Letting go can be counterintuitive in several forms.
We are trained from a young age to blossom and push through, so realizing when to cut your losses is half the battle. Tamed romanticism and lukewarm pop have superseded the bombastic songs of the early '00s—but some are still diminishing stereotypes. 'No Roses' cuts through the hems. Here's why.
Big Mood (Jermaine)
The whole process went organic. Varsha and I were working on the Big Mood single 'I Got The Feeling' and came across an instrumental called 'Game Boy' produced by Big Bad Beats. After instantly falling in love with it, I commissioned Varsha and Lyons to write the track. We auditioned a few singers but Maria was the standout choice and the perfect choice for the song.
Varsha and Lyons
Always looking out for stories to tell. Typing down little ideas in our notes apps based on our experiences and the people around us. The lyric concept for 'No Roses' came out of a conversation we had about someone else we knew who left a serious relationship. It was a situation where there was waning love and there ultimately wasn’t enough room for growth. Talking about it made us reflect on our past relationships and the final song has threads of details from all of our lives.
Having this beautiful sync when co-writing. Like, when one finishes the others’ thoughts. Because even though we’re unique with our writing skills and our strengths, what makes us click is the fact that we’ve known and understood each other as co-writers and friends for 7 years. When we started with No Roses, we were both in the phase of learning to love ourselves enough to say no to anything that would be compromising our self-respect, so it was almost like a venting session that turned into pretty melodies.
Songwriting as the best stage of the entire process. Because that’s when your creativity is most alive and the vision for the song begins from scratch. Now imagine putting two creatively charged heads together who also happen to be the greatest friends, that’s where the magic happens and it happens every time we write a song together.
"I love me enough to let you go" is the takeaway line. It’s the big message of the song, it’s about valuing yourself and getting to that point of confidence where you no longer want to stay in a relationship where someone isn’t kind or supportive, even if you have history.
Maria
An amazing people to work with. This would be the third track that I've worked with Varsha and Lyons on. It's always a learning experience with them and I constantly get motivated when I do.
An epic song interpretation process. When I was initially approached by Varsha to do the vocals for the track, everything had already been written and was pretty much set to record. I did however channel my inner pop-singer and tried to project that out. It all happened so fast that I really didn't even get time to register where this track would lead us. But I'm so glad that I went with the flow because 'No Roses' is for sure one of my fav tracks that I've ever sung and performed. It's truly a catchy one!
A resounding hook! "Don't buy no roses for me now, don't call me I won't come around." It's like when you know that the other person has betrayed or hurt you, you just gotta put your foot down. Especially if you've given that person multiple chances to fix their mess-ups!
