Olivia Ellen Lloyd‘s “Sorrow” presents its subject in a lighthearted way, but it’s rooted in serious matters. The song is premiering exclusively on The Boot; press play below to listen.
Influenced by Lloyd’s own struggle with depression, “Sorrow” puts into words how the emotion can, so quickly, overwhelm you out of nowhere: It “comes along when it wants to / Like a bad boyfriend from college / Hits you up with that coulda been, shoulda been / All that terrible knowledge,” she vividly (and humorously) explains.
“I have pretty persistent bouts of depression, and it’s not something I’m always in control of,” Lloyd shares. “Just when things seem to be going well, sometimes the cloud of sorrow comes on out of nowhere. It’s become so predictable that it’s almost funny.”
Throughout “Sorrow,” Lloyd personifies that titular emotion as though she’s writing a Pixar movie or a Dr. Seuss book for adults. It’s perhaps no surprise that, as the singer notes, she was doing a “massive deep dive of John Prine B-sides” around the time she wrote the song.
“Sorrow” comes from Lloyd’s debut album, Loose Cannon. The Shepherdstown, W.Va., native raised nearly $10,000 from more than 150 fans, family members and friends to pay for the project.
The youngest of four girls and the daughter of a well-known local musician, Lloyd studied theater directing and English literature at the University of Michigan. She’s been a singer and songwriter herself since she was a child, though she largely stopped performing for a time after the deaths of her father and her best friend when Lloyd was in her early 20s.
Loose Cannon is due out on Feb. 26. More information is available at OliviaLloydMusic.com.
Listen to Olivia Ellen Lloyd’s “Sorrow”:
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