Title: “We Were Young Once”
Artist: Maddie Urie
From: Warzones (July 2014)
Release Date: May 31, 2014
Length: 3:21
Format: CD Single, Digital Download, Weekly Airplay
Recorded: March/April 2014 – Half-Moon Studios, Las Vegas, Nevada
Genre: Electro-Pop, Pop-Rock, Alternative Rock
Label: Songs to Love and Die By
Written: March 2014
Writer: Maddie Urie
Producer(s): Maddie Urie, Christian Fallon

“We Were Young Once” is the third official solo single from American electro-pop musician and songwriter ‘Maddie Urie’. Written and recorded by the female musician back in March of this year, after Urie spent months working on the music that would eventually form the basis of her sophomore record. The track is only the third single from the musician, who is known to have somewhat of a guarded feeling towards over-exposure, she has however had relative success with her previous releases, starting with ‘Put On A Brave Face’ and then it’s follow-up ‘Such Fragile Little Things’, both peaking within a top ten position in the singles charts, but other than that, releases from the musician have been extremely sparse, with only last summer’s first full length solo record to her name. This hasn’t held Maddie Urie back in the industry however, as she’s built her fanbase over the past year through both social media and with live performance, most notably earlier this year as a support act for Riot! In The Boulevard on the North America leg of their 2014 world tour.

The song will appear on her sophomore album ‘Warzones’ which will likely be released in July, with ‘We Were Young Once’ serving as the lead single and as the starting point towards the build-up for her album. The track comes in at three minutes and twenty one seconds and was recorded at Half-Moon Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada, a location where many of her label mates have recorded the majority of their work. The track which has a low-key electronic feel to it, rather than the typically upbeat anthemic electronic styles is one very much centred around nostalgia. The song was produced by both Maddie Urie and Christian Fallon and will be released is released today (May 31, 2014) as a CD Single and Digital Download as well as being made available for Airplay. The track will be released through ‘Songs to Love and Die By’.

SONG DESCRIPTION

Again like the majority of Maddie’s solo work, this song finds an electronic sound running throughout it all of course provided solely by Maddie Urie. The instrumentation features a keyboard and synthesizer combination which give it the electronic sound, it’s kept running at a slower more emotive pace, think ‘Sweet Disposition’ from Temper Trap in the way that it’s a slow song but has a little added energy to it. From the opening verse you have an instant idea of where the song is going emotionally as Maddie sings “They could have let me know that things can come to an end so fast/They could have reminded me/That not all good things tend to last/And those summers spent hiding out in your backyard/Now seem like a distant memory/The smoke rings, the laughter/And the promises of happily ever after.”

It’s the songs mid-way point, the chorus in particular where the energy becomes a little more evident, helped by the inclusion of the soft repetitive drum beat again provided by Maddie in the studio, likely to be provided by somebody else onstage, but it’s the chorus that arrives with verve and a little added power “But we were young once/Rebels in the sun/We were young once/Always on the run.” potentially a chorus that could be sung back anthemically during live performances. But as a whole the song remains slightly more low-key, not exactly a summer anthem but instead a song filled with nostalgia about times gone by.

SONGWRITERS COMMENTS

“I’m sure that people will find it ironic that a twenty year old is singing the words ‘But we were young once’, but I feel like the meaning of being young has been tainted in recent years so much so to the point where being young doesn’t have to relate to your age but instead to your state of mind perhaps? But anyhow, moving away from that, the song comes from my feelings on things as it stands right now, sure the song isn’t specifically about myself but it comes from a state of mind where I see my friends buying homes and getting married and having children and starting the next part of life as it seems and seemingly letting youth go from them at the age of twenty one or twenty two and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But this is basically myself putting view on that situation if I was the one that had all of these major things happening. As I am, I’m far from the person singing in the song, but I do have a fear right now of losing grasp on my own youth, it’s not something I’m ready to let go of just yet.

Of course I’m sure there’ll come a time when I want that calmer lifestyle, but for right now, nothing excites me more than a night of possibilities and memories and stories. If only we could capture moments and bottle them, but sadly life does not work out that way. I wanted the music to feel electronic and have a little energy to it, without completely disregarding the theme of the song, of course the song lends itself to a slower more wistful sound and I worked hard in the studio in order to find the right balance, whether I found it or not is essentially down to the listener. But the main thing for me is to create a song that people can relate to, you don’t need to be settling down to relate to it though, it’s very much open to be interpreted in different ways despite the obvious theme running through it.

Now, releasing singles isn’t my forte as many are aware. But hopefully you enjoy the song and perhaps I’ve shed some form of light on the song and what it means or what I intended for it to mean.”
> Maddie

LYRICS

“They could have let me know that things can come to an end so fast
They could have reminded me
That not all good things tend to last
And those summers spent hiding out in your backyard
Now seem like a distant memory
The smoke rings, the laughter
And the promises of happily ever after
Have faded to the sky
I wish I had a chance to say goodbye

Now I’m drawing circles on the window
Not sure if you’re coming home
Not even sure if I even want you here with me tonight
I doubt I’m strong enough for another fight
I’m just wishing for yesterday
Wondering why it had to go
Wondering how we both became so disconnected
I guess ignorance is bliss though

But we were young once
Rebels in the sun
We were once young
Always on the run
We had the world out ahead of us
And it faded someday
And before you know it, this is all gone
And you’re just longing for yesterday

And there’s an empty bottle on the table
Drained of it’s very last drop
Can’t help but see the metaphor
Of the love that we’ve lost
And it’s gone
I don’t see it coming back
I’m constantly longing
For my youth back

When you’re young, you make promises
To never grow too old
To always keep your heart alive
With stories to be told
But we have jobs to do and bills to pay
We’re empty inside
We’re all vacant this way

But we were young once
Rebels in the sun
We were once young
Always on the run
We had the world out ahead of us”
And it faded someday
And before you know it, this is all gone
And you’re just longing for yesterday”

PERSONNEL
Maddie Urie – lead vocals, synthesizer, keyboards, drums, lyrics, composition, production
Christian Fallon – engineering, mixing, production