Who hasn’t been on one end or another of a late-night text? You’re just minding your own business and then a few drinks later you’re making plans to meet up with your ex. After all, the heart wants what the heart wants and your brain isn’t always there to keep it in check, which is, more or less, the theme of Mallory Johnson’s new video, “Drunk Mind, Sober Heart.”
This story begins (as many do) with our hero were sitting in a bar without any need for social distancing…
“… and I was singing about how hard it is to social distance from an ex when I’ve had a little too much to drink,” jokes Johnson.
Written by Johnson, Tenille Arts, and Krystan Bellows, with a video directed by Mallory’s brother Cecil, “Drunk Mind, Sober Heart” shows how hazardous it can be to trust your heart with your liver instead of your head.
Even more concerning, it can happen to anyone at any time (though your odds definitely increase if it happens to be late in the evening on St. Patrick’s Day). Johnson says that this specific song came about entirely by accident.
“Tenille, Krystan and I were celebrating St. Paddy’s Day in Nashville, so we had spent the day listening to Irish Newfoundland Music and drinking margaritas,” laughs Johnson. “One of us got a text from an ex-boyfriend and Tenille’s reaction was ‘A drunk mind speaks a sober heart.'”
Rather than trimming off the less personal edges of the song, the almost universal experience of an after-hours text led to the group dishing on their own misadventures with the often surprising and regularly cringe-inducing communiques.
“Almost immediately, we sat down to write. The three of us are pretty close,” says Johnson, “so it was easy to be vulnerable and share our stories with each other when we sat down at 1:00a.m. and wrote the song. I think we all kind of inserted ourselves into the story so it still stayed pretty personal. Surprisingly, the more personal a song, I find the more people relate to it.
“Co-writing can be scary because you’re kind of forced to be vulnerable if you want the song to be great. It’s also therapeutic for the same reason. It’s nice to collaborate because everyone has different strengths and their perspectives can help you approach a concept (or lyric, or melody) in a different way.”
Johnson, who says she has remained close friends with many of her ex’s (two of them even appeared in her last music video for “Hungover“), explains that she sees these interactions as something a little more innocent, or at least perfectly human.
“For me, the song wasn’t about one specific relationship, but there were definitely lines and visuals inspired by true events. We’re all guilty of sending those late-night texts when we miss somebody, especially when we’ve had a little too much to drink. I didn’t want to paint anyone out to be the ‘bad guy’… just two people that missed each other’s company despite how or why their relationship may have changed. The end of the video is my favourite part because it kind of leaves that story open-ended.”
Filmed in Johnson’s (favourite) George Street bar, The Bull and Barrel, she stars against Jeff Sullivan (who Johnson notes is not an ex-boyfriend).
“We did. however, play boyfriend/girlfriend in ‘Fame’ years ago with Theatre St. John’s! I was Serena Katz and he was Nick Piazza. We’ve been friends for a long time. He’s now a musical theatre star based in New York.”
Johnson notes that the song is likely to appear on another EP or full-length album within the next year.
“The timeline is kind of up in the air because of the pandemic,” says Johnson, “but I’m hopeful I can get into a studio sooner than later.”