Pop-rock group Safety Net released their track “How Does It Feel” in the fall. This song details the feeling of loneliness in a crowded room, while tackling the theme of mental health. We had the opportunity to discuss the track with frontwoman Caroline Walden, as well as Safety Net’s creative process and plans for the future.
Can you introduce yourself, and tell us your role in the band?
“I’m Caroline, and I am the singer-slash-frontwoman for Safety Net.”
What prompted you to write “How Does It Feel?”
“The song was inspired by a particularly difficult time in my life where I had started to feel like I couldn’t connect to anyone or anything around me. It was almost like I had this box of thick glass surrounding me at all times, and was interacting with the world from behind it. Mental illness, suffering, and going through trying times in our lives can all be very isolating events, and it’s easy to come to the conclusion that no one else understands what you’re going through, or feels the same way as you do. It can leave you sitting in a room full of people feeling like you’re still far away or disconnected from all of them, and seeing all of these people around you who seem happy and well-adjusted can leave you wondering if you really are the only person who feels out of place and not okay. So I wanted this song to explicitly come from the point of view of someone asking, ‘Am I really the only person who doesn’t feel okay? If so, how does it feel to feel happy, to not be in pain?'”
The lyrics in “How Does It Feel” are really vulnerable and honest; what was it like writing a song like this?
“My number one goal in songwriting is to be as honest as possible. It’s definitely scary to put a song out into the world that speaks so blatantly about how you feel and what you’re going through, especially when you’re leading with a line like “by the time that you’re hearing this I might be dead.” For me, the songs that I’ve always identified with and been moved by the most have been the ones where the artist is opening themselves up and telling the truth about their emotions, their experiences, who they are as a person. ‘How Does It Feel?’ is not only a song about suffering, but about feeling alone in it. I like to think that sharing how I feel through a song and working through my experiences through music might help someone who listens to it, in which case, it’s all very much worth it!”
What do you think the most important lyric is from “How Does It Feel?” Why?
“That’s a tough question! I think that with most songs, everyone who listens will find value in different lyrics. For me, I think the line that resonates with me the most is “do you know how it feels to be letting the thing that is killing you live in your skin?”. Mental illness has a way of embedding itself inside of you and ingraining itself as a part of your identity. Sometimes it can be hard to want to get better because you start to think, ‘who am I without this?’ It can feel like you’re willingly harboring your own worst enemy.”
Do you have any particular musical influences?
“I personally am very influenced by a lot of pop-punk and alternative artists. For me, my direct songwriting influences tend to vary based on what I’ve been listening to recently, but I think if I were to name bands that have influenced me musically I would say My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Waterparks, All Time Low, The Maine, and even more pop-driven artists like Misterwives and Andrew McMahon. We all draw inspiration from different artists, though — Alex (guitars, writing), is inspired by artists like Coldplay, Death Cab for Cutie, and Linkin Park, while Ian (drums) is inspired by artists like Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin.”
Can you tell us a bit about what your writing and recording process is like?
“Usually what happens is I get an idea for a melody, a lyric, or both. This is sometimes just a piece of a song, like a chorus or a bridge, to start out, or it might be that lyrics to the whole song will come to me all at once. I then take what I have to Alex, and we sit down together and flesh out the basic instrumentals and the structure of the song. Then we’ll all three get together, and make sure we know what the drums are doing and have the song structure and melodies fully worked out. At that point, the song is pretty much ready to be taken to the studio and we’ll lay down any parts that we haven’t explicitly written as they come to us there.”
If you could have listeners take away one thing from this track, what would you want it to be?
“That no matter how bad you feel and how hard life gets you’re never, ever alone, even if you feel like you have no one to talk to and that no one could ever understand what you’re going through. And even if you feel like giving up, it’s always worth it to keep going.”
What can we expect next from Safety Net?
“We’ll be putting out new music very soon! Like in the next couple of months! So definitely stay tuned!”
You can stream “How Does It Feel” below.
