Sonja Midtune just released her brand new EP, entitled "Dreams Melt Away", and to celebrate we have asked her to tell us about the song "Wildflowers." Here is the story:
My song "Wildflowers" is really special to me. The inspiration came to me when I was at dinner with a friend. She has two little girls, one of whom was born months early, but, in spite of everything, has survived. She was giving me an update and said, "They're my wildflowers." The word stuck me like an arrow in the heart, and I had tears in my eyes. Wildflowers are oblivious to how hard or easy it is to grow. I looked away and wrote a note on my phone. I knew I needed to write that song.
Sometimes when something is so close to your heart, it's hard to write it down and get it out. I told my friend Candice Kelly that I had a song idea, and she came over to pull it out of me. I think I gave her a massive headache, ha ha. Candice really helped me level-up my storytelling in songwriting, and I wanted to have all my songs at that level. I teach songwriting at Cal Poly Pomona and Mount Saint Marys, and I have Candice as a guest speaker every semester. She's really that great with lyrics.
We talked about the inspiration for the song and ultimately found ways to tell my story through it. Writing it made me miss home and had me remember vivid little memories that gave clues to who I was growing up. I would have blue hands from playing in the mud in the cold in the spring. I always loved my mom but pushed her away as all children probably do. She helped me move to Los Angeles. On the drive from Minnesota, we stopped for a night on the road. I felt like breaking down and didn't know if I could keep going. She had the opportunity to convince me to stay but didn't. I'm forever grateful. It's all in the song.
Writing "Wildflowers" really inspired the beginning of the EP. I had a lot of unrecorded songs from the last few years but decided right then that I wanted everything to be new. So I wrote the rest of the songs, inspired by the elements that "Wildflowers" gave me: vivid nostalgia, storytelling, and honesty.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the EP here