Hey, I’m Eiza Murphy and I’m an artist from Ireland, living in L.A. I just released a new single called “Movies” so I’m here to give a bit of background about the song and the process of making it.
I wrote “Movies” during the last lockdown in London. Every day felt the same so I wanted to write a song about escaping reality for a minute and imagining life as it would play out on a screen. I wrote the song in pieces – the verses one day, the pre another, and the chorus last so it was kind of like putting together a puzzle.
After the year we’ve just had, I think everyone is craving more control over their lives. I thought ‘what would life look like if it was scripted in a film?’ so I started listing a lot of light-hearted scenarios and that’s how the chorus was written.
“Movies” was produced in South Korea by an incredible producer called REBENN. We met and worked together over zoom so in a strange way, I don’t think this song would ever have been made if it wasn’t for the last U.K. lockdown.
I recorded the vocals for “Movies” in my bedroom and then sent REBENN a demo of the finished song. I had an idea in my head that I wanted the production to have a blend of vintage and modern sounds to create an old Hollywood feeling in the chorus while keeping it Pop.
A few days later, he sent back the finished production and it was exactly what I had envisioned in my head. Later, the track was mixed and mastered by Ed Sokolowski in London who brought the song to the next level.
I’m really inspired by artists such as Lana Del Rey and Jessie Reyez who use a narrative and unfiltered style of writing so I think I approach songs in a story-telling way.
The verses of “Movies” almost run on a timeline like a story would. I think that way of writing comes more naturally to me because of my Irish (storytelling) background.
Sometimes I take it too far though, and this song got me into trouble with my Mom. The opening line of “Movies” begins with “Four PM and Jesus it’s dark outside” and my stereotypically Irish Mom definitely didn’t like that.
She tried so hard to get me to change the word “Jesus” to something else but in the end, I just marked the song as ‘explicit’ and kept it the way it was.
I think you have to be unfiltered when you’re writing because otherwise you’re creating something that’s not really you.
I began releasing my music less than a year ago and “Movies” will be the first song that I have released since moving to L.A. a few weeks ago. I wrote “Movies” about the Hollywood films and lifestyle so it feels really fitting to me to be releasing the song now that I’m living in North Hollywood.
The cover photo for “Movies” was shot by Chris Baker just before I moved from London to L.A. We wanted to create a dream-like visual that I could later destroy with graffiti to mirror the contrast between a perfect fantasy and a messy reality – embodying the theme of the song.
The music video for “Movies” will also be released in two weeks. It was shot in an abandoned zoo in L.A. during the second week that I had moved here. I had so much fun making this song and I’m really excited to share it.
Listen to “Movies” below and stream it everywhere else here.
