Something In The Room She Moves

Album: Something In The Room She Moves (2024)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Something In The Room She Moves" is a cryptic and introspective song that reflects the complexities of self-discovery. It's open to interpretation, inviting listeners to find their own meaning within the evocative imagery and fragmented phrases.
  • The song is the title track of Julia Holter's sixth album, Something in the Room She Moves. The title emerged organically. While naming a demo track for the album, Holter landed on "Something In The Room She Moves" almost by chance. This seemingly random phrase sparked a connection.
  • Uncut magazine questioned Holter on a potential connection to George Harrison's iconic lyric, "Something in the way she moves" from The Beatles' "Something." Her response? A playful "It is and it isn't."

    "It was just a random phrase I typed in when naming that particular track on my computer," she continued. "But I guess it must be connected to The Beatles' song subconsciously. I had been watching Peter Jackson's Get Back film at the end of 2021, which I loved. I felt it was a wonderful examination of the songwriting process. Of course, I love The Beatles, I grew up with their music, and I've been singing their songs to my daughter. And there's that scene in Get Back where I grew up with their music, and I've been singing their songs to my daughter. And there's that scene in get back where George is trying to come up with the lyric to something and John tells him to just sing, 'Attracts me like a cauliflower' until you get the word. That's really good writing advice! So yes, that may have influenced the title."
  • The song is Holter's favorite track on the album. "I love the chord progression," she told Uncut. "It was partly inspired by 'Feel You,' the opening song on Have You in My Wilderness. But it took on a whole other mystical feeling."
  • Holter produced the album with Kenny Gilmore, who is part of Ariel Pink's touring band. The production, watery and shifting, was inspired by the 2008 Studio Ghibli film Ponyo, which she watched for the first time with her two-year-old daughter.

    "It was her first ever movie," Holter told The Independent. "She'd never seen a screen before, so it was a big deal. And for me, I think there was a weird childhood thing going on because The Little Mermaid was so important to me, and Ponyo is that story but better because it's this cool fish rather than this hot sexy mermaid, who was my role model for some reason."

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