Lauren Minear – “The Sun”
Americana Highways is hosting this video premiere of Lauren Minear’s song “The Sun” from her forthcoming album, Chasing Daylight. Chasing Daylight was produced by Daniel Weeks, mixed by Sean Moffitt with assistant mixing engineer, Jesse Brock; and mastered by Reuben Cohen with assistant mastering engineer, Chris Jefferies. The album was recorded at WWW Studios in London, and The Cutting Room Studios.
“The Sun” is Lauren Minear on vocals; Reuben Harsant on drums; Matt Weeks on bass; Dan Wheeler on electric, slide, acoustic, high strung acoustic, and nylon string acoustic guitars; Jonny Bird on electric and baritone electric guitars; Mark Edwards on grand piano; Dan Weeks on synth programming, wurlitzer piano, backing vocals and acoustic guitars; and Samantha Howard and Dan Barracuda on backing vocals.
The video was written by and stars Lauren Ezell Minear. It was directed by Meg Case, edited by Case & Porter, with director of Photography Brad Porter and second camera operator Jake Burgess. Onset styling was courtesy of Sam Clement, wardrobe design was by Amy Keller with alterations by Ela Erdogan. Music production was done by Dan Weeks with story development by Leah Wheatley and storyboard artist Tabetha Baldwin. It was filmed in Chappaqua, NY.
Birds in the sunshine, a walk in the grass. What does it take to be happy within, and stop seeking permission or validation from outside events, people, or achievements? “You are the sun, you don’t need anyone to save you, you are the one holding it together.” Lauren Minear encourages us all to recognize our own powerful centers in a fresh and edgy new-wave throwback musical arrangement with a touch of synth and a lot of bright guitar upswings.
Full disclosure, this song was partially inspired by Grey’s Anatomy. I rewatched the series start to finish in 2021 when I was writing this batch of songs. I was thinking about how people sometimes look for their happiness outside of themselves – the right job, the right partner, the right body, etc…but that true happiness comes from within. I watched the scene when Christina tells Meredith “he’s dreamy but you’re the Sun,” and I loved that metaphor. I wrote the line “looking for a brighter star to shine on you when you light up the morning” and took that to a writing session with Dan.
I have this memory of eighth grade graduation. I received a lot of awards, but I don’t remember feeling proud. I was seated in the middle of a row, and I remember feeling embarrassed that I had to ask people to move so many times so I could walk to the stage to collect the awards. I wrote this song to that little girl. “You’ve got those medals girl / but you’re still looking around / asking permission, girl / from little boys sitting down.” For a long time, I was uncomfortable taking up space in the world and being my full self. I always felt like I needed my decisions to be validated by others. I’ve learned that the more I trust myself, the better things go. – Lauren Minear
Find and save the music here: https://laurenminear.lnk.to/thesun