Why Clara Benin finds happy songs harder to write
For Clara Benin, who has spent the past decade writing songs about heartbreak and existential crises, the real challenge is to come up with something happy for once. While this might sound counterintuitive, consider this: sadness often feels like a problem to be solved, thus lending itself to reflection; happiness, meanwhile, feels self-sufficient and pulls you to live in the present. Who ever interrupts a fleeting moment of bliss to grab a pen and paper?
Benin puts it succinctly. “When you’re happy, it’s a nice distraction,” she tells Lifestyle Inquirer.
On the flip side, “Sad songs are easier to express because pain is a big emotion. So you’re just there, angry writing your feelings down,” she adds, scribbling furiously in the air.
Writing about love from a fun and positive perspective was something she had never done before, and doing so pushed her as a songwriter. That she was able to put out “Really Got Me Thinking”—a six-track EP that embodies that same spirit—Benin couldn’t be prouder.
“I have been inspired by love these past few years and turned them into songs,” she says. “It feels like a different kind of openness and a big part of my growth as a songwriter.”
Personal, relatable songs
Perhaps this was the parallel universe she once sang of. “The One to Blame” is about being happy on your own but better with that one person who makes you feel “lighter, softer, and braver.” In “Tahanan,” only the second Tagalog song she has ever finished, she sings of finding peace in someone who erases the pain of her past and allays her future worries. And in that home, she will wake up with a cup of “Cinnamon Coffee” and make the morning cozy.
“Wings” is her favorite—though no favorite of hers is really permanent—as it shows how the comfort and security that come with love inspire us to dream big and to better ourselves. And as someone whose love language is quality time, Benin is at her happiest when someone thanks her for a time well spent together. “You Around,” then, is just another way of saying “I love you.”
“All these songs are personal to me,” says the singer-songwriter, who drew inspiration from artists like Novo Amor, Lizzy McAlpine, and The Japanese House while working on the EP. “The more personal a song is, the more relatable it is, and the easier it becomes for people to connect to it.”
While her sound is already inherently delicate, she pares it down further by doing away with anything electric. Main producer The Ringmaster sampled leaves and pots outside his home for percussion and beats. By keeping things stripped down and “purely organic,” she gives her words and melodies room to breathe.
“I wanted to sound like I’m just singing in the same room as the listener,” she says.
Sometimes, less is more
Of course, stripped down doesn’t mean empty; in fact, on this record, it’s the opposite. The intricately stacked harmonies make for an atmospheric and dynamic listening experience. The stereo panning also means your two ears never pick up the same sounds at the same time—you get the plucking of strings on the right and the soothing hums and whispers on the left.
The production also effectively opens up space—not always so she can fill it with another vocal line or instrumental layer, but so it can simply be. Sometimes, less is more, as the old adage goes. “I guess there’s this expectation to create music that always sounds full, and that’s something I had to unlearn,” she says. “Silence and restraint in a song can be powerful, too.”
And that’s something Benin has come to trust. After all, love and happiness can soar just as much as they sit in stillness.
