Happy Ears: Had Enough by Joe Wood
Joe Wood released his new single "Had Enough" in January.
As his 4th release, "Had Enough" shows Wood's unique voice as a musician in the electronic pop world.
Read his creative process behind this breakup anthem below!
"Had Enough" was very symbolic of exactly what was going on in my life at the time. I was feeling particularly fed up with my New York day job grind, barely getting by money-wise, and not satisfied with where my music career was at...all while going through the worst break up I've ever had to deal with. I guess I was reaching a boiling point and needed some sort of release. The song was a manifestation of the boiling point that I was at in life in 2017, and knew that this could propel me into a new phase in my life if I pulled the song off.
The verse is chill and a little nostalgic. It's admitting that you're caught in a back-and-forth, willing to give love another shot, and confused if its the right decision. I was longing for a time when life was more simple, (the honeymoon phase) and we were both kind of still healing from past experiences. The pre-chorus questions if giving love another try is worth it, and tries to capture how frustrating and draining it can be to keep making something work. The chorus is simply an outburst of the frustrations. "Past mistakes adding up each day" is a reference to my (bad) tendency to kind of keep track of mistakes or bad habits someone will have, and not address them in the moment and resolve things before they turn into bigger issues. I had never really had any kind of blowout fight breakup before. Things had always kind of ended mutually or with some sort of understanding. This one was a very drawn-out and slow process that wound up being really frustrating. "Sleepless nights and bloodshot eyes, (the lead lyrics in the chorus)" refers to the late night texts I would get a few times a week following the break up. There was always this unsure feeling about whether or not we'd get back together, and I've always had this (and still do have) a habit of getting back together with an ex even after I swear I won't.
Musically, I was kind of growing tired from the vibey R&B that I had been doing (on songs like Rush and Somethin Bout You). I wasn't able to show much dynamic range in my vocals, and I felt like the finished products were more focused on the overall feel than anything going on performance-wise. I was looking for any way that I could break out of the wave I was on, while still telling a story that was true to myself. I had just discovered the track "Again" by Fetty Wap, and kind of wanted to emulate Again's repetitive lead synth line over a hip hop influenced beat. I was also inspired by the track Roses by the Chainsmokers, and even layered in a synth on the lead line in the chorus that is meant to emulate the Roses drop sound. Roses lacked a bass line in the verse, and Again leaned on the sub bass, and I knew I wanted a rhythmic bass to contrast the repetitive lead synth line. What I went with was a mellow polyphonic bass line that gave room for my vocals to shine a bit, was rhythmically interesting enough to contrast the repetitiveness of the verse, and didn't eat too much of the mix up.
I wanted a nice flow to the track as well, and knew I could accomplish some of that with my vocal performance, so I dropped the verse's register to something relatively easy for my range. This provided a great contrast to the chorus. The verse is calm, almost like you're trying to reconnect in a calm manner after a fight. I struggle with anger problems, and the chorus is sort of me dipping into that anger or rage boiling up in me. The verse flow is heavily inspired by Beverly by Allan Rayman, and I tried to sing Had Enough with as much ease as Rayman did in that track.
I'm really satisfied with how this song came out. What is really amazing is the amount of people that have connected or related to these lyrics. I've had people reach out to me personally just to tell me how much that Had Enough resonated with them. To me, that makes all of the time it took to write the track and get the production right worth it. Its stuff like this that inspires me to keep at music, and keep trying to make my dreams come true.