every Parisian cashier’s probably mesmerized by every single souvenir postcard I hesitantly buy for you, cause who knows if we’ll make it by the time that the mail goes through.”
SUMMER HOBBY - Released May 2024
Ann Gray, on "Summer Hobby":
Summer Hobby encapsulates all of the capricious, emotional highs and lows of a summer fling, as well as the intense frustration of dating someone who’s still hung up on their ex. I initially wrote the upbeat, pop melody after being particularly inspired by Lorde’s album Melodrama, as well as my own personal experience of feeling like “just a summer hobby” (or something temporary to play with) until a guy’s ex was free again. The song follows an intense lyrical and melodic manifestation of these emotions alongside vast summer imagery, including “perched beside the pool,” “every fire sign sky witnessed what you put me through,” and “And in the summaries you tell her I wonder which part I play / a shiny satiation till she came back home for summer break.”
TEENAGE REBEL- Released September 23
Ann Gray, on her new original single:
"I came up with the first verse of Teenage Rebel while working as a sort-of waitress at a sleep away camp during the summer, finding myself just humming and laughing along to certain lyric ideas as I monotonously wiped tables or filled water jugs (and probably spilled them, to be quite honest). It was all sort of based around this gag that my friends and I had created. See, for my entire sophomore year, no matter the circumstances, I always tried to go to bed at 9 pm. I was also incredibly obsessed with grades, had just started going to therapy and, for once, I was actually dealing with my mental health. I pretty much had this big ball of teenage angst building up inside me, which I found incredibly funny. But, also, there was another side of me that was just fed up with the phrase I had heard oh too many times: “What could you possibly be worried about at your age?” To which the song pretty much answers - "a lot!" Especially considering all of the mental health issues that were so prominent at the time (which do still obviously exist, but I have learned how to manage better over time), it just infuriated me how some adults thought that kids must have it so easy, simply based on their age. Thus, I picked up my electric guitar and did what I would then classify as shredding - of course, now it just seems more like a very loud acoustic. Luckily, my amazing mixing engineer Johnny, helped me out with the guitar, and ultimately made the song sound even more incredible than I had imagined. And of course, if you need any more convincing to listen to the song, know that the angst builds up so much in the song that I even *rap*at the end. . .and later, I even extended my own bedtime by a whole thirty minutes!"
Grace- Released 8/19/22
Ann Gray, on "Grace":
Whenever I think back on the beginnings of this song, it always seems to signify a sort of milestone in my writing for me. I wrote it when I was in a really awful period of writer’s block, actually. As an exercise, I tried to write a song from the perspective of a character from another song. I had just been to Delaware, visiting my cousin (and pretty much best friend since birth) Viv, and we had just written a song called “Ophelia” about two friends leaving each other for college. So, I decided to write a song from Ophelia’s perspective, ultimately directed at the character whose point of view the first song had been written from (and as the song title just might possibly suggest, I chose the name Grace). Although I've only just started looking at colleges and thinking about that daunting phase in my life, I had also just been directly introduced to that peculiar, bittersweet feeling. I had recently become the only kid in the house after my last sister left for college. Ultimately, the line “growing up happens when you least expect it to” began to steer the concept of the piece. I was inspired to write it after my older sister, whom I often fought with and despised for the first couple years of my life, said that she loved me with red, crying eyes as she left. And of course, almost as if I was just realizing the truth of these words at that very moment, I said it back. It was this overwhelming moment that replays in my head from time to time, and just the maturity and wonder which it evoked so suddenly. All in a singular instance. Not due to some blowing out of birthday candles or some number on a calendar, but from a random instance where I simply felt myself. . .growing up.
City of a Million- Released 7/1/22
Ann Gray, on "City of a Million":
When I first came up with the idea of City of a Million, it was merely a guitar track and a snare drum track that I'd made on a midi keyboard. I was particularly inspired by Jack Antonoff’s band Bleachers, and after a long car ride of binging his latest album, I discovered a newfound love of rock music.
I remember being fascinated by this idea of a toxic, urban “love” story, so I took the idea in to the studio to bring it to life. Luckily, the amazing producer I was working with, was just as big a Bleachers fan as I was. I absolutely bopped out in the studio as he added these brilliant guitar riffs and licks. After we got a live drummer in the studio, the song truly exceeded my expectations.
When writing the lyrics, I really wanted to focus on capturing different aspects of urban-inspired imagery (red lights, park benches, crowded apartments), while still communicating an impetuous young relationship (”tried to find the silver lining in the so called golden years”). This imagery was especially integral in the piece, as I wanted it to be laced with dark blues and greens. Sort of an eerie, late night escapade and a terrifying and consumingly exciting rush of adrenaline. The phrase “Teenage Runaway” was also inspired by a Bleachers song.
One of my favorite parts of both writing and performing the song though was probably in the second verse: “Oh my god who is she, that girl you mentioned once / and you don’t care about me until somebody else does". It captures that unhealthy, on again off again aspect of the characters’ relationship. Another production addition that was so fun, was the part where we put on a bunch of tracks of me screaming the words “remember that you ruined this city for me". It really highlighted the desperation I was trying to convey.
I still have vivid memories of my dad and I screaming along at full volume to the latest mixes of it while we were driving home from the studio, and it has grown to become, dare I say, one of my favorite songs on the entire album.
21st Century- Released 5/27/22
Ann Gray, on "21st Century"
As some of you may know, I am, in fact, a teenager, and 21st Century was sort of my attempt at encapsulating the teenage experience at this point in time. In a world of such ever-present social media and technology, we’re repeatedly given these impossible, capricious standards and ideals to aspire to achieve. It’s a concept I think the second verse of the song captures the best: “Tell me what’s trendy, tell me what’s the new ideal / Tell me who I’m supposed to be, tell me how I’m supposed to feel.”
Sirens, Released 11/19/21
Now streaming on all digital platforms!
Ann Gray's original November 2021 single, "Sirens", captures the heart-tugging earnest truth of un-requited love, in a majestically lush track fusing pop vocals with Acoustic Guitar, and ethereal soundscapes.