Track By Tracks: SHARONE - Reflection (2019)

1. Unspoken:

The opening track of the album begins with a subtle string synth on F and progressively builds as the guitars and bass come in, followed by the drums on a driving two-note punch. The instrumental explodes when the piano jumps in with a delicate yet driving melody. Unspoken is a song about a mentally/emotionally abusive relationship, and constantly looking for a way out of it without really finding a way to let go.

“I took all of your words with a drop of blood pouring from hell, staining my wounds with all that you said, constantly looking for a way to end this, constantly searching for a way out.” It ends on an instrumental outro that makes you feel the freedom I felt when I finally was able to leave that relationship behind, and it perfectly leads the way for the rest of the album. 

2. Cold:

The first single that was released from this album is a song about betrayal, being sucked dry while trying to give everything you can, and letting passion blind you from your own behavior. I felt so much heartache and pain when I realized that someone who I cared about so deeply and thought cared about me, didn’t. It made me feel like there was something wrong with me, like I pushed everyone away by trying to keep them close. By the end of the song, I come to the realization that I do what I do for my art, and that I shouldn’t apologize for having a clear vision and executing it. 

“I’m sorry that I care too much, that in the past I was so blind, I’m sorry that I had a vision, a work of art clouding my mind.”

The music video showed more of the feelings experienced while going through what I wrote the song about. It deals with self harm and substance abuse, so if you choose to watch it, do so at your own discretion.

3. Poisonous:

The theme of self-reflection continues through the third track. A song about recognizing your own toxicity in relationships and unintentionally hurting the ones you love most. It dances over the idea that maybe I’m better off alone, because everyone eventually loses the feeling of love and leaves.

“Don’t touch me, I’m deadly, you don’t want me around, don’t come near me, I’ll pollute the air you breathe, I’ll tear you down.”

The song begins as a ballad of poetry and melody, and ends on an eruption of heavy guitars holding down the rhythm underneath an emotional piano melody 

4. Turn Back Time:

Turn Back Time was the second single released from the album. It’s a song of regret, heartbreak, and letting go, wishing you could turn back the clock and do things differently. When I started writing the song my mindset was wishing I had done the things I needed to do in order to make this person happy so they’d still be around. But halfway through writing the song, the gears shifted into “I wish I hadn’t put all this energy into someone who wasn’t worth it, and just focused on myself and my goals from the start.”

“It was clockwork trying to convince you, why did I waste my time, the minute hand kept turning, until years went by, the dial tried to hold me back, why did I push so hard, I tried to keep us ticking long after we had died”

An emotional vocal section introduces the song and is followed by driving guitars, bass, and drums, accompanied by an elegant piano melody.

5. Marionette:

An adventurous instrumental section opens this track. On this song I opened up about my anxiety and the way that it controls the way that I think and behave in a lot of scenarios. Anxiety is something that so many people deal with, but we don’t talk about it very often. I wanted to break that silence here.  “The puppetmaster’s got his grasp on me, controlling my mind heart and body, not sure how much more of it I can take, he’s got his hands around my neck.” 

The puppet master being anxiety. This song is filled with so many different melodies and rhythm heavy sections. It was recently featured on a Loudwire playlist. 

6. White Witch:

I didn’t know what to expect with releasing this song. It’s so different, musically and lyrically, from anything else I’ve ever done. It’s almost a little sassy. It’s a song of self confidence and strength. I wrote it because I knew horrible things were being said about me by people who were angry with me for whatever reason, and they wanted everyone they knew to also be angry with me. I told myself that I don’t care, and that was the mindset I ended up with. I know that I’m a good person, that I’m genuine, and that I’m doing special things. That’s what this song is about. Giving a big old wink to the haters.

“I guess I know what I want, does that kill your love for me, or are you just envious, of my melting crown, I’m not who you thought I was.”

7. Shatter:

Every time I listen back to this song now, or perform it, it takes me back to one of the worst points of my life. I wrote this song on my way home after my very first tour in the summer of 2018. I was giving so, so much of myself to someone who was killing me from the inside out. I made so many sacrifices, caved so many times, silenced myself, fell victim, was made small, and metaphorically cut my veins open for the closest thing I’ve known to a legitimate narcissist in my life, who made me hate myself. It was such a messed up situation. I felt so attached to this person who was destroying me, and it took me so long to find the strength to let go. I’m glad I finally did.

“I apologize to you for all the harmful things you do, in our path I’m drawn to you, you’re breaking me.” 

8. Filling The Void:

A driving, rhythmic hard rock sound supporting what is under the surface, a song of a girl opening her heart for the first time in a long time and feeling afraid. I was feeling hidden, and that maybe I was just filling in a hole that someone else left behind. Sometimes I can’t always get the words out that I need to speak, so they end up in my songs. I needed something to hold on to in the relationship to believe it was real, rather than just wonder if it was.

“...in this blueshift you disappear in the end, maybe you need a star to light the way for now, until you fix it all or she comes crawling back, what if I’m filling the void and you don’t feel a thing, what if I’m filling a hole she left you with...” 

9. Closer To Love:

I wrote a love song on this album. Which only feels bizarre because I don’t recall writing a happy love song before in my life. But this one isn’t mushy or cheesy, it’s very real and honest, it doesn’t have this façade of “love is easy and perfect all the time”. It touches on the hard parts too. It’s a song about finding the light in the darkness. I went through something really painful, but I found someone really special in it, and we have things to work on, but I only want to work on them with you. This song was the third and final single released before the album dropped.

“We’re a growing storm, but I’ve never liked the sun, I know these years have been chaos, I just hope they will make us one, that cloud was a vision in the sky, wrecked everything when it touched down, destroyed everything in its path, I’m just glad it brought us closer to love.”

11. Final Reflection:

The final track on the album is a call to action. Final Reflection is very different, structurally, from any song I’ve ever written, but I wanted to do something different on this album. It opens with a melancholy piano melody, accompanied by the bass, and drums. The guitars come in after four bars along with the vocals, painting poetry over the growing instrumental. The vocals drop out for a second emotional piano melody with growing rhythmic guitars, bass, and drums, only to explode when the chorus of the song comes to speak what I’ve learned in the last year:

“It was a painful situation, but a step in the right direction.” and “This is all I ever dreamed of being, look into my eyes and see the final reflection.”

The song touches on everything that made me angry, shows that long deep breath through the instrumental section before the chorus, and shows the realization I came to when the vocals come back in. The final words that I sing on this song subsequently on the album are “Stare into my eyes again, see the future of my pain, stared into the mirror again, saw the cause of all this pain.” These lyrics are not only a summary of this one song, but a summary of this entire album, and everything I’ve learned in the last year.