𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟑𝐭𝐡 ( 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔 '𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕')

Prologue

Hey there, it's me, Clara! Yeah, I bet you're wondering right now why on earth I'm publishing yet another songbook, when my current one 'Faded Daydreams' is only 1/4 done with. Keyword there: C u r r e n t.

I've been skimming through a lot of my old songs from 2021, 2022 and early 2023, and the idea struck me at 10 pm yesterday: Why not post a songbook with all my old songs for Friday The 13th? Initially, I was only going to choose 13 out of all the songs I found, but then I couldn't choose only 13 and there's like 23 in total? Not too sure, but about 23 or so.

This is the first time that you guys will actually be reading my songs from 2021, and these specifically were still when I was 14 ( I hadn't yet turned 15 ) So that'll be eXcItTiNg if you want to know how my lyrics have evolved since then. I started songwriting in 2019 btw, but I kinda lost whatever I wrote in middle school. I have some of my 2020 songs on my old wattpad account, but they were so bad lmao.

I found it difficult to complete songs in 2020. Ironically, in 2021, I found myself writing way too much for a song and I blame the Speak Now album by Taylor Swift. I swear, I used to think all bridges were looooooooooong and I usually wrote 3 verses for a song 😭

Ofc a song can have a long bridge and 3+ verses, there's nothing wrong with that, but I'm a pop songwriter and the standard pop song format is 2 verses, optional pre-chorus, chorus and a bridge ( not too long ). Obviously, I lacked all that often for 2 years... Maybe even 3.

I started to realize that the first songs I published for my 2022 songbook 'Sweet Misery' too suffered from long bridges and sometimes 3 verses instead of 2. I proceeded to alter my songwriting into the cliche pop format, ultimately shortening verses and scrapping off lyrics.

As you can tell, half of 'Sweet Misery' and all of 'Faded Daydreams' are nearly lined up much more structured. Don't worry, I still occasionally have songs with 3 verses. Hey, sometimes there'll even be four. I learned how to write songs by studying Taylor Swift's albums ( reputation first, then Lover and Speak Now, sort of folklore ), so it's in my songwriting blood to write a bit more than the standard pop song format.

I do try to have most of my songs nowadays to neatly match the standard pop song format though. The majority of the songs I write as of 2023 ARE pure pop, so it makes sense. A lot of my 2021 and a few 2022 songs though- they def leaned into pop rock for some reason cause that's what I heard in my mind- the melodies.

In the genre box, yoo you may notice that the majority of this book, consisting of my 2021 and 2022 songs, lean into pop rock and aren't pure poppy pop like what I write now. It's weird cause 90% of the music I listen to is pop. Ahem, I again blame Speak Now bc songs like Haunted and Better Than Revenge really influenced my late 2020/2021 songs. Pop rock was impossible to escape in 2021, it was everywhere. I honestly do love the sound lol but I don't really know much music like that.

The 2022 songs here are songs that didn't make the Sweet Misery songbook cut. Mostly, because they were not autobiographical and personal like the majority of Sweet Misery. The theme was heartbreak, and some of the scrapped songs are about heartbreak, but fictional scenarios. It's nothing I went through.

I also kind of divide my 2022 songwriting into 2; Jan-August, in which I tried my best to write pop songs. Then there was September-November, in which pop rock melodies once again, randomly started coming to mind. My pop rock songs though, they aren't really as "genius" as my typical pop songs cause there's a tone of sassiness in them and that's not something you'd expect to hear from me, so I ultimately avoided posting those.

Now though, I'm setting them free. All of them.

I need to set all my past songs free. I'm clearly in a new songwriting era in 2023 in which I don't predominantly write about heartbreak or depression anymore. Now, my songs aren't sorrowful, angsty and angry, but instead about falling in love. There's a much more happier tone in my songs now vs. whatever 2021 and 2022 had going on. I'm not sad anymore, I'm happier than ever.

Goodbye heartbreak era of 2021 and 2022, hello lovey dovey shit of 2023 and 2024. This Friday the 13th, I'm closing up past wounds for good. It was nice knowing you 2021 and 2022 ( that's a lie. ) Bye bye. 

( OG 2022 description in italic:)

 I write original lyrics and poems purely inspired by my own, erratic imagination or my favorite songs and how I perceive them to be. I recall how during Quarantine in 2020, most of my songs I'd written were no longer personal and instead fully focused on the most daring love stories I could come up with, despite being a tomboy who claimed the role of anti-romantic. Either that, or savvy breakup songs about my imaginary boyfriend. Who doesn't love to unleash unnecessary anger in a song?

Taylor Swift releasing her 8th studio album ' folklore' only inspired me to write more songs about make-believe situations. Before folklore, was Camila Cabello's sophomore album, 'romance', which I became so obsessed with after school closure. Taylor Swift's third studio album, 'Speak Now', too receives an honorable mention.

In 2020, there really wasn't much going on in life, so ofcourse most of my songs allowed my imagination let loose and roam rent-free through my lyrics. However, in 2021, that all changed, as I found myself sorta crushing on someone, alas writing once more about my personal ✨ love life ✨

Ever since then, I tend to write about the same people over and over. If I don't, I'm back on songwriter's block. I'd love to break that cycle and to feel the freedom of being able to write about anything; not exclusively centering my lyrics on past crushes. Ofcourse I won't stop writing about my personal life, but I don't want to focus on just that either. It's in the past anyways.

I plan on completing this within 5 days, prob 5 songs per day or smth, so then I could fully get back to Faded Daydreams lol.

AFTER THIS, MAKE SURE TO GO CHECK OUT FADED DAYDREAMS AKA MY FAVORITE SONGS I'VE WRITTEN YET :D

- Clara S. <3

P.S. the s doesn't stand for safetaynet. My last name starts with an S. It's salt you guys. S a l t.