Then You Get Older is an original song by Mel Brennan, for which I added piano, did the mix and wrote part of the arrangements. I also directed and filmed the music video. This is the third single from the album Half Lives, which I co-produced with Mel. You can also listen to this song on Spotify.
Then You Get Older is an ode to childhood, that combines the Americana style with classical instrumentation and elements of Irish folk. It is a very personal ballad, full of strength and melancholy, that blends the traditional singer-songwriter ballad with an eclectic orchestra that includes cello, piano, banjo and Irish flute. All these instruments make their way into the song progressively from the beginning, tender and intimate, to culminate in a symphonic and passionate ending.
The ten songs on the album follow a common theme, centred on the dichotomy between personal and professional life, passions and duties, dreams and reality. And in this case, Then You Get Older, with influences as diverse as Damien Rice, Missy Higgins and Mumford & Sons, contrasts the innocence and tranquillity of childhood with the harshness and speed of adult life.
Paradoxically, Mel began writing Then You Get Older at the age of nineteen, and after more than a decade, she picked it up with a more mature and melancholic take on the passing of the years. So this song is a creation that has accompanied Mel throughout her youth. In her lyrics and style, the naivety and optimism of a teenager are mixed with the experience and longing of an adult.
The choice of this song as the third single of Half Lives was driven by a deep feeling of nostalgia, as Mel, like many other people around the world, has not been able to see her family in more than two years. So this song sends a message of support to all those people and, despite the distance and the forced loneliness in which we find ourselves submerged, she reminds us that we are not alone.
