On Top of the World was released January 8th of 2021.
The lyrics are certainly up for interpretation, but to the best of my memory the original prose was inspired by some self-help reading I'd done in 2019. The girl in the story is fictional, but on a rough journey triggered when she's asked to remember a time when she was on top of the world. She has trouble remembering such a time, and becomes quite agitated by the question. I imagined the setting to be something like a self-improvement, counseling or mastermind group. The counterclockwise rotation represents this group setting, each person sharing their "on top of the world" moment. The girl in my song is suffering greatly as her turn approaches.
The reference to the other girl across the room shows her attempt to escape this moment of distress. It was probably showing on her face. She focuses on the color of the other other girl's sweater, wondering if she too is struggling with the question at hand. Or maybe she's just looking at a reflection of herself.
At the end of the song, there's a line about using color to compartmentalize. I borrowed this from an interview I once read with Sarah McLachlan, who said she saw music in colors. I actually spoke with another music artist for the Unstarving Musician podcast who describes something similar in his own life. The phenomenon is actually a neurological condition known as synesthesia. This line was possibly a way to simply reach the end of the song in a way that appealed to me personally. It could also be that in the end, I imagined the girl in my song to be an artist of some type. Perhaps a songwriter.
Musically, On Top Of The World is my exploration in influences by The Who, Robert Plant and REM. The cover artwork is based on a photo I took at an outdoor festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2017.
Listen to the sneak preview of On Top of the World