Track By Tracks: Lucy Mayhem - Into Hell (2024)

1. Save Me:

Save Me was the first song I wrote for the EP. I wrote the lyrics back around the fall time of 2022 and got into the studio to record with my producer, Jamie King, in February of 2023 for this song. Lyrically, this song was inspired by my experience in college, of which I’d just dropped out in December of 2021. Really my experience, and all the events that followed from the time I started thinking about dropping out to dropping out inspired this whole EP. This song is the first track on the EP because it’s really the starting point of that pivotal decision. At that time, I hadn’t decided I was going to drop out yet, as I was too afraid of the unknown and the consequences that could follow, but I was also miserable in school, my mental health was rapidly declining, and ultimately I didn’t want to be there and didn’t feel it was right for me. That’s where the themes and imagery of this EP start to come into play: themes of being/feeling trapped, alone, desperate, deeply sad, and conflicted. In the song I’m speaking more about how I’m feeling than what’s actually going on to cause these feelings, which is why I use references to the devil, making deals with the devil, and imagery like fire and running. This begins the more conceptual, theatrical story of the EP.

2. Into Hell:

When I wrote Save Me, I wrote it just to be a one-off single, but realized when I finished the song that I could turn it into an EP. Spring of 2023- Fall of 2023 is when I wrote and recorded the rest of the EP. Into Hell was actually written because the therapist I had at the time was having me write down rants anytime I was upset. Sometimes these came out as actual rants, and other times it was easier for me to just write a song, which was the case with Into Hell. The song comes across as a toxic relationship song, in reality, I’m not speaking to an ex. I’m speaking to myself in the song, or rather my depression. This song is where the themes of anger and revenge start to come into play. Like I said earlier, my mental health started to rapidly decline in school and I was starting to end up back in a severe place. I was mad at myself for noticing it, but still letting it consume me, despite knowing very well how dark I could get. More so than being mad at myself, I was just done with my brain, my depression. In the conceptual storyline of the EP, Save Me is where I sign a deal with the devil in exchange for having mental pain go away, and Into Hell is where I realize I’ve made a big mistake and need to figure out how to get out.

3. Take It All:

Take It All is the only song on the EP that wasn’t inspired by my mental health in correlation to dropping out. Take It All is actually a direct letter to music for me. I think everyone knows music isn’t an easy thing to pursue. For me, it’s crushing to spend every waking moment thinking about something, working towards something, putting every fiber of your being, energy, emotion, and time into something, not knowing if it will ever pay off in the way you hope. As much as pursuing music can be really tough emotionally, it’s also the thing that, for me, brings me purpose, gives me drive, passion, and a reason to stay on this earth, and ultimately it saved my life before I made it, and continues to every day I continue to make it. That’s why the song kinda comes across like an odd love letter in a sense. In the context of the conceptual storyline of the EP, this is pretty much me telling the devil to bring it on. I don’t care how much you hurt me, use me, trick me, I’m going to figure out a way to survive this and get out.

4. The Animal You Made:

Just like Into Hell, The Animal You Made is a song that was written specifically because my therapist wanted me to write a song that had some sort of brighter side, or gave me some power, as all my songs in the past had pretty much been I’m sad and that’s it. Because of this, the theme of taking back power really starts to get emphasized with this song. I really wanted to bring in the idea of exposing that the devil being referenced throughout the storyline of the EP is myself, my brain, and the devil on my shoulder. This is ultimately what inspired the pre-chorus and title “the animal you made.” I wanted to give the visual of representing myself as a creature and all my self-destructive tendencies, while also exposing that this whole time I’m “fighting with the devil” I’m really fighting with myself, which is specifically represented in the chorus. I also wanted this song to lead into the next song which is not in “hell”, so this song also acts as my big battle with “the devil” and my escape of sorts.

5. Nowhere To Go (Walk On):

I like to think about EPs like one would think about an album. For me, every good album has some sort of ballad that gradually builds into this big-sounding thing, usually towards the end of the album. In the context of my EP, that building ballad is Nowhere To Go (Walk On.) I said earlier in the context of the conceptual storyline of the EP this song doesn’t take place in Hell, as I just escaped in the last song. This is the song where I’m back “home”. When I came back home after dropping out, everything felt very dystopian and lonely to me. This was for a multitude of reasons: I felt the most alone I had potentially ever felt in my life, I was a very different person from who I was when I left for school, and while I chose to drop out, I didn’t really want to have to move out of Chicago where I was and come back home to NC, I just didn’t have any other option. How “home” felt had changed for me. Going back to the story of the EP, Nowhere To Go (Walk On) is me coming out of “Hell”, walking down the streets of what used to be my home, and realizing I don’t belong there anymore. Because of that, I just start walking, not knowing where I’m going, but knowing I just need to go.

6. Fear:

For me, Fear is very much a reflection on everything that had been talked about throughout the EP, and really my whole life. That’s why it’s the last track. Dropping out of school and coming home, for me, was terrifying. Borderline is one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. It was a big deal, a big decision, and felt very “did I just screw over the rest of my life?” Perusing music is one of the reasons I dropped out. Dropping out, for me, made it so that I felt I had no other option but to throw myself into music full force, full time, 24/7, and I didn’t know if it was gonna work out. Still don’t. In the context of the story, Fear is what I’m thinking about as I’m aimlessly just walking, not knowing where I’m going, what I’m doing, or what the future looks like. I’ve always had this idea that I want all my music to tell one overarching story ep-ep, album-album, all correlated in some way. For me, “Into Hell” EP is the start of that overarching story and Fear is the cliffhanger ending to the EP that leads into whatever the next EP ends up becoming.