First Time
1. Son
2. We Grown
3. Put Your Lips on Me
4. 5,6,7,8
5. What I Want from My Ex
6. Physical Touch
»»> Explanation & Meaning Behind my 1st project, “First Time.” »»>
Son >
Son, is my first born. I heard the track that a friend sampled when I visited Atlanta spring 2011. I thought of how good monogamy was at the time. only sharing myself with 1 person was ecstasy. I felt safe and happy and playful. In school when I had to sing italian arias, the happy exciting love songs had runs everywhere. Son has many runs. As my first, I wanted it to be creative, smooth, and happy. Things felt easy when I wrote it, music and personal life. Because Son was created in Atl and finished after I had spent a summer semester in Brooklyn New York, i found a way to incorporate the raw atlanta vs Ny rivalry with humor through a film voice over from the movie ATL. That was all that was missing after I collaborated with rapper, Dub Dope the Poet, an artist I met in school who is actually grounded in atl.
We Grown >
As I am struggling through the transition of growing into a man and being seen as my own artist, I sometimes feel like I have to answer to people. Even being alone for my first time in college, I felt like I still needed my parents’ and friends’ approval before I did things. For me, We Grown, was saying that I no longer needed anyones say-so before I chose to do anything. drinking, singing provocatively, sex… the song also shows all the butterflies i had. when you are grown, you don’t need to tell people because it should be evident. Saying we’ grown we’ grown we’ grown we’ grown is me psyching myself into going all the way and experiencing my first time.
Put Your Lips on Me >
Put Your Lips on me is similar to We Grown but it is even more romantic to me than having sex. A song that I wore out in my first year at the Youth Performing Arts school was called Pur Dicesti O Bocca Bella. It starts “beautiful mouth” and goes on about kissing a lover. I wanted to recreate it in a soulful quartet kind of vibe. The feeling of wanting to kiss someone you have a crush on and then actually kissing that person for the first time is beautiful. Looking back on my first real kiss I tried to capture the effortlessness and beauty of it. I actually wrote it and recorded it in one night. most of the parts were free styled and first takes. it wasn’t rushed though. it just felt right to me. quick and effortless but with so much emotion in it. like a first kiss.
5,6,7,8 >
5, 6, 7, 8 is about that comfortable relationship with 1 girl or guy and you do anything and everything sexually because it is just between the two of you and its safe and wild and playful. Back when I heard the short version of Rihanna’s Birthday Cake, I got excited, and wanted to create a soulful version from a male perspective. the lyrics are vague. i like being vague sometimes. it gives listeners a chance to interpret the lyrics how they want.
What I Want From my Ex >
I traveled to NJ and NY for a summer semester to get away. I fell in love quick. it is easy to fall in love in nyc. or to think you have fallen in love. What I Want From my Ex is about heartbreak and me dealing with rejection. It was hard to handle- realizing I was in love alone for the first time… After It was over, I just wanted to be missed, and to be wanted and to be remembered. because i missed and wanted her so badly.
Physical Touch >
During my process of writing my original music I was going through a lot of ups and downs internally. I just graduated college and I am now up to my ears in debt. I moved out of my studio apartment and moved back home with my mom to figure out what the hell Im going to do with my life now that I’m in the real world. Im constantly worrying about my moms health and i feel guilty because i feel like I should be working my ass off to help her more financially rather than trying to travel and sing…At the same time I’m worrying about how people will receive my music and dreaming will I ever achieve what Ive always wanted to do…. with all of these problems, one day I went to a practice room alone in Louisville. I broke down. I prayed. I thanked God for everything that I was blessed with and I just began playing some simple chords and started singing, without thinking, i worshiped Him. This is the night I wrote the majority of Physical Touch.
Part of Physical Touch was me wanting to be closer to God. I felt disconnected because I had fallen out of the routine of praying. I am a very spiritual person and I felt like I wasn’t giving Him the proper respect He deserves. He gave me my voice and I hardly ever sung for Him any more. I used my phone to record a freestyle praise song where I was expressing how I felt to God. when i played back the 10 minutes of footage it was so beautiful to me and I know that It was His way of giving me a beautiful song that I needed to complete the project. God works like that. He’s real.
After Physical Touch and my break through, the symbolism in the other songs jumped out at me. They all had that common theme within them. After a conversation with a good friend It was apparent that I should call this project First Time. I am very proud. I really enjoyed writing my own material. It felt natural and didn’t feel like work. I will be rerecording my music and performing select songs very soon to give the people who listen to me a spectacular product. I am so excited to be taking my God given talent to the next level!!!! I don’t have a choice.
Marvelous Mike
—Son
How I fell in love with God, with music…
Bio
Born unto a singing mother and a preaching father in Louisville Ky. Raised singing in the church. Graduated from Louisville’s Youth Performing Arts High School in ‘08 as a vocal major. Graduated from the University of Kentucky Fall ‘11 with a BA in English with a focus in creative writing. During teenage years, participated in local theater productions of The Music Man, Suessical the Musical, The Wiz, and more. Recently wrote first R&B music project, First Time, influenced by life experiences and by the soulfulness of artists who came before. Expect much more than what your ears can fathom.
