Many of us can link a certain album to pivotal moments in our lives. Whether it’s the first record you bought with your own money, the chord you first learnt to play on guitar, the song that soundtracked your first kiss, the album that got you those awkward and painful pubescent years or the one that set off light bulbs in your brain and inspired you to take a big leap of faith into the unknown – music is often the catalyst for change in our lives and can even help shape who we become.
In this series, Music Feeds asks artists to reflect on their relationship with music and share with us stories about the effect music has had on their lives.
Tia Gostelow – The Hurting Scene by Melody Pool
Dear The Hurting Scene,
I remember the first time I heard you, I was 14 and it was like I felt my heart break for the first time the way yours did. I had seen Melody perform her song ‘Henry’ by herself on her beautiful acoustic mahogany guitar and that was the first time a song had made me feel emotional on such a level, you could’ve heard a pin drop in the room that’s how enchanting it was. I obsessed over this song until the album came out and once it did, to be honest I could sing every lyric and harmony on every song on it.
I went to your album launch in Tamworth a couple of days after I heard ‘Henry’ and I remember standing at the back with my parents in complete awe and admiration. You could feel the rawness and heaviness in each song that was played yet there was a sense of harmony amidst. You were on repeat every time I got in the car with my mum and were sung at the top of our lungs. ‘Reckless Road’ was the first song I was ever allowed to swear in while singing as well, so I think that’s saying something.
Every single song on you deals with heartbreak, loss, hurt, acceptance and overcoming extremely agonising situations and as a young teenage girl this taught me quite a lot about investing all of my feelings and emotions into song writing instead of bottling it all up inside. You are where I found the courage to start putting my feelings down on paper and realising that it is okay to put all of your emotions out there for people to hear and relate to. I wanted to write something as vulnerable as you, and I think that I have, or at least I hope. So thank you, because if I didn’t find you, I don’t know if I would be writing the way I am now.
I didn’t realise how important you were going to be to me until I got a bit older and experienced heartbreak myself. It’s not often that I would relate to every word sung on a record but you were and are still, an exception. To this day I still play ‘Substitute’ in most of my sets. You are something so special to me and I’m sure to anybody else that has the pleasure of listening to you.
Thank you for opening my mind to the world of real and raw songwriting and giving me the fearlessness to put my heart on the line and write so deeply.
Love always,
Tia X
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Tia Gostelow plays Fairgrounds Festival in Berry this Friday, 30th November. Check out the full lineup & set times right here. Tia will take her new album ‘Thick Skin’ on the road in 2019. Head here for details.
