Winona Oak Breaks Down Her New Album Island of the Sun Track by Track: Exclusive
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The post Winona Oak Breaks Down Her New Album Island of the Sun Track by Track: Exclusive appeared first on Consequence.
Our Track by Track feature series gives artists a space to break down each song on their latest release. Today, Winona Oak takes us through her debut album, Island of the Sun.
Swedish songwriter Winona Oak returns today (June 10th) with her debut full-length album, Island of the Sun. After three years of growing her audience and releasing acclaimed singles, Island of the Sun stands as the artist’s first cohesive statement, summarizing her early period and hinting at what might be next.
Oak’s rise in the pop world was swift, aided by co-signs from internationally recognized artists. Spending her childhood in the rural town of Sollerön, she caught the attention of Australian electronic artist What So Not after signing her first record contract in Stockholm. The two collaborated on the tracks “Better,” “Stuck In Orbit,” and “Beautiful,” which were released under What So Not’s name with Oak being a featured artist.
Soon after, she once again collaborated with an established electro-pop act. This time around, she and the chart-topping duo The Chainsmokers co-wrote “Hope,” a tune that would go on to become certified gold.
Oak’s success is not solely based on the notoriety of other artists, however, as her strengths as a songwriter and performer shine through in each of her creative partnerships. The release of her debut single in 2019, “He Don’t Love Me,” confirmed her talents as a solo artist, further proving she was more than capable of carrying a song. Off the back of the single, Oak began fully embracing her voice as a songwriter, leading to a string of new songs and her first EP, Closure.
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Now, with Island of the Sun, Oak comes fully formed. The album, which is titled after the nickname of her hometown, mixes previous highlights and new tracks, providing a full portrait of what Oak has to offer. It’s the result of a life-long pursuit of creative expression, a journey that spanned from Sollerön to Los Angeles.
“I grew up on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 5,360 miles from LA in the middle of the Nordic forests of Sweden on a small island called Sollerön, aka Island of the Sun,” Oak tells Consequence. “The island works as a metaphor for a place when everything’s peaceful and simple. Like that time in your childhood when the world is only as big and beautiful as you make it.”
With her first album out, Oak now looks to the road. She’s currently gearing up for her first-ever North American tour with Oh Wonder. She’ll then take on Europe with Alec Benjamin. You can grab tickets for both legs here.
Check out Island of the Sun below, followed by Oak’s Track by Track breakdown.
“Island of the Sun”:
This song was created on a sunny evening in Los Angeles when I was going through a really tough time and felt more homesick than ever. I grew up on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 5,360 miles from LA in the middle of the Nordic forests of Sweden on a small island called Sollerön, aka Island of the Sun.
The island works as a metaphor for a place when everything’s peaceful and simple. Like that time in your childhood when the world is only as big and beautiful as you make it — as we grow older we tend to complicate things. I want the island to represent a happy place within ourselves or in a relationship, a bittersweet yearning for a place we ache to go again.
“Baby Blue”:
I wish I knew earlier in my life that your self-worth has nothing to do with how other people treat you. When you exhaust yourself trying to save them from themselves, lying to protect them, sacrificing your own needs, and getting your heart broken over and over again, you may realize that sometimes you have no other choice than to leave to stay alive.
It’s a tough lesson to learn that someone you love doesn’t care about you, maybe they wish they could but they just aren’t capable and there’s absolutely nothing you can do to change that. And maybe one day you will learn that your happiness isn’t reliant upon the happiness of others.
“He Don’t Love Me”:
We’re all capable of falling for people who don’t value us, grasping for a leaving hand. But we must understand that we’re just as capable of realizing that our worth does not lay in those heavy hands. I really hope that you can find it as a reminder to stop waiting for it to get better — you deserve better than that.
“Break My Broken Heart”:
Written in Oskar’s old studio, aka a pool house in a backyard in Los Angeles. I stayed there for a while the second time I went to LA. This song taught me that you have to be brave to love someone with all your heart. But the biggest risk in life is to not take any risks at all. As long as we’re breathing, what’s one more scar?
