Bella's previous releases 'Her' and 'Believe You' signalled a reintroduction to the musician in an honest, raw way.
While sonically a little more toned down and melancholic than the previous two tracks, 'Summer Day' shares that same honesty and signals further creative growth for Bella.
Lyrically, 'Summer Day' utilises the concept of hindsight, as Bella reflects on the honeymoon stage of a relationship in the wake of its breakdown. The feelings of heartbreak may be strong, but that doesn't stop us wanting to relive the early days, when everything felt perfect.
“Now that we're strangers again, I would do it all the same. . . Just to see your face, just to say your name,” Bella sings longingly on the track.
“'Summer Day' is a song I wrote while grieving the loss of a short-lived but intense relationship; the ending of which greatly affected my mental wellbeing and sense of self,” Bella says. “I had nightmares about it for months – I think my brain was trying to offer me some sort of closure by dreaming up alternative versions of how things could have ended.”
FROOTY is amped to be able to share 'Summer Day' on one (Australian) summer day before its official release. Check it out below.
While the song's main message is about a break-up, Bella (originally from Australia) tells of an even more literal meaning behind the title 'Summer Day': “I was living in England at the time that I wrote ‘Summer Day’, which is probably why I came up with that metaphor; quite literally missing the Australian sun.”
'Summer Day' keeps things low-key sonically – the lightness of the production leaving room for the powerful lyrics to breathe, and to be interpreted and felt differently by each individual listener. While it's reflective of a time that no longer exists, there's an element of hope for sunlight on the horizon, too: “There’s no real message in this song, it’s really just wallowing in self-pity,” Bella admits. “But sitting with and accepting how I felt were instrumental to eventually moving on. So if there’s any message, maybe it’s that it’s okay to not be okay?”
“Summer will always come back around.”
Bella shares an insight into the song's creation: “I produced the music in Kent and wrote the lyrics on a train to London,” she says. “Lyrics are usually the most challenging part of the songwriting process for me, but once I had a melody, the lyrics for ‘Summer Day’ wrote themselves unusually quickly. Its just a really honest poem about how I felt at that time.”
'Summer Day' is officially released 17 February, along with a remix by Berlin-based producer Bridge Guy.