A personal and powerful pop project, Grace Davies shares in-depth thoughts and feelings on her debut album, The Wrong Side of 25. 

grace davies

The fickleness and superficiality of the music industry is no secret. For Grace Davies, it built the core of her debut album. The singer-songwriter has just unveiled her eclectic, colourful and deeply personal debut album, The Wrong Side of 25, documenting her journey to sharing this broad artistic statement — the highs and lows, victories and losses.

Whether cinematic balladry or subtle songsmithery, the talent finds the right balance of bravado and humanity. Taking Wonderland behind the surface, she offers up a track-by-track rundown.

On the album as a whole, Grace comments: 

The Wrong Side Of 25 is something I said to my Mum on my 26th birthday, after she kindly pointed out that I was closer to 30 than 20. Quarter life crises are obviously a thing, but I think it feels even heavier when you’re an artist – particularly a ‘new, upcoming’ one. The industry favours youth, you only have to look at the ‘over 25s’ category on X Factor to know that anyone above the age of 25 is considered ‘past it – and that sucks. It makes you feel like you’ve somehow missed the boat or not achieved enough, even though realistically you are still young’. 

This album takes that age-related panic, along with every life lesson or hardship I’ve experienced in my (now) 28 years on earth and turns it into a therapeutic (for me, at least) exhale. I’m not a big talker when it comes to feelings, I don’t go to therapy, I don’t like to bother anyone with my problems so, for me, writing songs is a way of getting stuff off my chest – and if that can make anyone going through the same stuff feel a little less alone and take comfort then… It makes it a little bit more worth it for me too!

Listen to the album…

Read the track-by-track…

“Welcome To The Wrong Side / Youngest I’ll Ever Be”

I call this one my overture. For anyone who doesn’t know me, it’s a great introduction to who I am as a person, what I’ve been through in my life / career and what’s led me up to this point. I think it sets the tone of subject matter for the rest of the album. I’ve always had a freak out about the concept of time and aging; the fact that right here, right now, is the youngest we will ever be and life is constantly moving forward and everything behind you is permanent is a terrifying thought to me. One of my favourite films is “About Time”, where they can go back in time and change how events unfolded by reacting differently. This is something I spend far too much time thinking about. “If I’d have just done that or said this then maybe that wouldn’t have happened” but it’s such pointless thinking – we can’t. Hence why I then work myself up into a frenzy. It’s a heavy song lyrically and I wanted the production to feel equally as turbulent and intense as my emotions – but we get all the heavy stuff out of the way first, then move into party central.

“Super Love Me”

Here we are, just touched down in party central! SLM is where I really feel the album ‘begins’; it’s a classic Grace heartbreak ballad wrapped up in boppy production… We call this genre ‘dance cry’.

In 2020 I got into a very fast-moving, ‘covid bubble’ relationship, where one day I was facetime-dating someone, then we were going on socially distanced walks – and then suddenly he lived in my flat for weeks with me. But alas, one day he woke up, left the flat and I never heard from him again… Feel like you’ve missed a chapter? Yeah, me too. It’s been 5 years and I’m still on two blue ticks! Sometimes I have to remind myself of what this song is about, because I just want to boogie round my bedroom, but really it is a classic Grace sad girl anthem.

“Do Or Die”

Do Or Die dives into the messiness of being the guilty party in a relationship’s breakdown. It’s about knowing a relationship has run its course but not having the courage to end it. You selfishly keep that person there while exploring other options. It’s not a proud thing, or a romanticisation, but guilt can eat you alive and sometimes you think it’s better if they never find out. Despite it being a bit of a wildcard lyrically, it’s a proper stonker if I do say so myself. Big toe-tapping energy. 

“Hotel Delilah”

This song was some of the most fun I’ve ever had when writing. I started off the day by listening to “Gimme Gimme Gimme” (as everyone should) and this is what followed. Combining my love for epic strings & drama with a 70s/80s Donna Summer bassline, I’ve never had a ‘floorfiller’ track before and it felt about time I did… She’s jam packed with sexual innuendos and lyrics that made me die with laughter when they were coming out of my brain. Nothing too deep (unlike most of the album lol) but a lighthearted, sexy boogie! 

“Lonely Long Enough”

“Lonely Long Enough” is about the fear of getting back into a relationship after a failed one. Some break ups can be so traumatic that they leave genuine scars – and instead of thinking about all of the good bits from that relationship and wanting to find that in someone else, you think about all the pain & hurt and it deters you from ever dating again. Healing takes time, so this song is saying “I don’t think I’ve lived with the pain of what happened last time long enough to be able to recover and move on.” The feeling of being lonely is better than the feeling of being heartbroken, so I need to sit in that space a bit longer before I can even think about allowing myself to fall in love again. 

