I recently became single. How/why it happened isn’t a particularly interesting story, but suffice it to say that as breakups go, it was very civilized. And so now I’m single again, and trying to figure out what that means for a 31 year-old guy with essentially no free time and no particular interest in rushing into another relationship.
Unlike the last time I was single, however, Tinder is now a thing. For those of you who somehow don’t know, Tinder is an app for your phone where you upload a few photos and a short profile, and other users either swipe right if they think they’d like to meet you, or left if they don’t. If two people swipe right on each other, it’s a “match”, and they can message each other to arrange a date. It’s basically online dating in the Candy Crush era: superficial, simple, addictive, but ultimately mostly just a distraction.
I wrote a song about Tinder, and online dating in general. Very little of it is based on personal experience (I’m an OKCupid man myself), although it’s not exactly fiction – maybe think of it as “inspired by a true story”. Not my story, but certainly the story of hundreds if not thousands of people who signed up for a good time and ended up getting way more than they bargained for.
Production notes
This is the first song I’ve recorded with my brand new Rode NT1 condenser microphone. The sound quality is a huge improvement over the things I recorded with my old mic. A lot of the inspiration for the style of this song comes from a guy called Patrick Spencer, who fronts a band called Coldwater Road. I had the pleasure of working with Patrick for the first time this past summer, and watching his songwriting style gave me a lot of great ideas to incorporate into my own.
I approached the vocals in the song by doing multiple takes with different ‘moods’ – forlorn, earnest, swaggering, passionate – trying to tilt the emotional weight of the song in a few directions. That way, I was able to take the track phrase by phrase and have each line convey something outside the written lyrics. It was fun – like putting together an audio jigsaw puzzle.
Lyrics
It started when we both swiped right…
Our fingers set the stage for lovin’ in the modern age
I said I want to see you tonight and you agreed
Words heavy with a natural need
I woke up with the sun in my eyes
And your hand on my chest. Asked “again?” and I heard you whisper
“Yes”
Now I’ve fallen and I can’t get out.
Chorus:
Well maybe it’s crazy, but baby I’m sayin’
I want this to be more than just late nights at your door
I know I should probably take it slow,
But I’m hopin’ you’re open to making this mistake with me.
‘Cause I feel like I’ve got nothing but time
To sit around and wait for you to take your place in my life
I’m usually more careful than this,
Yeah I have to admit I’m afraid to fall in love
But there’s no fear that comes with the idea
That the next time you come over, you might just stay here
And I know this was supposed to be a casual thing
With no regrets and no mess and I have no business buying this ring
But I’ve fallen, and I don’t want to get out
Chorus
You should ask me to come over
Why don’t you ask me… you should tell me to come over
And you tell me to come, but then I want to stay
And the way we spend our nights stays with me all day
Got my head spinning round and my heart is upside down
And I’m falling oh yeah
Well maybe it’s crazy, but baby I’m saying
What started as a fling feels just like the real thing
The sex is amazing, but it’s your texts that I’m craving
And I just unmatched all the others I’ve been saving
I’m not typically a guy who’s big on monogamy but if you want to lock me down
I’ll give you my spare key
And I’ll pencil you into my calendar for the days that end in ‘y’
And why not? I’m addicted. Your loving gets me high.
I know I’ve got nothing but time
To sit around with you, and put my phone away
And watch Netflix
And chill
Crommunist 
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