Indie singer-songwriter from Washington DC, Molly Baker, delivers a beautifully written, emotive and graceful track. The song titled, One Year, follows the story of how a relationship can change so much over the course of that short time span.
The 3-and-a-half-minute track explodes with elegance as Molly’s soothing raw vocals take centre stage commanding the listener to join her on the emotional journey. The specific, vivid imagery allows listeners to visualise the story being told, allowing them to connect and relate to the deeply personal lyrics.
The talented solo artist said that this is her favourite song she has ever written. To find out more about the record, I asked Molly a few short questions!
What was your favourite lyric from this song and why does it stand out to you?
“Back to school with a tan on my wrist, unbraided your bracelet, my favourite gift” is probably my favourite lyric, although there are so many that are special to me! When me and my topliner Jenni Rudolph were writing this line we found that it was hard to connect time, imagery, and background information all into one line. We almost gave up on the idea but kept working until it felt right!
Where do you hope to see yourself as an artist going in the next few years?
Releasing One Year was so exciting to me because I finally feel like I’m releasing music that I’m not only proud of vocally and lyrically, but it’s a song I would listen to even if it wasn’t by me. I have a few more songs that I’m working on that I also feel like resemble “Molly Baker” as an artist and I’m excited to keep making music that feels like a story.
Who inspires you musically?
Currently I’m really inspired by artists like Gracie Abrams, Phoebe Bridgers, Lizzy McAlpine, Sabrina Carpenter, and Taylor Swift. I’m a very lyric-driven listener and I admire all these artists for releasing music that feels like a journal entry. I admire anyone that releases music like that because of how personal it is, and I hope to do the same!
Are there any other interesting elements to the song or about you as an artist that would be good to mention?
Probably how in depth the writing process behind this song was! I remember just scrolling on my phone one day around New Years and wondering if it was possible to cover a year’s worth of time within one song. I texted my idea to Jenni, and she loved it! The song isn’t based off personal experiences, we actually wrote an entire story in a google doc. We even made-up character names! We then created scenes based off the imagery we saw in our heads. We took our favourite parts of each “scene” and incorporated it into the song.
There’s a lot of important symbolism in some of the lyrics that we didn’t directly explain to anyone: for example, at the beginning of the song when I say, “sunrise cafe”, we gave it that name because to us a sunrise symbolized new beginnings, and that’s what would happen to me over the course of One Year. There’s a lot of special nuances that show how much care went into the lyrics!
Who designed your album cover?
I met Nathan through Jenni and Stewart Mitchell, the producer for One Year. You can find him on Instagram @haeuncreative! He was so kind and easy to work with, he really wanted to make sure the lyrics were brought to life in the thumbnail for this single!
This song is called one year and talks about change, how do you think your life will change by this time next year?
The other songs that I’m planning on releasing soon will be out by then, and I’m so excited to see people’s reactions. On one of those songs, I wrote the chord progression/piano instrumental, and I hope to continue being a part of that process for my future songs. That way I can say I wrote the instrumental and lyrics! Maybe someday I’ll learn how to produce as well.
That concludes the interview, if you enjoyed this song and want more beautifully sang, lyrically driven tracks, then keep an eye out for Molly’s new music!