Melanie Grace

Tag: lyricist

  • Behind the Scenes: The Fun We Had Writing This Album

    Behind the Scenes: The Fun We Had Writing This Album

    Now that you have met all nineteen songs, let me pull back the curtain on how they came together. We had a genuinely great time making this record, and that joy, along with a whole lot of hard work, is a big part of why it sounds fresh

    A whimsical illustration featuring a dancing skeleton wearing a top hat, surrounded by various Halloween-themed characters such as ghosts, goblins, and witches, all cheering and enjoying the performance. The background features vibrant colors with a spotlight effect.
    Two cartoon yeti-like creatures walking outdoors at night under a full moon, surrounded by carved pumpkins with glowing faces.
    A group of five witches in dark robes and pointed hats gather around a cauldron, casting spells in a misty forest setting with bats flying above.
    A whimsical character with a pumpkin head, wearing a green shirt, holding a green and red lightsaber against a warm background.
    A skeleton standing in mist under a full moon, creating a spooky, atmospheric scene.
    Two skeletons dancing in a dimly lit ballroom with chandeliers, blue curtains, and candles, under a full moon backdrop.
    A silhouette of a horse galloping at sunset, adorned with a purple cape and carrying a carved pumpkin.
    A decorated front porch with glowing jack-o'-lanterns, a broom leaning against the door, and a Halloween banner spelling 'DR'. The scene is adorned with autumn leaves and string lights.
    A group of elegantly dressed individuals in black attire and decorative face masks, posed in a dimly lit room adorned with chandeliers and cobwebs, creating a mysterious and festive atmosphere.
    A colorful scene featuring various whimsical monster figurines in vibrant hues, surrounded by an array of multicolored balls.
    A dark, atmospheric street scene featuring a group of eerie figures in Victorian-style clothing, with ghosts and skeletal creatures hovering above. The figures, mostly women, are dressed in black, while carved pumpkins illuminate the cobblestone ground, creating a spooky Halloween ambiance.
    A wooden shelf displaying various glass jars and bottles filled with colorful liquids, some illuminated by candles, creating a mystical potion cabinet aesthetic.
    A spooky silhouette of a castle with tall spires against an orange and foggy background, illuminated by glowing Halloween jack-o'-lanterns.
    Two brightly colored skeletons, one green and one orange, sitting and engaging in conversation against a black background.
    A collection of carved pumpkins with glowing faces, surrounded by small figurines and candy wrappers, under a full moon.
    A collection of carved jack-o'-lanterns with glowing faces, set against a dark background featuring a crescent moon.
    A whimsical night scene featuring a brightly lit carousel with animated horses, surrounded by playful ghostly figures and mischievous goblins at a carnival. The background showcases a clock tower, adding to the festive atmosphere with tents and vendors.
    A colorful, decorative spider with a patterned body hanging from a pink thread in a spider web, with shiny pink ornaments in the background against a purple backdrop.

    This album has been a true journey of perseverance. I started writing back in October 2025 and finally crossed the finish line in July 2026. That is nine months of late nights, endless drafting, and countless polish passes to get every single detail right. Writing this album was equal parts fun and challenge, but every hour spent tweaking lyrics and refining melodies brought us closer to where we wanted to be.

    Finding the Fun in the Friction

    Here is how I work: I draft, and then I do meticulous polish passes. On almost every track, those extra rounds of editing revealed a hidden gem waiting to be uncovered.

    My son turned out to be my biggest inspiration for the most fun, upbeat tracks on the record—especially all of the skeleton songs! His energy and imagination pushed me to lean into the playfulness of those tracks:

    • Skeleton Fred originally started with a tiny continuity slip where the same character had two different names. Instead of fixing it quietly, we leaned all the way in and made them both named Fred.
    • Skeleton Twist quickly became my son’s ultimate favorite—it turned into our go-to track for spontaneous living room dance-offs!
    • Skeleton Tango finally gave us the chance to execute the single joke a skeleton dance song owes you: the arm falling off mid-dip!
    • Potion Commotion started with a bridge that simply described a xylophone—so in the rewrite, we blew up the potion instead.
    • Gargoyle’s Lament had a bridge listing French horns, which we replaced with the story of the sculptor who gave him eyes but no life.
    • Cackling Carnival traded a plain list of instruments for a persistent carnival barker who refuses to let you leave.

    The Craft of the Edit

    Beyond individual songs, we kept a running watch list of words that were getting overused across the album—things like candles, moonlight, and shadows.

    To make the overall listening experience cohesive, we got strategic: we assigned candles specifically to “Carve It Out” (since that song is literally about lighting them) and cleared them out everywhere else. Shadows went strictly to “Reign of Shadows.” That kind of unglamorous, line-by-line bookkeeping is what transforms nineteen separate holiday songs into one polished, crafted album.

    That is the difference I am always chasing. A recycled novelty song gets played because it is familiar. I want these tracks to get played because they are genuinely good—because every bridge earns its place, every rewrite improves the story, and every image finds its right home. The jokes and the heart are usually already sitting in the song somewhere; my job is to log the hours, persevere through the rewrites, and get out of the way.

    We got there, and I couldn’t be prouder to share it with you!

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    Why Pre-Saving A Folklore Christmas Means the World

    (And How It Helps You!)

