The physical Arrivals album comes as a special-edition 22-page unbound magazine. 11 cards each feature a previously-unpublished photograph from my childhood and travels illustrating a track on the album, and on the reverse is a poem, quote, or story further exploring that song's theme - only found here, never to be reproduced elsewhere!
The album regular edition comes with a digital download code - upgrading to the deluxe edition* adds in a physical CD, along with two more photographs and poems!
*To upgrade to the Deluxe edition, pay $15 plus shipping and add a note during checkout that you want the DELUXE edition!
After she’s left - sadness. But also joy, because I’ve learned to love.
lyrics
VERSE 1
I told Katrina I loved her on the phone, we were fourteen
Didn’t know what those words mean, but they sounded like something
someone serious would say, so I used them like a bandage
To hide away the hurt I couldn’t show to friends or parents
She said it back, the summer passed, she took it back, but I!
learned to fiend for that feeling of falling in love
Garden State was my praise song, 500 Days my drug
Evry new crush, a new rush, a new first kiss, now I’m drunk
Broke up, sober, over, her, rebound, addict, overdose, broken -
But!
YOU came through,
You made it all new
At first sight I knew, now my eyes only see you
Since that first night that we talked until the clock almost hit two
You walked me home through the streets of a city that was strange
I didn’t know how I should go, you already knew the way
And you checked out my baggage, but let me carry on
So my heart beat in half notes as I wrote you this song
CHORUS
I heard a love song
I heard a love song
Ba-dum
Ba-dum
Ba-dum Ba-dum Ba-dum
VERSE 2
Your arm was so warm as we rode the upper deck of the bus
To the peak
As the city fell asleep
Her sky scraping light spread below
in the dark
Walkin through the dock, we shared your earbuds, now
Addicts break the cycle when they find a greater bond
And emotion that we’re showin is unexpectedly strong
I heard: “you don’t know what you got until it’s gone”,
but now I know,
ever since I saw it I knew what I want: you
caught me by surprise, like that all-nighter we pulled
Sunrise was so bright after our night out under the moon
Now I wake up to your emojis, don’t find sleep til you call me
My phone died four or five times, I lose track of time when we’re talkin
I’m all in, no stallin, so please don’t be rough
It’s not a crush, it’s a fact: I’m fallin in love with us
All in, no stallin, you showed me that love is
Not a buzz that can wear off, but the care I offer up - to you
VERSE 3
You left, said you couldn’t commit
I tried to push it, said I’d move anywhere that you went
We both knew that I could give all I have, and you could take it
But it takes two to relate, you turned your back, I had to face it
You can ask Rock, ask Ed, that first week? Real bad
The second week? Bad too - by third week I had to take those messages and chats,
the vacations we planned,
the photographs that we snapped,
they all just ended up in my trash.
But you showed me what love is, that’s the memory that I kept
How I put my arm around you as we sat there on those steps
That was, love in the air as we shared about our past
And the love I gave to you is not love that I’ll never get back
So this love song is not for you - but it’s because we met
We both hurt, we both healed - now I wish you the best
I learned: love is not a check I wrote and you cashed
Instead, I know that love grows, even if you give and never get it back.
credits
from Arrivals,
released September 2, 2016
Produced by Joe Kye.
Engineered by Sean Stack at Fat Cat Studio (Sacramento)
Written and performed by jason chu, FUZZY (Erin Kim)
Additional vocals by Jessica Louise