My Road to Writing of Meet Me Halfway – By Eileen Carey

My Road to Writing of Meet Me Halfway

By Eileen Carey

As a kid I played drums.
Would be in lots of school shows as well. Came to California to make movies but
while I was booking entertainment for a hotel chain, I realized I could sing
and write songs myself. For me it is all about the song. My influences are
from songwriters like Diane Warren, Ali Willis, Keith Urban, Lennon &
McCartney. I like to think of my songs as little movies. I am very visual and I
pick up my song ideas from the world around me, and that is particularly true
of my last co-write with my producer Travis Allen, called “Meet Me
Halfway.”

My first ideas for Meet
Me Halfway came from my witnessing an accident that nearly happened on
a famous corner in Hollywood, California couple years ago. I will never forget
the picture of that young woman talking to herself it would seem, but really so
deeply engrossed in a conversation on her cell phone that despite the
screeching of tires in front of her she didn’t break stride. She looked at the
driver, but didn’t even acknowledge the possibility she could actually have
been hurt, and continued crossing as if she were living in a video game. That
image stuck with me for some time. I thought how distracted can you be?

Last few years have
become so contentious and uncivilized that no one wants to compromise. People
use to claim that familiarity would make us closer to each other, and that the
internet allowed us to talk to people all over the world. Unfortunately it did
the opposite. Don’t get me wrong, the internet has been instrumental in my
career, but it is no substitute for personal contact. That “look me in the eye
line” in Meet Me Halfway. No matter what the differences we need to
get on the same page somehow. You know, at least, Meet Me Halfway.

About the writing Meet
Me Halfway I had this track from the two composers out of Sweden,
named Bjorn Charles Dreyer and Odd Harald Jensen, the same team that created
the track I worked off on in the writing of In the Air. I didn’t
use their track this time but it sparked a melody idea for me, and Travis and I
took it from there. We co-wrote the lyric, refined my melody and created the
final tracks.

I took a similar path in
the creation of my music videos. I have been fortunate that I have had a great
relationship with a filmmaker and music video director Taner Tumkaya. He and I
have made my last 6 music videos and we have been greeted with 250 thousand views.
We share a certain sense of humor and irony.

Part of the idea of the
music video for Meet Me Halfway was how much fun humans can
really be. A good laugh sometimes gets the idea over better than other things
so we threw some of our friends into the video and told them we were going to
dress them funny. We shot the performance part of the video with a green screen
in the studio, and the many happy faces of our friends on Hollywood Boulevard.

It is part of my theme in
living successfully, as a woman and an artist. I try to give people a
different way of thinking, a view that offers alternatives, support, and
encouragement. We all have our trials, but I’m 100% convinced we can overcome
them by maintaining the right attitude in life. Life is wonderful!
Don’t waste your time on things that hold you back. Meet Me Halfway the song
and the video is a celebration of our humanity.

www.EileenCarey.com