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NEWS > Alumnae News > Char Goodfellow releases her first single

Char Goodfellow releases her first single

Not many people can say that they have written an album's worth of music before leaving school. We hear about Charlotte's path to her first single release.
Char Goodfellow (OG 2007-2015)
Char Goodfellow (OG 2007-2015)

I first started writing songs in my teenage years as a creative outlet. Although I never wanted to be an artist, I loved to play guitar and piano and ended up writing about an album's worth of material before leaving Prior’s Field. After being encouraged to play gigs I struggled being in the spotlight - anxiety got the better of me and I didn’t feel comfortable being on stage. I look back and in hindsight, it was a lot for me to take on at such a young age but now I have been able to revisit these songs. The lyrics still resonate with me, but having grown and developed as a woman I have found a sound that represents this stage in my life.

My music has been heavily influenced by my late Dad’s record collection of 80s new-wave and synth-pop like Japan, Ultravox and New Order as well as my Mum’s favourites; The Police and The Waterboys. I got into music in the midst of 2010s indie-boom of Wolf Alice, Swim Deep and Jaws and more recently have been listening to artists like Clairo, Uchu Nekoko and Caroline Polachek. Having been working in a small studio, I have finally recorded the songs as I imagined them to be, years ago, and I am so excited to share them. 

I think at the time of writing Twisted Puzzle, like a lot of young girls, my self-worth was based on what other people thought of me and that combined with having a lot of empathy can be quite detrimental. I would put everything into a friendship/relationship and get little back. So this song is just an example of one of those one-way relationships. The lyrics show that I spent quite a lot of my time believing that I wasn’t good enough, and when people treat you badly they are essentially just validating this and it’s a really difficult cycle to get out of. That last lyric is me breaking free. It’s quite a melancholy song and I feel sorry for my 16-year-old self, but it is subjective! 

Writing music, for me, is just the same as writing a poem; write down all your feelings and thoughts and try to make them sound pretty. 

Twisted Puzzle is available on all major streaming platforms:

Soundcloud: Char Goodfellow's stream

Facebook: char.n.gf

Instagram: @char_gf

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