Hello all,
Since the start of June, everything has become a fog, not the velvet fog like Mel Tormé, but the type where you can see only baby steps ahead, baby steps like Olivia Dean (who I was bumping before she became famous; I have a witness, she can attest to it). I spent miles biking, months grieving, and weeks where I wouldn't be in the basement; I couldn't muster the courage to open my laptop and put together a demo, or even to sit at home for more than a few hours. I’d sit there and just stare at the wall or sleep with my guitar like a little kid, hoping I would dream up a melody. I would wake up, and it would be difficult to distinguish between reality and my dreams; some days it still is, not sure what that’s about.
My heart yells, sometimes screams, no reply. Connor told me about the energy of mutual thinking; if I have someone on my mind, then I might be on theirs as well, which kept me sane for a while until it did the opposite and I thought I had the power to summon and channel. See, then I started reading my horoscope, twice a week in the NY Pro AM, but that sort of crutch is dangerous for a hombre like me.
I have to thank Romeo for picking my chin up, stiffening that upper lip in the words of Slim. Without him, my face would have been shoved into the blades of Sheep’s Meadow; my city is too open for me, depending on the day, which is good and bad. At one point, we decided that Della was going insane! I am making it seem like I was some sort of rain cloud. I was for a moment, but then the sun crept in, and I felt alive! I just didn’t feel like myself. I made a Venmo friend request, and that was when I knew I needed to stop and be normal. I was told I am a nut, possibly insane.
Well, I got up and started doing things for myself again. I got some swag back, and I cleaned up. Bye to sneaks, I am a boots guy now; they don’t rock them like I rock them. Playing pool in whatever city I am in, Della is a shark, baby. Yoga has been big for me. It eased me out. Props to my guy Will, he keeps it zen in his classes. I am also a biker guy now; I just need a gang. When you clean up and look away from the pavement for a second, the energy changes. I wanted to be outside again, not as a means to run away but to saunter. I sit and drink coffee on a bench; there’s no rush. Although there sort of is because Della does not do lines, I am not waiting in La Cabra for a 15-dollar latte even if Connor is there.
“When you run away, you can go anywhere” - Mr Little Jeans
I made an album, then scrapped it and made another one, then did that again, and finally landed on something. It is pop…I think? A love album. A piece of work I can listen to fully, one that tracks my mind over the last few months, speaks to someone that I thought had forgotten about me, just the thought of that makes me want to burst. But it is strong, and rich in Della truisms and idiosyncrasies, birthed from the bottom floor per usual. If I can sing the song and shimmy around the streets and parks I love, then I know I hit some gold. I also miss performing. I will hit the stages soon. In the hopes of making this one more vague, what came out was the most targeted music I have ever written. Once I release it, everything should fall into place. I am slowly getting back into the studio, piecing together fragments of songs in my voice memos and notebooks.
I am just itching for a change of scenery. It’s time I grow up and grow off the island. I graduated. I submitted my final paper on a couch in Miami and was waiting for confetti at the very least, maybe a congrats alert on my laptop. It was just the mosquitoes and the Miller High Life who saw it.
Miami, all it made me think was how much I want to live in LA. I deserve the sun!
The album is so close, and I hope you all enjoy it. I got big plans, as we all should have!
Deuces and be safe :)
⁃ Drew Della
P.S.: I wanted to add a track from the album to this but not sure Jake has figured that out yet.