This is how the song came about: “Back To Love”

“Back To Love” is one of the 11 songs on Ingrid Olava’s “Juliet’s Wishes” album (Virgin/EMI, 2008). Three years later, the song was given new life when Steven van Zandt chose the Lillehammer-born musician and songwriter to perform it in Lilyhammer. Here, she tells how the song came to life.

Text: Kai Lofthus

There is at least one more thing that is as certain as death and taxes, namely love songs, and that there will always be songwriters who yearn to compose them. without A classic in its own right in that category.

When Ingrid Olava Brænd Eriksen was growing up as a teenager in the 90s, it was Celine Dion, Koserock and the Love Song Collection that were hitting the charts. A decade later, she herself came up with the deeply beautiful “Back To Love,” which problematizes love instead of celebrating it: “…Frustrated I feel, it'd tremble beneath your skin. I've grown tired of the fire, the desire I'm always drowning in. So I'm off to keep my distance. My minute of control.” Later in the lyrics, she proclaims that she will not go back to love.

– I wrote it ten years ago, says Ingrid Olava and continues: – At the time, I was living in the yellow blocks right by Vår Frelsers Gravlund in Westye Egebergs gate with a friend, and I wrote the song on my electric piano in the living room there. I worked at MMI and at Radio Nova. I had dropped out of my studies. I was very unsure of what direction my life would take, and I didn't play in any bands, but I still wrote songs and played the piano. Back to Love was probably a result of me falling in love with a guy, and even though it was fun to be in love, I didn't really know if I wanted to get into a relationship. The song came out of that ambivalence. I don't quite remember which words came first. I probably felt very grown-up and mature, which problematized love.

– Did it take a long time to finish the lyrics and melody, or did it come easily to you? Did it require many sketches along the way, or did it turn out as it was intended from the start?

– This particular song came very naturally. It's a bit annoying; it has a nice structure, and yet it was quite unconscious on my part. Usually it takes me longer to finish something, but this one came out relatively finished. I actually remember well when I discovered the nice possibility of taking the chorus to major, it almost sounds like the song has modeling in the chorus, but it's just Db major against the verse's F minor.

– What came first: The lyrics or the melody?

– They came together first, as they almost always do. Then I work on the puzzle, alternating notes and words until the pieces fall into place. I find it important not to get stuck too early, and rather let the song take you to the place it wants. It's fascinating how you can use your whole self. There are undoubtedly many analytical exercises in the picture; how different chord connections work, what continuous notes I can find while working with the piano accompaniment, where the beauty lies and which parts there should be resistance in. There is a lot of brain activity, but your gut feeling must also work. Suddenly you feel that it is true, and then it doesn't matter whether it is a "smart" or "stupid" chord progression. Music is magical like that. A million people have sung "Baby, baby, baby" before you, but you still fully and firmly believe in your own originality at that moment. It is a beautiful madness.

– What were your working tools during the composition?

– I always sit at the piano first. It usually stops after a while, then I need more words to push the composition further. Then I write a little on the computer and work only with the lyrics. Then it's back to the piano again. Along the way, I record small snippets on a dictaphone so I don't forget anything. One of my most important working tools is without a doubt the interaction between the piano and the song. I was a pianist before I was a singer, and that characterizes my process. It always feels like my songs "exist" somewhere between the keys.

– Was the process for composing this song different from how you had worked out your previous songs?

– It's strange; I actually experience songwriting as never being the same way to work from time to time, because as a person you are always a little different than the day before. The tools may be the same, but the content is constantly changing.

As a songwriter, Ingrid Olava is signed to Waterfall, and has benefited from the industry's increased focus on synchronizing music and film/TV. In the first season finale of Lilyhammer, she performed “Back To Love”, with Steven van Zandt accompanying her at the piano. According to Ingrid Olava, he had received a stack of Norwegian records, and contacted him to use that song. In later episodes, the songs “Elevator” and “Slippery” from the same album as “Back To Love”, as well as “Jackie Kennedy” from “Summer House” (Daring Viola/Universal Music, 2013) were included.

Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/39bBEO0p2HL7g2LKPG8oMD
Wimp: https://wimp.no/wweb/track/3280302
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/no/album/juliets-wishes/id693608243#