When it comes to being Taylor Acorn fans, THP is in it for the long haul. Whether you discovered her in the Certified Depressant days, from her feature on Arrows in Action’s ‘Uncomfortably Numb,’ or from the earliest days of her career, you won’t regret joining us on that journey. Taylor is celebrating a new career milestone — she just signed with Fearless Records — and we could not be more excited for her! And what better way to celebrate this new “signed artist” era than with new music! THP is so SO excited to bring you the premiere of Taylor Acorn’s new song ‘Goodbye, Good Riddance,’ so go on and give it a listen!
‘Goodbye, Good Riddance’
We have been happily obsessed with Survival in Motion (including the deluxe version) and will gladly eat up every Taylor Acorn release, so when we found out she’s dropping new music, we were over the moon! ‘Goodbye, Good Riddance’ takes on a grittier, almost triumphant approach to moving on from someone. Sometimes, erasing someone from your life and realizing they aren’t a problem anymore is the best form of vengeance, and that’s what that song brings us. It’s an anthemic, powerful track, and if this is what the new era of Taylor Acorn has in store for us, we can’t wait!
In a way, ‘Goodbye, Good Riddance’ feels like a narrative shift from Taylor Acorn’s ‘Psycho,’ moving from lashing out in anger — “I’m throwing knives at pictures of your face on the wall” — to acceptance and letting go of someone who doesn’t deserve a place in your life anymore. The lyrics “have a good life without me in it” and “didn’t think that I could forget someone so fast” capture that shift pretty well, if you ask us. Triumphant vengeance feels like the best descriptor because ‘Goodbye, Good Riddance’ really does make you go “yeah, imagine fumbling me, goodbye and good riddance!” That is the kind of empowerment we can get behind.
And we love the way that the ‘Goodbye, Good Riddance” music video showcases that idea of empowerment. Given the lyrics of the track, it would have made sense if the mv had focused on a relationship. It subverted our expectations in the best way by leaning into empowerment through the idea of the main character fighting for her spot in a competition, proving that she deserves to be there just as much as her male counterparts. We love this take on the song and the music video did a great job at translating that idea.
In The Words of Taylor Acorn Herself
We were actually lucky enough to get to chat with Taylor herself about ‘Goodbye, Good Riddance’ and this huge milestone of signing with Fearless Records, so check out what she had to say!
‘Goodbye, Good Riddance’ is your first release of your “signed to a record label” era, congratulations! How do you feel about signing with Fearless Records?
Oh man, it feels insane! I’m so nervous yet so excited. I’ve been an independent artist for 9 years so to have a team that believes in me, sees my vision, and wants to amplify that, that’s just really cool. The Fearless team has been incredible, the energy has been so positive, I’m just really excited about everything to come.
We love how you’re not afraid to get creative with your sound, bringing in pop punk influences that we love and creating a unique sound that’s all your own. Is that something you’re looking to explore more in this new era, with ‘Goodbye, Good Riddance’ shifting a little from the Survival in Motion era sound?
Yes! I feel like I’ve grown so much as an artist and as a writer, and so has my confidence. I think that’s what’s so cool about getting to release new music—you can explore sounds and ideas. That’s definitely what I strived to do with this song, plus the others to come. We just had fun, nothing was a dumb idea,.There were SO many vocal takes and different ideas vocally. I also had a decent amount of time off from touring to really think about how I wanted everything to sound and curate ideas with my co-writers. Making this project was super fun in that way.
On that note, was there a particular way that you approached the creation of ‘Goodbye, Good Riddance’ and the grittier anthemic sound? Was there any part of the process that differed from the way you’ve created songs in the past?
We started writing this one at 8am one morning- that was a totally new thing and honestly I loved it. My cowriter Kendall came in with coffee, muffins and with a really big soaring “Goodbye” idea which is what you’ll hear in the bridge. We just pieced it together from there. We wrote it super fast, I unloaded all of my emotions, and I think we were done by 9am with all of the lyrics, which was so cool. It just fell out and felt super seamless and natural. Honestly, I love that we were able to write something so high energy that early. I highly recommend writing songs about revenge to start the morning, I felt revived.
You grew up in the 90s/2000s pop punk scene, what is it like going from being a fan to getting to perform at festivals like Warped Tour and When We Were Young Fest alongside some of the artists you grew up with?
It’s actually crazy and I’m still trying to wrap my head around how all of it even happened this way. I went to Warped Tour for the first time in 2014. I got to be in that crowd as a fan, and so to see it from the other side—I don’t know—it feels very full circle. I’m so honored to have been welcomed in with open arms, everyone has been so kind. I just feel super blessed.
Music is subjective and can mean different things to different people. That being said, is there a particular message in ‘Goodbye, Good Riddance’ that you really hope fans resonate with?
I hope that it leaves them feeling strong and empowered. That’s always been a huge message I’ve wanted to send with all of my music, but especially when it comes to this song. There’s so much darkness in the world, and to be able to walk away from bad relationships or circumstances with your head held high is such a major feat. That’s what this song embodies and I hope that listeners are able to feel that too.
Now that you’ve signed with Fearless Records, is there something you wish you could go back and tell your younger self just starting out on your musical journey?
I would tell her that all of the pain, the days crying on the floor wanting to quit, the times her bank account bounced because she put her last few pennies into getting songs produced, is going to be so worth it. I’d tell her to just keep her head up and smile a little more, it always gets better no matter how hard it feels sometimes.
We know that you dropped Survival in Motion (Deluxe)recently (which we loved by the way) but with the release of ‘Goodbye, Good Riddance’, should we be expecting a new era of Taylor Acorn? Are there any secrets you can spill about upcoming projects?
There may be a few new songs on the way very soon, but that’s all I’ll say for right now!
And there you have it folks. A new era of Taylor Acorn is upon us and we are loving it. We’re so proud of her success and we can’t wait to see her continue to thrive on her musical journey. And like we said, we intend to stick along for the ride! Let us know your thoughts on ‘Goodbye, Good Riddance’ in the comments below or drop us a line on our socials, you can find us @thehoneypop on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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