    If you’ve ever wondered why artists are always asking you to pre-save their upcoming music on Spotify, here’s the secret: it’s the single best way to make sure you don’t miss a beat, while giving independent music a massive boost!

    Whether you’re excited for the spooky ghost stories or the tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago, here is what pre-saving actually does for you, and for the album:

    • It drops right into your library on launch day: The moment A Folklore Christmas goes live, Spotify will automatically add it straight to your Liked Songs and library. You won’t have to search for it, set a reminder, or worry about missing release day.
    • It feeds the Spotify algorithm: Algorithms pay close attention to pre-save numbers. A high pre-save count signals to Spotify that listeners are eager for these songs, which helps push our holiday tracks onto official curated playlists, radio feeds, and recommendation charts for brand new listeners.
    • It helps independent music thrive: Every single pre-save gives independent artists a louder voice on major streaming platforms, helping us share these rich holiday traditions and old-world stories far and wide.

    It only takes one click, but it makes a huge difference!

    Pre-save A Folklore Christmas on Spotify here

  • The Notebooks in the Closet: How a $0.25 Target Find Cracked My Heart Wide Open

    The Notebooks in the Closet: How a $0.25 Target Find Cracked My Heart Wide Open

    I was not looking for treasure today. I was looking for tape.

    I was digging through the closet in my office, past the safe, past a box of DVDs I still refuse to let go of (don’t judge me, we all have one), and my hand landed on something spiral-bound. Then another. Then another. All different colors, purchased different years. By the time I sat back on my heels, I had six college-ruled spiral notebooks stacked in my lap, the kind you’d grab off a Target back-to-school shelf for a quarter back in the day. A quarter! I think they’re two dollars now if they’re a penny. Inflation has come for even our notebooks, y’all.

    I didn’t open the first one expecting anything. I thought maybe old to-do lists, maybe some scratch paper from a job I don’t even remember having. Instead, I opened a time capsule of my own handwriting: dated pages, undated pages, poems, journal entries pouring out feelings I’d clearly needed to pour out somewhere, and songs. So many songs. Most of them complete with chord charts scribbled in the margins, like twenty-something me knew exactly what she was doing even when the rest of her life felt like she had no idea.

    Reading My Own Heart From Twenty Years Ago

    Here’s the part I didn’t expect: reading those pages made me sad for her. For me. For the girl writing at midnight about heartbreak and loneliness and love she wasn’t sure would ever show up. Page after page of raw, unfiltered emotion, and somewhere around notebook three, I had the very clear thought: she needed a therapist. Or anti-depressants. Or honestly, both. Twenty-plus years ago, and I’m just now seeing it in black and white, ink smudged, pages worn soft at the corners.

    But here’s the thing about a songwriter’s heart: even in the middle of the ache, she kept writing. She kept turning pain into melody, into rhyme, into something that might one day be sung out loud instead of just felt in silence. That’s the gift and the burden of being a lyricist. You don’t just feel things. You have to write them down until they make sense.

    And now, twenty years later, I get to be the one who finally gives those songs the ending they were waiting for.

    A stack of various spiral notebooks in different colors, including green, blue, purple, and one with a decorative cover, featuring visible binding and slight wear.

    Bringing the Notebooks Back to Life

    This is where it got really fun. I started using Claude to help transcribe my absolute chicken scratch handwriting, because let’s be honest, songwriter handwriting in the heat of inspiration is not exactly calligraphy. Claude helped me decode the scribbles, fill in the blanks where pages faded or ink smudged, and gently polish these decades-old drafts into full, sing-ready songs, while keeping every ounce of my original heart intact. Then I take those lyrics into Suno AI to actually produce the music, turning handwritten chord charts from a 2004 notebook into real, listenable songs in 2026.

    It’s such a strange and beautiful bridge: my younger self with a pen and a notebook, my current self with AI tools I never could have imagined back then, working together to finally finish what she started. I’ve already pulled nine songs out of just one notebook: songs about waiting for real love, about heartbreak from both sides of a goodbye, about gratitude after the storm, even a genuinely goofy one about a man bag written with one of the most fun people I’ve ever known. Five more notebooks are waiting on my shelf. I have no idea what’s in them yet, and that’s half the thrill.

    Here’s a glimpse at one of the songs:

    Why I’m Sharing This With You

    My heart breaks a little for who I was back then. But I am so, so glad she wrote it all down. Every messy page, every half-finished chorus, every “I don’t know where this is going but I have to write it anyway”: she left me a gift. And I want to share that gift with you.

    This is what independent songwriting has always meant to me: taking real feelings (even the hard, unfinished, unresolved ones) and turning them into something that might help someone else feel less alone. If you’ve ever found an old journal and wondered who you even were back then, I hope this makes you feel a little less alone in that too.

    I’ll be sharing these restored notebook songs right here on the blog as they’re finished, so if today’s story moved you even a little, stick around: there’s a lot more in these pages.

    Handwritten note on lined paper with the date 5/12/04, mentioning 'Team Filled Eyes' and 'Melinda Done'.

    Don’t miss what’s coming next. Drop a comment below and tell me: have you ever found old journals or notebooks from your younger self? What did you do with them? I’d love to hear your story.

    Follow me on Instagram and Facebook @TheMelanieGrace for behind-the-scenes looks at these notebook pages as I go through them.

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    Melanie Grace – Circa De 1998