Joe Hicks has released his new single ‘Mirror Mirror’.
The track is the first single from his upcoming debut album, due out later this year.
To celebrate his single and his upcoming album, Joe shared with us 5 tracks that inspired the release.
Sting – Seven Days | Listen via Spotify
I was struggling to find a way into the lyrical theme of two of the more upbeat poppy songs on my album. At first, the music (I tend to write the music first, then lyrics) was steering me towards matching that feeling with upbeat lyrics about upbeat themes, but they just ended up feeling too sickly sweet. It was only when I stumbled across a video of Sting being interviewed by Stewart Copeland where he talked about how he found love songs with a twist in them to be much more interesting than ‘I love you, you love me’ that I was able to tap into actual experience and write lyrics that felt good – and were much more relatable.
John Mayer – Vultures | Listen via Spotify
John Mayer is pretty much the entire reason for me wanting to write my own songs. I used to play in bands and was content to be just a guitar player, and then an old drummer friend of mine lent me a copy of the DVD ‘Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles’ and something clicked. It was the first time I’d heard somebody mix really great guitar playing, interesting chord progressions, and amazing groove into catchy pop songs, and my head exploded. I use John’s album ‘Continuum’ as a source of inspiration a lot, and am always enamored by his ability to come up with great metaphors in his lyrics.
Kings of Leon – Waste A Moment | Listen via Spotify
There’s an Emaj7 chord that rings over the second verse of ‘Mirror Mirror’ that was a complete accident when I was trying to come up with a lead guitar part. It stayed in the demo and I got attached to it. It’s only one note off what I was intending to play but it gives that verse such a different character, and reminds me of something Kings of Leon would do. I’ve loved that band for as long as I can remember and still maintain that ‘Because of the Times’ is one of the greatest night-driving albums ever.
Paul Simon – 50 Way to Leave Your Lover | Listen via Spotify
I will forever be trying to write a song as good as this. I was in the ‘Sting and Paul Simon’ ensemble when studying at Berklee, and in having to learn a lot of his music for it, had my eyes opened to how much of a genius he is. His catalogue also taught me a lot of new chord voicings and chord progression tricks, a few of which show up in ‘Mirror Mirror’. Those interested in songwriting should check out the video of Paul playing a half-finished ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’ on the Dick Cavett show. He talks about how he’s stuck on what to do for the B section, and it’s just an amazing insight into the process.
Adam Barnes – Bad Luck | Listen via Spotify
Adam is not only one of my best friends but is also one of my lyrical heroes. I played some guitar on his album ‘Vacancy at NASA’ and remember him turning up to each studio session with a new song that always had an absurdly clever lyric that stopped you in your tracks. I’ve got no idea how he does it, and always see it as a win if I get something Adam-Barnes-like into one of my songs.
You can stream Joe Hicks ‘Mirror Mirror’ below via Spotify: