Behind the Song - Shelf

Dive into the meanings and inspirations behind the new Hey Imagine track 'Shelf' released on all platforms on March 14th, 2020.

'Shelf' is our first release as Hey Imagine, and is the first in a series of seven singles being released monthly from March to September. This series of releases aims to discuss love in all of its' forms, from romantic to friendly, from simple to self-sacrificial, and everything in between.

“I wish I could express...The beauty that you possess...But my words are worthless so take my body, I guess.”

We sat down with our lovely songwriter, Jono, to ask him more about the origin of the song, where it came from, and how it all happened, for your entertainment and consumption.

Hey Imagine: Tell us about the origin of the song? How did it come about, what inspired you?

Jono: The song came from a weird electronic-ish experimental phase I went through before the band was fully formed. At the time, I thought I was being very cool by making weird, purposefully amateur sounding songs with lyrics that floated loosely around a theme that I usually came up with at about 3AM, which was my so-called, ‘sad boi’ hour. Shelf originally had no guitars in it whatsoever, instead it featured an extremely abrasive electronic drum set and lacked what, I’d like to think, is now a poes vibey bridge section.

During my ‘sad boi’ hour, I felt like I had no one to talk to about all the things I had on my chest, and I just wanted to unload everything, or store them on a shelf, so that I could just forget about them. I was also carrying the burden of being many of my friends’ 'therapist', so not only was I carrying my own weight, but the weight of others as well. In short, I felt like an overloaded shelf that needed to transfer some weight onto another unwilling shelf.

HI: What is the overarching message of the song?

J: The overarching message is to just appreciate the people that listen, because you never really know if those people have someone to talk to themselves.

HI: Who is this track written for?

J: I can confidently say that I wrote this song for myself, as a way to get rid of an emotion I didn’t like feeling, and that I never had the intention to give anyone who hears it hope, but, sometimes, hearing someone complain can help you deal with your own kak. So that’s nice :)

HI: What's your favorite lyric in the song?

J: My favourite line is:

“You are like a dumpster, Like a loving mother, I would never utter those words to any other.”

This purely because I like the rhyme.

HI: What makes you proudest about this song?

J: What makes me proudest about the song is that I wrote the ‘poes vibey’ bridge in about five minutes while Hugo was aggressively shredding a vuvuzela into my brain. (HI: We can certainly attest that Hugo was, in fact, being his best, most irritating self, and a vuvuzela was definitely involved, and very loud.)

If you haven't yet, we think you should go check out our new single, 'Shelf'. You can find it on Apple Music here or on Spotify here. Otherwise, search for it on your favourite platform. If you have already listened to it, thanks! Either way, you should give it a spin right now, with your newfound knowledge of the meaning behind the song, and tell us what you think! Pop us a message (and a follow whilst you're at it) on Instagram here, we'd love to hear what you think of the song!