Start Your Day With Sophie Holohan's "Good Mourning"

Sophie Holohan is one to watch. Her latest release, “Good Mourning” takes you through Holohan’s day and year as she makes sense of a relationship gone wrong. It is both highly specific and incredibly relatable—some of the wittiest writing I have ever seen in a song. Holohan was kind enough to answer a few questions about the song. Read what she has to say about “Good Mourning” below.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST START WRITING “Good Mourning?” HOW DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR THE SONG?

I’m pretty sure that I first started writing it on the day that I posted my Tik Tok - so May 5th! I got the idea from a situation that I was in with a guy where we ended things late at night. When I woke up the next day mourning him and the situation, I made the connection between “morning” and “mourning”.

HOW DO YOU TYPICALLY GET YOUR IDEAS FOR SONGS?

I typically get my ideas from conversations that I have with people, tv shows, things I see on the internet, and just generally living life. I then write little “song seeds,” as we call them at Berklee, in my notes to come back to later.

WHAT WERE YOU READING/WATCHING/LISTENING TO WHILE MAKING “Good Mourning?”

I was in the middle of finals, so I was reading a lot of study guides, haha. But other than that, a lot of Phoebe Bridgers, and I’m pretty sure I was watching Bojack Horseman at the time as well.

YOUR LYRICS ARE SO SPECIFIC AND PERSONAL. ARE LYRICS SOMETHING YOU SPEND A LOT OF TIME ON WHEN YOU WRITE?

Surprisingly, lyrics don’t take a very long time for me. Typically, writing a song, including the lyrics, melody, and guitar, takes about 30 minutes to an hour. I think the lyrics come so easily to me because they are usually rooted in my own experiences, so they just kind of flow out of me like the song is a diary or something. The whole experience is very therapeutic.

THERE’S A LOT OF WORDPLAY IN THE SONG. DID THAT COME NATURALLY OR WAS THAT INTENTIONAL?

It was definitely intentional, but it was really fun to play around with. In the second verse, I thought about the wordplay more intricately.

WHAT WAS THE HARDEST PART OF THE SONG FOR YOU TO WRITE? WHAT WAS THE EASIEST?

The second verse was hard for me to write because I knew that I wanted to continue the word play and the concept of time, but I wasn’t really sure how to do that. When I expanded the idea to the concept of seasons, the ideas flowed more easily. The easiest was the first verse and chorus. That flowed very naturally for me.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE LYRIC FROM THE SONG?

I think my favorite line is “now I know why they call it fall-ing, cuz with autumn comes the leaves. In the browns and the reds you have left me for dead, now all I can do is grieve”. I’m pretty proud of the wordplay between fall/fall and leaves/leaving + the autumn imagery.

YOU POSTED A CLIP OF THE SONG ON TIK TOK AND IT TOOK OFF. WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO RECIEVE SUCH A HUGE REACTION TO ONE OF YOUR SONGS BEFORE IT WAS RELEASED?

I was shocked that a song I wrote that day in my dorm room received so much love. Viral videos have actually really established my music career. The label that I am signed with, SELENE, found me through a different viral video that eventually morphed into my first single “Codependent.” Though virality definitely does influence which songs I decide to continue to work on, it’s not the final say. I have a few songs that I am working on now that were not necessarily TikTok successes, but they still have a huge place in my heart.

WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO FINALLY GET TO RELEASE THE SONG?

It feels incredible. I also feel a huge amount of relief. Anticipation has been building for a few months now, and I am so excited to finally get this song out into the world.

HOW DO YOU HOPE PEOPLE REACT TO THE SONG?

I hope they like that I kept it pretty acoustic. I hope it resonates, especially with those that are mourning someone, whether that be in a breakup-sense or otherwise. I hope people feel heard when they listen to “Good Mourning.”

ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT THE SONG/YOUR MUSIC IN GENERAL?

I think a big thing I want people to know is that I am working on a lot of other new tunes, and I am super excited to share the wide range of sounds and exciting ideas and hopefully branch out with my music. Also, a fun fact about “Good Mourning” is that I recorded the entire song in my childhood home!

YOU CAN LISTEN TO “Good Mourning” ON STREAMING SERVICES LIKE SPOTIFY AND APPLE MUSIC. CHECK OUT THE SONG AND MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW @twentyminuteslater TO STAY UPDATED ON FUTURE POSTS.