Behind The Song: "The City" by Charlie Hole

Hey guys!

Yesterday we celebrated our new social media outfits with a new playlist.

Thank you all so much for checking it out and for the lovely feedback,
it truly made my day.

If you've listened to the playlist, you will have heard the song we're here to talk about today.
And if you haven't, no problem - that's why we're running today's feature.

I'm super thrilled to say that today the fabulous Charlie Hole is here to chat us through the story behind his latest single, "The City".
I always love finding out what inspired an artist to write a song about it and I especially love it when I also love the song.

So, ladies and gentlemen, let's check this out!


- Behind The Song -

"The City" by Charlie Hole

Charlie Hole is a singer/songwriter from Bournemouth, UK.

His carefully crafted music combines Acoustic and Folk elements in such elegant manner.
Charlie started making and writing music at the young age of eleven and has been going strong ever since.

With inspirations such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits & Paul Simon, it's no surprise that we find a lot of personality and intimacy in his songs.

His debut album "The Joy of a Caged Bird" was released in 2013.
With loyal fans and praise from none other than Rod Stewart and three time Novello Award winner Andy Hill, it's safe to say we're not the only ones with his music on repeat.

In October of 2017, Charlie dropped his latest EP, "Someone Else's Dream" and proved that his music is proper on-repeat material.

On June 8th of 2018 Charlie released a new single called "The Ballad Of Anne Beverley",
and just last week he shared his latest single, "The City", with us.


Today we get to find out what inspired the song, so please check out what Charlie told us about it:


"I lived in London for about five years in total; playing the open-mic circuit, busking and learning how to live away from home.
I wrote "The City" after moving out of London and reflecting on my time there with the benefit of a bit space and distance. I've always been hugely influenced by my surroundings and London really imposed itself on my writing in a lot of ways. It left a mark on me for sure.

It's a song that encapsulates everything there is about living in one of the greatest cities in the world; the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between.

I love London, but it damn nearly killed me.
There were definitely times where I just couldn't breathe or hear myself think and I just had to get away from it all, back to sea.

I  also had some amazing times there and I learnt so much about myself and the world.
I often felt overwhelmed living in a place that had seen so much history, and I couldn't help but feel that in some way, we were stitching ourselves into its tapestry somehow...

I used to think about all the people that had passed through that place over the years, how many stories it could tell, how many dreams it had made or broken over all that time.

I also wanted to give the city a personality, like it was this omniscient presence watching over all of us, deciding who was going to win or lose on any given day, like it held all of us in the palm of its hands.

 I felt like it was bigger than all of us and I wanted to get that across in the song.
There's a bit of everyone in there, I hope."


Listen to "The City" right here:




- stream "The City" here -



Charlie Hole online: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Instagram





Thank you for your visit!

Credits // Words (Intro & Outro): Vanessa Jetwash | Image & Words (about song): Charlie Hole