I’ve been asked…who the hell is Cherry?

In the song, it’s not anyone specifically by that name… Cherry. But, we all know a girl as I wrote about in this song. Maybe that girl doesn’t have every one of these traits or problems, but there are people you know who have been through some things or are currently going through these types of things. Some people will identify with Cherry. The name, by the way,  keeps the song somewhat generic.  It’s not meant to be someone real. It’s like the old song, “Sarah”, from Hall and Oates, if your name was Sarah, then this song seemed like it was written about you and for you whether you liked it or not. I didn’t necessarily want to do that with a common name.

In the video (below), the actor’s name is Rylee Ivins. She’s a student-aged young lady that has a background in theater and has even worked behind the scenes in movies. I’ve worked with her before and she was the first person I thought of for the part of Cherry. She had the look, the experience to take instructions, and turns out, patience with me as this was my first video to direct. I really enjoy the collaboration between creative minds.

When thinking about the video for this track, I had a mental image in my head of how Cherry acted. This story I was seeing became more like seeing scenes from a movie. It was pretty vivid, and when we made the video I tried to capture those scenes with a real person- Rylee did an awesome job.

We all have things we wrestle with and things that we are trying to overcome or maybe sweep under a rug so others don’t see. We have to choose how we deal with these things and Cherry’s way is sadly typical in many ways. Substances that alter our reality, that free us from the life we’re living, or hang-ups on social things like in her case, traveling outside her comfort zone. It’s easy to shut yourself in and let the world revolve around you outside your walls, your fortification. But the good news is that in the video, Cherry chooses to turn her back on the pills…maybe it’s her first step in saying no or starting a recovery. We always hope everyone finds that strength.

When I wrote that Cherry “dances in time with her anger”,  I’ll admit that at first, it seemed like a lofty poetic line. I’ve since convinced myself that this could mean many things to as many people asked. I think that the listener can (and should) assign their own meaning to some lyrics. It may help them identify with the song and make more sense of their current condition.  All I’m doing is writing some of the lines that get their mind going and then they start filling in the blanks as needed.