Our song of the Day comes from Amsterdam singer songwriter VanWyck. An Average Woman is the title track of her new album due for release on January 19th via Maiden Name Records. The soulful and melancholic tinged delivery call to mind the likes of Leonard Cohen and add a strong emotional punch to the song, especially on the powerful chorus.
According to the accompanying press release, there were our moments in time that spurred VanWyck to write the song:
- An article about a seventeen-year-old girl who committed suicide because she thought she wasn’t special enough to exist. She kept comparing herself to Beyonce and felt she fell short.
- Learning from a therapist friend that the end goal of most therapies is for people to realize that they are just who they are and accept that – this in contrast to promises of change, golden futures and the realization of big dreams.
- A book by Anne Taylor where a woman disappears and the family members have difficulty describing her to the police because of her average features. It’s this averageness that allowed her to disappear.
- Hearing a brilliant young philosopher simultaneously dig deep and build towers with her thoughts.
Talking about the song VanWyck says, “Both my grandmothers were strong women (a nurse and a teacher) who came from very humble backgrounds and had to work hard and take care of children. Being creative was a luxury that was often not allowed to them. Being in the foreground was also not something they were allowed to aspire to. One of my grandmothers was very inspirational in making me reach higher and to put all my talents to work. I keep her picture as a young girl on my desktop to remind me of the chances she never had and the way she pushed me to reach higher.”
The single is available to order via iTunes and Bandcamp.
Pre-Order the album here: https://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/vanwyck
Photo Credit: Jitske Schols