Flash Forward: The Importance Of Saying Farewell
There are many things that are guaranteed as you grow older. For one, you’re no longer the same person that you were when you were a teenager, you’re not going to worry about the same issues, and you’ll experience entirely new, but exciting, life events. Your interests will also change and develop over time, it might disappoint teenage you, but broadening your horizons and accepting change can help to better you as a person. That’s exactly what happened with FLASH FORWARD.
Their latest album, Endings = Beginnings, focuses on a variety of emotional topics that many of us will have gone through, the arguably most vital one being able to say farewell to different people in your life. Sitting down with lead vocalist, Stefan Weigel, he reflected on the origins of the lyrical content written for the record. “We wrote this whole album during the pandemic and most of these topics have this, kind of, farewell theme in it because in this pandemic I was having a lot of break ups with several people in my life. With my family, breaking up with my girlfriend, and it was a very emotional time for me. I got stuck in a depression and this whole topic is combined in our newest album.”
But the event of saying goodbye to people in your life doesn’t have to mean a wholly negative experience, but rather the start of something new. Stefan best summarised it. “Saying goodbye to a person is also a new start for me in my life, it creates a whole new shape.”
As mentioned, growing up means that interests and styles will change over time. It’s only natural, anyone looking back at their teenage years will probably reflect on how more open-minded they are now instead of rejecting things because it’s “not cool”. For FLASH FORWARD they started to embrace more genres that translated into their music. Stefan says, “we got more poppy. Sometimes we would go a step back to our roots where we started out pop-punk and early emo rock, but our music tastes developed as we grew up so now, we’re a listening to totally different genres right now. For me as a songwriter it’s very important to combine new genres when we were making music.”
“I think the sound is a lot more grown up right now, it’s more pop and international. It’s not the same pop-punk sound and singing about the same things that were important to me as a teenager, I’m, kind of, an adult now so the topics I’m singing about have different themes that are important to me right now. Nobody wants to do the same album over and over again.”
So, before us we have an album that is influenced by a variety of music, from your standard pop-punk and emo, all the way to hip-hop, dance, and pop, making it an incredibly fun album to listen to. But scratching beneath the surface we are reminded that it’s all upbeat and happy as we are faced with lyrics covering topics related to heartbreak, emotional pain, and depression. You know, the type of music that you’ll dance to with tears streaming down your face. You have to ask though; can it be difficult to be so open and vulnerable when it comes to writing these lyrics? When asked, Stefan reflects on this. “Definitely. I’m rehearsing at home right now as we’re preparing for our end of year show, and they are some very emotional songs. Sometimes it’s hard for me but I use music like a diary, but it also has a positive effect as music helps me to feel better. This why we like what we are doing as we try to be as honest as we can, and of course it’s hard for me. Sometimes when I’m singing the songs people have asked me ‘how could you sing these emotional songs yet have such a good time at a concert?’ but this is what I want to give the fans.”
At the end of the day music helps us all, for the artist it helps them to process their feelings and to get their thoughts out there, and for the fans it’s comforting to know that they’re not alone and can share an experience with a collective of people. For Stefan of FLASH FORWARD, this is what he considers to be the most important, in his words. “There’s always this little spark that is necessary to hone on, so when you’re feeling depressed or feeling bad there’s something to live for, even if it’s very small, and this is what I want to show. And this is why our songs are emotional, and can be hard for me personally, they are like a new start, and they are a hope topic for me.”
Endings = Beginnings is out now via Uncle M Music.
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