Friday, November 3, 2023

“Over The Phone" by Delilah Brao




"Over The Phone" - Single by Delilah Brao

Release Date: October 20, 2023

Video Release Date: November 3, 2023

What You Should Know:
What do you want listeners to know about the song? 
A week before Christmas, my long distance boyfriend broke up with me over FaceTime. I wrote “Over The Phone” about that call - where can he mail my stuff, can he keep my Hulu password? It’s a really honest song. I’m excited to have it out. 

What was your favorite part of the recording process? 
So much of this song stayed the same as the original demo. The song sort of wrote itself. Sometimes that happens when you have a lot of feelings and so much to say. After my co-writer Matthew James Hemmer and I wrote it, I immediately called my friend Jon Walter to lay down some guitar for the demo over a Zoom call. When I eventually started fully producing the song with Justin Lucas, we didn’t even re-record the original demo guitar or the intro and outro vocals. I think something about the original demo just sat right emotionally. Our approach to the production focused more on building up the original demo rather than totally reimagining the song. 

What was it like creating the music video for the song? 

I made the music video with my best friends. I had never made a music video. We literally filmed it on an iPhone, haha. The video follows me around New York, looking for something and showing that I was generally unhappy in that city and at that point in my life. But the video ultimately ends in LA which is where I decided to move in order to pursue my dreams even though I knew it would probably cause my breakup. Shoutout to Olivia Brown, Alli Miller, and Chris Jaeckel for filming it with me, and Whitney Otte for editing it. 

What’s your favorite lyric in “Over The Phone”? 

This is tough but I feel like “Save you some minutes of your day so you can finish watching How I Met Your Mother, yeah go ahead and keep my password” really sums it all up. Like, yeah you just broke my heart but you don’t really care so I guess go watch TV. 

Where did the cover art concept come from? 

I wanted to make something that felt emotional and timeless. I loved the idea of using film photos and I also really wanted to incorporate hand painting. Whitney Otte and I were really inspired by the process of vintage film restoration. In vintage film restoration, a black and white film photo is hand painted to bring in color. We found that using this technique with my photos gave them a very beautiful, yet distorted and chaotic feeling, which is sort of how the entire EP feels and sounds. We were also inspired by the work of Eloïse Labarbe Lafon. She’s an incredible artist who uses the film restoration process in more modern work.

What was the hardest part of releasing “Over The Phone”? 

It’s really hard to be vulnerable with strangers. But I also know that the music I love the most is painstakingly honest. I’m grateful to those artists for sharing their stories. I forget which songwriter I heard say this, but they said something along the lines of “if your song isn’t so vulnerable it scares you, it’s not ready yet.” I love that. I’m scared sometimes. But I accept that wearing your heart on your sleeve is part of making good art. After all, what do people want you as a songwriter to do, write about something that didn’t happen to you? That would be fake and boring. 

Is there anything about the song/recording that you’re most proud of?
It’s really exciting for “Over The Phone” to be out since it’s the first single before the full EP. I wrote this song in April of 2021 so it’s been a long time coming. I’m super excited for everyone to hear the song and see the music video. I hope everyone follows along for the songs and videos to come. And lookout for my debut EP, “Since You’re In New York” in Spring 2024!


Find It: Everywhere, like  Apple or Spotify

Previously on Section 36: "Delilah Brao Visits Section 36 Music!"


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