An Evening With Escape

Escape was released on December 21, 2023. It began with an instrumental called Sahara, a piece of music I connected with before I knew what I was going to do with it. Eventually it became a song about two lonely people finding, for one night, an escape in each other.

This is a look back at the song—where it began, how I found my way to it, how I recorded it, and some of what happened after I released it.

Listen to Escape

How Escape Began

When I heard Sahara, I connected with it. The vibe of it was very sensual, I found, and I just wanted to write a song with it. So I negotiated with Genuist to purchase an exclusive license to use the composition.

Songwriting doesn’t always come easy to me, but creating Escape with Sahara was one of the easier experiences.

It wasn’t immediate, though. There was some time between purchasing the license and actually writing Escape. Life was going on, and songwriting in general was becoming harder for me. I knew I wanted to create something with Sahara, but I hadn’t yet found what that something was.

During that time, I even used Sahara in a video I made where I was modeling boots. I think making that video and spending that time with the music helped me find my way to Escape.

Once I did find the song, it came fairly easily. The lyrics and vocal melody weren’t something I had to fight particularly hard to find.

Two Less Lonely Souls

Escape is about two people who are friends.

In my view, the man is attracted to the woman and probably has more romantic feelings toward her. She loves and respects him as a friend. She would necessarily have to be attracted to him in some way too, but perhaps the difference is that she could as easily fall in love with someone else.

But on this particular night, she’s lonely, and he has convinced her: why should either of us be lonely? They can escape their loneliness in each other’s arms.

Why don’t we escape
In each other’s arms tonight?
Two less lonely souls
Wrapped up in
Sweet escape tonight

There isn’t necessarily a promise about what happens afterward. The song is about that night.

You’ll be my escape
And I’ll be your escape
Tonight

Recording Escape

I recorded the vocals at home in my closet, where I’ve done most of my recording so far.

Then I sent the vocals, along with the instrumental, to be mixed and mastered.

There isn’t a complicated studio story behind it. That’s simply how I’ve made a lot of my music.

Creating the Cover

I set up my camera on a tripod with a timer and a setting that takes several photographs in succession. I usually take a lot of pictures when I’m doing a cover, so I posed in a number of different ways.

That was just one of the poses that, in the end, I decided to go with because, yes, it evoked sensuality to me.

December 21, 2023

I remember thinking that was a bad date to release a song, but I wanted to get it out before the year ended. I figured it wasn’t like I was a “legitimate” artist who needed to pick the exact right time to release music.

Releasing a song like Escape during the Christmas season seemed almost silly, but I told myself that not everyone wants to hear Christmas music, so maybe it was perfectly fine to release it.

Why Isn’t Escape on Spotify?

This is actually one of the few questions I’ve been asked about Escape.

A company put the song on their playlist, tricking me into thinking I’d finally managed to get on a playlist that was sending me streams. They then offered to keep it on the playlist for a fee, which I happily paid because I enjoyed what it felt like to see the number of streams growing.

In the end, it turned out they weren’t legitimate and Spotify removed Escape. I was told I would have to resubmit it, but I never got around to it.

After that experience, it just didn’t seem to matter enough. My Spotify audience overall was growing so slowly that I lost the zest for it, and I haven’t really seen the benefit in paying another fee just to put Escape back there.

Looking Back at Escape

There’s always room for improvement when you are an average singer because average by default leaves higher levels to be reached. But overall, I still like Escape. I think I did a good job with it. I think I painted a fairly vivid picture with my lyrics, and then my performance, I think, has some sensuality to it which helps to capture the essence of the song.

I don’t know how other listeners feel about it, but while I could have done better, it’s not the worst I’ve done for a song, lyrically or with my singing performance.

Listen Again