Elliot James Reay is back at Genius to discuss his hit song, “I Think They Call This Love.” The track marks the young singer-songwriter’s debut and truly reminiscent of classic ‘50s and '60s rock 'n’ roll. On today’s episode of Verified, Elliot dives into the personal inspiration behind the song, how he found his sound, what love means to him, and more!
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MusicTranscript
00:00My song specifically started the day I was born.
00:03There was no real moment or pivotal point where I realized that I could sing.
00:07Once I got to about 14 and I started singing Elvis and really giving it some beans, that's
00:10when I knew I was like, yeah, this is my stuff.
00:13I love singing this.
00:14More than I love singing the pop stuff, I knew that this was my style and my sound and
00:17that this is where I was meant to be and what I was meant to do.
00:26I have been in love before.
00:27I'm currently in love.
00:28This song was written with her, so it's a very special song to me.
00:32This song is about the first time that I ever fell in love.
00:35Specifically, it's about that realization.
00:37Love's different for everyone and I think it's important for you to take it in your own time.
00:43For me personally, I think what was going on was I had these funny feelings and I was like,
00:47what am I feeling right now?
00:49And the song perfectly captures that funny feeling.
00:58The thing with these specific lyrics was I wanted to really have two sayings in there.
01:19The first bit is sort of like you're asking someone else, what does love feel like?
01:24And imagine there's a wise old man sat there and he's like, well, you know when you know.
01:29And then obviously, have you had me at hello?
01:30Those are two idioms, if you like.
01:32I think it's just a perfect way to start the song.
01:34I think it's a lead into what the realization will be.
02:04These lyrics are like trying to tell people and to convince myself that you don't need
02:11to have too much to be in love.
02:13I think just missing someone, wishing that they were near you all the time,
02:16is enough for you to know you're in love and to know that you have that connection with someone,
02:21to have something beautiful with them.
02:23And I didn't want to really go out too much and make it too complicated because that's not
02:29really what the songs that I like are like.
02:32It's just simplifying love and showing it in its simplest form.
02:51Those lyrics are like, they're supposed to be an equation.
02:53One smile, kiss, two lonely hearts.
02:56That's all it takes to make love, really.
02:58If we were to write it down on a piece of paper and display how you fall in love,
03:02that's how I would do it.
03:10The vibrations line was one of them things where we were just messing around.
03:13I think we were listening to Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys.
03:17Yeah.
03:17We were just messing around.
03:18Let's put that in there.
03:19It's a fun line to work with and it's a little hint to that side of music.
03:28That line specifically is probably one of my favorite lines.
03:37Just because of the way that it was written, we'd put in the guitar solo.
03:42We looked at each other and said, it needs something else.
03:45What is it?
03:45This line wasn't originally written down in the lyrics.
03:49She turned to me and said, well, what could it be?
03:52I said, well, between you and me.
03:53And it was like this moment where sparks went off and we're like, that's it.
03:56That's the line.
03:57All I dream of is your eyes.
04:03All I long for is your touch.
04:06And darling, something tells me, it tells me it's enough.
04:13You can say that I'm a fool and I don't know very much.
04:19But I think they call, oh, I think they call.
04:25Yes, I think they call, this love, this love.
04:41At this point in the song, I'm trying to like amp it up a bit.
04:44This is like the desperation.
04:45The line at the end, yes, I think they call this love.
04:48That's the solidification, if you like.
04:50That's the point of like, yes, this is love.
04:52I know now.
04:53I know what it is.
04:54And to just showcase that journey from what is this?
04:58Oh, it might be love.
04:59Is this, I think it's love.
05:00I think it's love.
05:00Yes, this is love.
05:01It's like putting a bow on the end of it.
05:05At the time, me and my girlfriend were taking dance lessons.
05:07We were learning to do like swing dancing.
05:09What we did after we were listening to the song back was we actually danced to it.
05:13We were trying to see if it was danceable.
05:15Can people dance to it in a nice way?
05:17And we tested it and it worked.
05:19Definitely passed the test.