Make Me Feel Alright

Context

This whole thing kind of came together by accident. “Liftoff” and “Lucky Break” started as instrumentals I just put on YouTube for fun. At some point I thought, why not throw some lyrics over these? That was basically the spark. After that, usually late at night, I’d open Logic and get out whatever was in my head.

It wasn’t planned as an album. I just kept making songs, and at some point I realised they worked together.

Writing and themes

The songs are all really personal, even if they don’t always sound like it. “Liftoff” leans on Romeo and Juliet: a crush, and a daydream version of it where reality doesn’t quite play along. “Make Me Feel Alright” is about a relationship that had ended, and “Ocean”, well, I think that one’s obvious. “Lucky Break” is about feeling like an impostor. There was no concept. The songs came from the same time, so they belong together.

Production

I made everything in Logic, mostly by finding an interesting loop and building something around it. I leaned hard on reverb and arpeggiators, which gave the whole thing a spacey, kind of 80s feel. I was listening to a lot of Grimes back then, and while I wasn’t copying her, the way she uses arps lined up with what I was doing. Arps just made it easier to write melodies that felt alive.

Looking back

It’s raw and a bit messy. The one thing I’d change is the mix and master: back then I just put Logic’s mastering assistant on everything and called it a day. “Liftoff” still feels like a really strong opener to me. As a first album it was a good place to start, even if it’s a bit unpolished.