Vid Pick: Lucy Camp – The Heart Dies

With a maturity that belies her age, since first stepping onto the scene hip-hop artist Lucy Camp has proven even if you aren’t old enough to drink you can still make an audience think, and perhaps even more importantly, feel.

Camp’s latest is “The Heart Dies,” is a mile-a-minute, intensely emotional, song with no chorus, just straight fire the entire way through, as she raps passionately, and paints a vivid picture with her words.

Wanting to know more about the song, and her upcoming EP, Whispers (due out July 21st), I caught up with Camp to ask her about both.

First off, tell everyone about the development of “The Heart Dies.” It’s four minutes without a hook. What was the writing process like, and why did you decide to forgo a chorus?

When Peter (Anthony Red) first sent me the instrumental, I listened to it over and over again. It didn't have any drums whatsoever when I wrote over it, so I really had to find a flow that would go well with the piano.

I think the fact that the instrumental wasn't finalized, and was super rough, when I first heard it played into why I didn't include a hook for the song. It just felt like it didn't need a hook. It felt like I could rap forever.

I wrote two versions of the song. I had sent a voice memo of the original (what you're hearing now) to Peter, and that was it for a while, but a few months later I listened to it again, and for some reason I just wasn't happy with it, so I re-wrote half of the song, recorded a voice memo, and then sent that to Peter. He responded asking me why I wanted to re-write it, and that he felt the original was fine as is. That was enough for me to scrap the second version and keep the original.

What inspired the lyrics of the song, and the visuals of the video?

To be honest, I thought a lot about my mom while writing “The Heart Dies.” The young woman I talk about in the song isn't her, but she served as the inspiration to the song.

Growing up, when I did get to visit my mom, I saw her go through a lot of hardships, like money problems, or problems with abusive men, and it often put me in a reflective mood.

When I first heard the words in the instrumental, “It's unavoidable, it just happens,” it brought me back to when I was ten, my mom would sit on the couch with a sad look on her face and tell me she was depressed. At that time I was realizing things were out of anyone's control.

Even the looks in the music video, the two pieces of hair that fall in front of my face are reminiscent of my mom. She always had that ‘90s look, and still wears her hair like that today.

As far as visuals go, we knew we wanted something big. We wanted to tell a story, and have it feel real. Luckily Sean Finnegan and the Kinda Funny crew were able to really help with that vision. 

I’m sure it doesn’t come as a surprise that people are connecting with the song, but what do you hope people get out of “The Heart Dies” when they connect with it?

If the song can move someone in some way, and can make them THINK about anything, then that's what I hope people get out of it.

It's so easy to listen to music and just enjoy the way it sounds, and that's great and all, but I also love when a song makes me think about things in my life. I'm always in my head, but when a song can put me out of my head, and into a different perspective, or perhaps even deeper in my head, I think that's really cool.

If people are able to really connect with this song and this helps them get through any hard times, then that's all I could ask for. 

“The Heart Dies” is off of your upcoming EP, Whispers, which is due out July 21st. What can you tell everyone about the EP, and your artistic growth since 2016’s Down Talk EP?

I'd say the vibe is different with this EP. I wanted a more ambient sound this time around, and it's a bit more personal compared to Down Talk.

I get more creative on this EP, and step more out of my comfort zone in terms of vocals – (including a) little bit of singing.

Down Talk contained samples, whereas this EP does not, so I felt more free with what I had to say/do with this project.

Overall I'm just really proud of this EP, and I can't wait for everyone to listen!

You can hear more from Lucy Camp, and purchase her music, at LucyCamp.com.