“Radio”:
Despite its narcissistic narrative, “Radio” comes from a place that contains a lot of pain and frustration. If you’ve ever been with someone that constantly makes you feel like you’re not good enough, you kind of start believing it yourself after a while.
This song is everything you think you’re not and a good reminder that it’s not your job to live up to other people’s expectations. It was a challenge to keep a good balance while writing about such a heavy subject with a sprinkle of humor, but I think it made this song a lot easier to digest.
“NDA”:
“NDA” is a song that tells you about my own experiences and reflections on society as a woman in such a male-dominated world and industry. Nowhere in this world can claim that women have the same rights and opportunities as men.
I want every single girl in this world to know that her voice matters. I want her to know that she’s strong as hell and that she’s the only one who should be in charge of her own beautiful body and sexuality. My favorite lyric from this song is “I know that my body’s beautiful, possibly it is Divine, and you will do well to remember that my body is only mine.”
“My Man”:
We’ve all met them at some point. Maybe we dated them, maybe they tried to flirt with us at some bar or maybe they just shouted at us from across the street. This song is about a real a******… I mean bad person, someone who raises all the red flags, someone who never ever deserves to be your man — even though they’d like to make you think so.
“Yours Tomorrow”:
This is a song about being taken for granted. When you feel like they stopped making an effort, when you make sacrifices and keep working around them and their needs, but it’s never the other way around. When they stopped making romantic gestures and you feel like you’re not being valued. That’s when you need to ask them ”why are you so sure that I’ll be yours tomorrow?”
“Nothing to Lose”:
Sometimes you need a push in the right direction in order to take that big step to leave someone that doesn’t treat you right. I know that in a parallel universe you’d be perfect together, but you need to let go of the fantasy. I hope that this song can be that push for someone and I also hope that it will make them dance their sorrows away.
“Mother and Daughter”:
There are no words and there’s no song that could ever describe the love that I feel for my mom. She’s the sun, she’s the moon, she’s the first person that became my entire universe. I wanted to dedicate this song to her and to the generations of women before her.
To her mother that was the smartest in her class but if you don’t have the money you better start working fast. My mom taught me all about feminism and politics, to stand tall through it all, she’s my biggest supporter, my biggest fighter. I am who I am because of her and I will never kneel. I love her forever and ever and all I wish is that we could have forever together.
“Piano in the Sky”:
The night before I wrote this song together [with Max Cooke] I had a weird dream about a piano playing high above the clouds. It was like it was carrying a lot of the answers that I was looking for, far away in a hidden place. Desperately I tried to reach for it but my legs could barely move so I just watched as it faded away playing the same melody over and over.
For me, the piano represents all my fears and darkest secrets, all the repressed emotions that I’ve been running from. Almost like a song playing far away in my subconscious. I must find the courage to face it, I have to break the silence in order to heal. But sometimes I just wish that I didn’t feel anything at all — and that’s okay too.
“Happy You’re My Ex”:
As I grow older and look back at my life, I’m able to see it through a different lens. I remember one of my exes telling me a lot of years ago that I would thank him at some point for breaking up with me because he didn’t want me to get caught in his bad habits and he just wasn’t capable of loving me, so this song is my way of saying, “Thank you, you were right.” I wasn’t able to see it back then because I was so heartbroken but him breaking up with me was the best thing that could’ve happened to me.
“Jojo”:
“Jojo” is a song that I wrote to myself (Jojo is my nickname). It’s a song that I wrote about feeling like a helpless spot in the universe, like everything’s beyond my control. I feel lost inside the arms of society sometimes, it can be so damn cold and dark.
No wonder why everyone’s escaping to this parallel universe, aka the internet and social media, where you can be whoever you want to be. “Jojo” is reminding me to take a step back and reflect on all the beauty in life — with all its ups and downs I see the light and all the unconditional love, everything that’s worth living for.
Winona Oak Breaks Down Her New Album Island of the Sun Track by Track: Exclusive
Jonah Krueger
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