'The Struggle', aptly named after the difficulty that comes with balancing a music career with a day job, was written in a local coffee shop – its flowing verses and build-up to a passionately-sung chorus is guaranteed to become an earworm.
“At the time I was feeling really inspired by artists like Jen Cloher, Camp Cope and Middle Kids,” Kristy says of 'The Struggle'. “When I am listening to a lot of music is when I feel the most creative. So I picked up this rusty acoustic in the coffee shop and this song just wrote itself.”
“I remember driving to work, imagining the guitar sounds I wanted in it and while I felt so excited I had this wave of disappointment come over me as I realised I was going to work and would have to forget it for eight hours and hope it was still there at the end of the day.”
Luckily it was still there – and FROOTY is over the moon to be premiering it a day ahead of its official release.
“I feel closest to my genuine self when I'm writing music which is why I think the struggle is so real. . . You're not just blocking the songwriting but you are having to press pause on feeling really connected to yourself and the world around you,” Kristy continues. “It's an amazing feeling to do something that makes you feel like you are your true self I think.”
Check out the track – and its brand-new video – below.
There are themes of mental illness and low self-esteem woven throughout the lyrics of 'The Struggle'.
Kristy says its overarching message is one of recognising that our low points and our high points are what make us who we are, at the end of the day.
“I wrote 'I know I'm not for everyone, sometimes not even for me' when I was feeling really low and lost in my thoughts. Those moments can be exhausting and you just want it to pass so you can feel like yourself again. . . I guess that's why those moments of feeling connected and inspired are so important to me.”
“But the song is not all about difficult times, the chorus came to me visually, remembering nights out in the Valley [Brisbane] with my friends dancing and bumping into people in the streets – starting at The Troubadour before heading to The Zoo and ending up at The Beat. Those times made it easy to repel the struggles.”
And on the subject of repelling the struggles of day-to-day life, Kristy's hope for her fans' reaction to the track is simple: “I guess I just hope people feel empowered when they hear it, like we all face tough stuff and we keep filling up our tanks ready for another adventure in the murky water.”