“Butterflies”

I wrote this one about my grandparents; they both suffered from Alzheimer’s and dementia before they died from it in recent years. As a grandchild it was a horrible thing to see happen, watching the people you once knew die before the actual body does – it’s soul destroying. But every now and then you would catch a glimpse and they’d come back, even if just for a minute – and in those minutes you’d see their love for each other and their memories flood back. It’s such a touchy subject, something I’ve never written about before out of respect for my family; it doesn’t feel like my story to tell, so I decided rather than make it a sad song about losing hope that I would incorporate it into a love song they would’ve sung to each other through their better days. A song that says I will always love you no matter if this happens, and even when the signs start to show I will never let it be known, I will love you just the same. ‘For better and for worse’, I guess? I remember my Mum telling me (after I’d written the song) that when she went to visit my Grandad in hospital they’d put a little butterfly symbol on his wristband and on his paperwork. Reading into it, a butterfly is the symbol used in health care to state that someone has memory loss and therefore needs extra care – it’s called “The Butterfly Scheme”. It was a complete coincidence that I happened to title the song “Butterflies” but it feels so perfect.

“Another Night”

Another Night is about the straw that broke the camel’s back in a relationship. It’s paranoia in love, it’s taking a feeling and running with it without thinking about the consequences – it’s very me. You have someone in a relationship who constantly points the finger over the smallest things and it chips away at the other until they’ve finally had enough and decide to leave – by which point it is too late to claw back. It’s really so sad, someone begging for forgiveness and a second chance – it’s such a vulnerable and shameful state to be in – but I think because it sounds so fun and genuinely is such an ABBA inspired bop, you can’t help but dance… Dance cry!

“Nothing’s Forever, Baby / Look How You’ve Grown”

I’ve been through an absolute world of shit in my twenties but I don’t think I always process it or recognise it because I sometimes think I don’t have any other choice than to just plough through and keep going – particularly in my career working in an industry that waits for no one. I think this song was my opportunity to really sit down with my emotions and be like “ok… you’re actually stronger than you think”. I have my vices, I have my insecurities and 9 times out of 10 I let them rule my life, but I’ve never let them stop me from keeping going. I’ve always managed to dig myself out of holes without accepting help from anyone else; that might be a pride thing or a sense of shame, I’m not sure – either way I get through the shit bits on my own and that’s something I should acknowledge and take pride in… So this song is a pat on the back in some ways. You thought that was the end but now you’re here – look how you dealt with it and look what it taught you. Look how you’ve grown.

“MDE”

“MDE” is a whole lot of fun and chaos. It’s essentially the dialogue that goes on in my head when I’m on a night out with friends and we get chatted up by some sleazeball who won’t stop talking about crypto / stocks and shares. It encapsulates the phrase ‘chewing your ear off’ pretty well, I’d say (as does the music video). If eye rolls were a song, it’d be this. This song was a last minute addition to the album, I wrote it 6 months after we mastered the entire record – and also I didn’t write it with me in mind, so it really caused a bit of chaos within the GD camp for a hot sec – but I think it’s so worth it and actually, in writing something that so wasn’t me – it’s turned out to be very me. 

“I Hope I Never Live To Love Again”

I suppose this is the song that would technically come before Lonely Long Enough (in the running order of “how to deal with a breakup”). It’s that initial gut reaction you have when someone has let you down time after time and you just feel like there is absolutely no hope anymore – there’s a complete refusal to even try or crave romance again. I. Am. Done. I will die alone happily with my 7 cats knowing my heart was better off for it. It’s the most dramatic sentence to say “I hope I never live to love again” (very moi x) but it do be feeling like that. 

“It’s Mean When You Don’t Mean It”

There’s a theme of lovebombing and then ghosting on this album (*cough Track 3 *cough Track 13 *cough Track 14)  but I think this one sums it up pretty well in a ‘straight to the point’ way… It’s just a bit mean, innit. There’s a lot of funny lines in this one and I think that’s just very me to disguise something quite traumatic in humour – we all have our coping mechanisms, but deep down in the song there is a hurt person who wants answers. If you tell me ‘forever’ – why wouldn’t I believe it? If you’re being straight up wonderful to me and giving me nothing but good vibes and reassurance and then pull the rug and go ‘actually, changed my mind, no explanation, cya!’ – what else am I supposed to say / react to that with, other than… Well that’s just mean! And I’ll be daaaaaamned if you call me crazy !!!!!!! “Who says forever like right as they’re leaving? To you they’re just words, but careless words hurt – it’s mean when you don’t mean it”. Yeah, suck on that.  

“25”

“25” is like the bookend song of the album, with “Youngest That I’ll Ever Be” matching it on the other side. Running on the same themes of time running away from you and fearing ageing (“someone blew my birthday candles out and I wasn’t ready”). I really wanted the song to represent how my brain feels whenever I get deep into my existential crisis’. It’s peace and calm (like the ballad parts) and then suddenly AHHHHH. It’s a feeling that comes out of nowhere and hits hard and fast, so I wanted the chorus’ to match that same level of panic and discomfort. In terms of production – I really wanted this to be my ‘grand finale’. You see, I may never get to play Wembley Stadium in my lifetime, but what I have done is made an album – and unfortunately that is not something every artist in today’s industry gets to say. So, I wanted to end my album on a proper ‘thank you Wembley and good night!’ instrumental outro – because that’s what it, and I, deserve.