New music..

Well, if you didn't know already, I have recently added new music to my website and myspace page. I've gotten some really sweet messages about the new songs and I am loving that you are enjoying the tunes! I decided to post a little about the songs so you had a bit of insight on where they began and the stories behind them. :) Hope you enjoy.. thank you so much for listening!

"Here"- Began as a pretty guitar melody that Matthew was playing with. We were both in the studio and he just pulled it out of the air (like he so awesomely always does). He started playing, I began humming and the rest was history. The lyric came so easy, starting with the opening line, "Spinning in circles..", which seemed to fit so well with the music beneath it. Words just kind of kept falling out.. I could barely keep up with them. We laid the vocal down that night after we finished it, which is the vocal you hear in the recording. It took so long for me to share with all of you, because I wanted so badly to record a "real" vocal on it. But after listening to it and trying to recreate the dreamy-romantic feel that had hung in the studio the night we wrote it, I realized the vocal mood was too special. I had to share it the way it was.


Here
(lopez/mckinney)

Spinning in circles inside of myself
I'm alone and in love and it's life or it's death
just a scared little girl falling faster and faster for you
When I'm at my best it's still not all that great and
I wish for one second that I could just think
it's distracting my life is a whirlwind that I can't undo

Tossing and turning me this sense of urgency
classically vague and imperfectly clear
still I wouldn't mind spending all of my time
here

Speaking of silence, there's none to retrace
It's like I've searched for you for forever this way
The echoes of others have faded, turned into the words
that I've heard you say, oh they're only repeating,
a thousand times over and none of it leaves me
just over and over the sound of your voice is the verse

The first of the day of the hymn that I sing in your
name just for you, oh my love just for you
and I pray that I spend all the rest of my time
Here

Standing here staring
at handsome and daring
Nothing is moving
Nothing's confusing
My love and me,
nowhere to be but
right here








"Leave The Keys"- After I finished my Exit Interview on American Idol, I got in the car with my mom and sister (who had flown out for the results taping) and we began to drive away. Stuck in Pasadena traffic, mom and Katie were talking about what had just happened and picking apart the details, consoling me, etc. I faded in and out of the conversation. I was beyond any kind of exhaustion I had ever felt and I thought to myself, "I could just jump out of this car and leave the keys behind me. Leave everything that has happened in the past 6 months behind me." Somehow, though all I wanted to do was move on, I was still stuck! I wanted nothing more than to move forward. The American Idol experience is a long one! I was so ready to just.. start walking.. out of LA and home to Nashville.
Upon returning to Nashville, I was suddenly hit with reality. I hadn't had a job while I was on the show and had to start job searching immediately. What a bummer! That sucked. I got a job at a jewelry store and slowly worked my way back to real life. The store was on the corner of a shopping mall in an upscale suburban area outside of Nashville. The entire front-half of the store was floor-to-ceiling windows. Windows upon windows, all for me to stare out of and dream. It was a frustrating time. All I wanted to do was sing, write, act, etc. and those things didn't pay any money (at the time). Anyway, I'm looking out the window one day feeling.. like I'm working a 9-5 and not singing.. and... who is that I see? A beautiful, tall, curly blonde in a t-shirt and gym shorts. She walks by and smiles. I smile back...

"Hi, Taylor. ....Swift."

I think I slammed my head on the counter in front of me. I knew I had to write a song about it. It was a brutal reminder that I was working at something I had no passion for, and girls like Taylor were doing what we loved and being successful at it, looking at poor girls like me, being thankful they were no longer in that stage of their lives. Ha ha ha. It still makes me laugh. How in-your-face can life be? ha ha. I laughed and laughed afterward. There was nothing left to do. No more tears to cry. I had found peace with everything that had happened and finally understood what gaining great experience can do for a soul. Matt and I penned this and every word came from a true event and true experience.



Leave The Keys
lopez/mckinney

something came along just yesterday
i was sittin in the middle of the freeway
there's somethin about sittin where you can't escape
makes a girl wanna go crazy
you know what I mean when you're still alive
and your life flashes before your eyes
you really can't recall which exit sign
belongs to you or that trucker guy
park the car, just leave the keys

once upon a time i was flying high
everybody said they saw me on A.I.
in an elevator tryin not to cry
then simon says he wanna change his mind
soon you realize it was all pretend
all the people comin' round wanna be a friend
throwin' out a pound to the lot of 'em
headin' right back down to the bottom
park the car, just leave the keys

she know the way
everybody
keep out the way
cause that lady
she not afraid
dont worry 'bout a
thing people say
not a single tear on her face
cause that lady..
she know the way


so tell me what it is about a 9-5
leaves you lookin' out the window just hatin' life
swallow every bit of your wounded pride
watchin' pretty taylor swift go bouncin' by
when every single second of your life is split
between payin' dues and this payin' rent
boss man just wont let me breathe
sayin' "you're with them, or girl, you're with me"
park the car, just leave the keys





"I Miss You Tonight"- was written by my Matt Lopez, our friend and Lady Antebellum career-starter Victoria Shaw, and from American Idol Season 8, Matt Giraud (finished 5th last year). I heard it, hung out with Matt and Matt while they recorded the vocal and talked my Matt into "putting a female vocal on it". I sang a few takes, he took the one he liked best a slapped Auto-tune on it. We called it the C-Pain version for a while and still do.
The day Matt wrote it, I listened to the worktape on repeat. I am in love with this song and am certain it will rake in the big bucks in the future. I am so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to put my voice on such a great song.


I Miss You Tonight
Lopez/Shaw/Giraud

Another night trying to sleep, but who am I kidding
I toss and I turn again, just like last night.. everynight
Talking to myself is getting me nowhere
I need to say this to you

I'm going out of my mind missing you like crazy
I'm broken, trying to make sense of this wall between us
I said I wasn't gonna call you and I swear that I tried
I can keep playing games or just swallow my pride
I know I said I didn't need you but baby, oh baby, I lied
I miss you tonight

The clock on the wall keeps in rhythm with my broken heart
It's pounding the truth to the point that I can't shut it out (I can never shut it out)
I thought it'd be easy living without you
I've never been so wrong

I'm going out of my mind missing you like crazy
I'm broken, trying to make sense of this wall between us
I said I wasn't gonna call you and I swear that I tried
I can keep playing games or just swallow my pride
I know I said I didn't need you but baby, oh baby, I lied
I miss you tonight

Tell me what I need to do here to change how this ends
'Cause I don't wanna be with you ever again

Chorus



Thanks goes to the writing talents listed above. Matthew created all tracks and played the instruments. I greatly look up to him, he inspires me every day.

And the people who push "Play" inspire me as well! Thank you again for listening and for your kind words. :)

xo




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