Finding HopeClarity – Out Now!
Posted on January 10, 2020
My new single, the second single of the Honest EP, is now officially out! It’s called ‘Clarity’ and is available on all major music platforms!
laurenalexhooper: AND ‘CLARITY’ IS OUT!
I wrote this song a couple of years ago with my friend, Imogen Davies, inspired by the idea of desperately chasing a person or bad habit, a habit that you know is harmful, to find some sort of relief from all of the difficult emotions.
Please, please buy/stream it. It would mean everything to me and all the people who have worked so hard on it. 💜
I’d hoped today would be exciting and fun but it’s turned into a really difficult day instead. I just want to cry and cry and cry. So I’m gonna do all the work for this and then have a gentle, calm day to recover.
I hope you like the song, that it makes you feel something. Please share it around. It would mean the world to me.
‘Bad Night’ Music Video – Out Now!
Posted on December 5, 2019
So, again, I’m terribly behind in letting you guys know about my latest musical endeavour. I released the music video for ‘Bad Night’ on Wednesday 13th November. Here it is and I hope you like it:
Despite being the central person in the ‘Invisible’ music video, I’d never done anything like this before. I’d never destroyed a room before (which was way more physically exhausting than I expected since you have to do everything about three times to get the right shots but also multiple times because breaking things isn’t as easy as it looks and I kept messing up). I’d never done a ‘performance part’ of a video, if you know what I mean. I felt very awkward and very overly aware of all my limbs. Oh, and my facial expressions. It was all very new and strange. There were moments where I felt like I was getting it but they were few and far between. Most of the time I felt like I was about two seconds from falling on my face. It was a mix of fun and stressful and exhausting and satisfying.
After the video came out, I posted little behind the scenes videos or photos on social media:
1. Cold, cold, cold.
2. As I said, I felt very aware of my limbs.
3. “This is why I’ve never played sports.”
4. Planning some of the shots…
5. Siri clearly wanted her moment of fame…
6. I’m pretty proud of the chaos I created.
7. We were cold and tired but very proud of ourselves.
So there you have it. I’m so proud of this video and am so grateful to work with Richard. He’s such an amazing friend and an amazing photographer and videographer (his website is here). It was a massive jumble of emotions and was really, really hard at times but it’s exactly what I wanted for the song so I’m really, very proud of it.
The Old New Year’s Resolutions
Posted on January 1, 2019
HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope you have all had a lovely, relaxing holiday period and that you feel hopeful about the year ahead. I’m feeling lighter than I have in a long time and for the first time in months, I’m actually excited about what’s coming next.
But, before we move on to the new year and all the new plans, I want to pause for a moment. This time last year, I set several resolutions – more like goals – for 2018. Now, 365 days later, I want to look back at them and look at how I did, whether I achieved them or not…
WRITE MORE SONGS – Technically, yes. I did write more songs. Not as many as I would’ve liked but more songs nonetheless. As I mentioned in my review of 2018, my depression seemed to completely suppress my creative brain so writing anything was a really struggle. But I’m cautiously optimistic about my songwriting in the near future.
RELEASE MUSIC – Yes, as I said in my halfway-through-the-year post, I have music out in the world (you can listen to my first single, ‘Invisible,’ here). It was a long, hard journey to that first milestone but we made it and I’m excited about what’s coming next.
FIND THE RIGHT MEDICATION – I found many wrong ones but, fingers crossed, I’m onto a good one. Right now, we just have to wait and see (my least favourite sentence in the world).
WORK ON BEING HEALTHIER – I feel really good about this one. Since August, I’ve been going to the gym and swimming for at least half an hour most days of the week and I’ve kept it up for six months. I’m so proud of myself and I love it so much. It helps me make sense of the world and it makes me feel really good. Food is still a daily struggle but I’m not restricting and I’m also not eating everything in sight. So that’s something.
BECOME MORE INDEPENDENT – I feel like I’m going backwards with this one. My depression has been all consuming and just as it started to let up, anxiety rushed in to fill the void. So I’m struggling here. I don’t know what else to say about this one.
READ MORE BOOKS – Yes! I definitely did that! My small, achievable goal was five books and I managed to read ten! So I’m very proud of my efforts in this department. Hopefully I can keep this up going forward.
IMPROVE MY MUSICAL SKILLS – This is another casualty of my depression. My lack of concentration and motivation has just made it impossible to do any consistent practice. Even when I tried my hardest, I couldn’t do it and then I’m really good at beating myself up over it. That’s another thing I need to work on. But as I’ve already said, I’m cautiously optimistic about things moving forward.
GO THROUGH MY POSSESSIONS – Well, I did that. We moved house and so I went through everything as I packed it. That was very overwhelming so I’m sure I missed stuff. I’m still creating a new order and finding things that I can throw out or give away but I made a huge dent in this resolution and I’m pleased with my effort.
So I guess it is now time to make some new resolutions. Watch this space…
Finding Hope 