Track by Track: Mood Swings
“Mood Swings” was written a while before PSYCHE was fully fleshed out during my weekly writing sessions with my friend Dana (who features in the Yummy interlude.) We realized that we talked a lot of tough, hot girl shit on the phone but then every week we came back with these sad-ass “Why don’t you love me?” type songs. So we decided that for that week we were going to write songs that maintained the energy we were expressing in our conversations.
At that point in time, I was pretty sad so I didn’t exactly know what to write. So… I decided to write a revenge fantasy song. It was a song meant to be from the perspective of an alternative, empowered, future bad bitch me who was rejecting the boy instead of being rejected. RIP😭 Even though the motivation for writing a song out of a desire for revenge is distinctly Isabela (she’s the one who’s vengeful, as a character) “Mood Swings” is a Yummy song because of the underlying, deeply rooted knowledge that I am too good for this bullshit and really I will be fine going forward. Even though my heart wasn’t there yet, I never lost Yummy in my ear telling me that I was a bad bitch, this boy was not worth my time, and all the drama was beneath me. It was Yummy who helped me feel better and that self-assuredness was the current running through the entire song that allowed it to come to fruition. Even when Isabela is feeling rejected and hurt, Yummy is there to remind her who tf we are, provide catharsis through music, and allow her to move on. That kind of thing can’t come from Cassie’s cerebral center, it has to be deeply wired and expressed through Yummy.
Yummy embodies most of the tough girl side of my personality so I had to make the track really distinct compared to the other two characters. I relied heavily on bass for the production of Mood Swings and tried to put all my frustration into my vocal performance. I wanted the track to feel edgy. My brother mentioned it felt like rager vibes and that’s a good reflection of how I felt. Sometimes I just need songs that express my rage and aggressive side. I hope to continue to do that and one day be able to perfom Mood Swings with a bunch of people just as ready to call out these boys as I am. As I go forward, I also want to continue to flesh out some of the sonic differences between the archetypes each girl embodies (The tough girl as Yummy, the dangerous woman as Isabela, and the braniac as Cassie.)
Lyrics
Oh, now you wanna roll up?
Cuz last weekend you ain’t show up
But this week you wanna
Beg and plead and cry and scream on your knees
Oh, now you wanna switch up?
The only way you’re consistent
Is that you’ll be a punk ass bitch, guaranteed
One of my favorite lyrics because I think you can tell when I deliver it how much I felt it. I’ve never known women to be as pussy as some of these niggas. I don’t swear that much in my songs but I really would like to find more ways to swear that feel like that pack as much punch as this one line.
Can’t take your mood swings baby
You going up and down
A bad bitch do not strike twice but
Okay so in my mind a bad bitch is like lightning. You have like a 1 in a million chance of being with me and you won’t get the same chance twice. I’m moving tf on!
You think I’m a merry-go-round
Like yall really think this is a game.
Won’t do your mood swings, baby
You going left to right
You like your girls like me
😗
But I upgraded overnight
And that’s on PERIODT
Oh
Oh baby got a new man
A line of wannabe backup plans
But you think I’m still carrying your resume?
Oh I’m over the mystery
I tend to like quiet men and I start off like “omg he’s so cool and mysterious, I wonder what he’s thinking” 🤩 but 99% of the time it was never really that deep.
And baby if you miss me
You better keep it to yourself and stay away
Just to remind you that sometimes I am all talk 😭 this was the original line I wrote and then I took it out because I was like “well maybe you could hmu and it would be ok 🥺” and then I went back to it and was like “no FU🤬”
Can’t take your mood swings baby
You going up and down
A bad bitch do not strike twice but
You think I’m a merry-go-round
Won’t do your mood swings, baby
You going left to right
You like your girls like me
But I upgraded overnight
Oh
Chances were given
But you still chose to play
You gave me silence
When I asked you to stay
Now you’re surprised
That I’ve had you replaced
Thought you had diamonds
But she doesn’t shine as bright in the day
Can’t take your mood swings baby
You going up and down
A bad bitch do not strike twice but
You think I’m a merry-go-round
Won’t do your mood swings, baby
You going left to right
You like your girls like me
But I upgraded overnight
Oh
