FAWM: "Make Them Stay"

Make Them Stay

1 week ago by @racheleve

Skirmish: Pressure (@robinleaf)

Make Them Stay

racheleve

00:00

Liner Notes

#acousticonetake

UPDATE: revisited this one the day after and it feels much more finished now. Thanks for the encouragement! It's early and my voice is like "hey, that's a little high for 9 in the morning" lol.

Perfect prompt for what I'm feeling. Leave it to me to inevitably turn the fun of FAWM into something that I'm putting pressure on myself to "keep up" with the same level of output I started with - which of course just blocks creativity!

This is just a song idea, just the start of something. I'm thinking about how the past few years I've really tried to share my music more and build an audience beyond just friends and family and how damn hard and discouraging it can be especially on social media. But also curious about what part of me craves that attention and gets so defeated-feeling when she doesn't get it. So, more on that later?

To my fellow skirmishers: I've got to get to a show, so I don't have time to listen to your creations until a bit later but I look forward to doing so soon!

Lyrics

When it’s all of the pressure And none of the fun You just want to hide You just want to run

Tried to make them look Tried to make them stay Past three seconds But it don’t pay It’s hard to stand out in this lonely crowd

Where we all just wanna be seen Yeah we all just wanna believe That our voice matters Breaking now at the seams Won’t you listen to me And tell me That I’m special too

But your light’s not for sale And your soul won’t be healed By one like or one million It always will feel

Like you’re not enough Like they called your bluff When your worth is hinging on their love It’s never what you hope it will be

CHORUS

Now, come back to life Remember why Take your good old time Let out a sigh

CHORUS

Comments

@williamjames 1w

Perfect lyrics for this modern day. I think most creatives can resonate to the feeling of screaming into the void. That "past three seconds" part was like a punch. Rings so true. We all just wanna be seen, so true. The melody in the chorus is really great, great vocals and laying overall, the stellar lyrics tend to steal the show a bit 😀

@jongoldie 1w

Such a topical set of lyrics. We are all so accessible and so very hard to see. Cheers

@deandarling 1w

It was really cool how seamlessly you transitioned from picking into your strumming strumming! These lyrics are great and pretty relatable. Capturing loneliness in a song is challenging but I think you've pulled it off nicely. And your voice is beautiful.

@caitlin 1w

Oh Rachel, you ARE special too. This song is absolutely precious, so relatable, and it resonates with me hard. We all just want to be seen. So perfect for last night’s perch theme, art on display. We put ourselves out there on display and hope that our voice will matter to someone. So much pressure all the time, it’s relentless. Thank you for writing this - your voice and your message are needed!

@mixedbydan 1w

HI Rachel! Great job with this - perfectly short song for the subject matter that says it all. That warm-honey voice of yours is amazing, and an amazing delivery.

@racheleve 1w

Appreciate the kind words!!

@treble 1w

This touched my heart! I predict that many, many FAWMers will relate to this. You managed to capture a lot of feelings in a few words here. You ave a lovely voice. I hope you continue with it and finish it because I'd like to hear it, -but I don't to put pressure on you!

@racheleve 1w

Thanks so much! I was inspired to finish it this morning :)

@narwhalsexist 1w

Oooooooooooooooo this is so amazing!!! And yussss as someone who was working hard to build a TikTok presence until recently (ugh) the "Tried to make them stay / Past three seconds" hurt beautifully

@racheleve 1w

It's brutal out there, I feel you! If only FAWM could permanently replace all social media LOL