Sonja Midtune is that rare, ultra-intuitive singer/songwriter and storyteller who can take the deeply intimate emotions of a close friend and translate them into a timeless universal love song. What started as a commission for a friend turned into so much more. A friend asked Midtune to write a song that she could give to her husband for Christmas. Midtune accepted the challenge, wrote and recorded the song, and even sang it to the couple as they slow danced to the music.
Born and raised in Minnetonka (only 15 minutes from Prince’s digs in Paisley Park), she grew up harmonizing to Queen songs in her car seat at age 2 before becoming involved in musical theatre. She toured Japan as a member of the cast of the Dr. Seuss musical The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins at the age of eight. Midtune began writing songs in in high school. When she wasn’t involved in a musical, she spent her time portraying Robert Plant as the lead singer in a Led Zeppelin tribute band. She earned her degree in Music Theory and Composition at St. Olaf College as the only candidate to specialize in voice. She went on to complete the program at the European American Music Alliance (EAMA), a Paris based, Julliard affiliated educational program.
“With ‘The Light’, I’m really excited to finally have found a sound that perfectly represents me and showcases my voice,” explains Midtune. “It truly encapsulates the solo music I have been working on for the past five years . . . there’s definitely more to me as an artist, so as I release more singles this year in that style, I will also be working on a whole new sound that reflects the ‘band’ side of me . . . No matter what style I’m writing in, for me, everything comes down to live performing. I love nothing more than a loud mic and an acoustic space where I can get carried away with the lyrics.”
“My Light” was co-produced by Midtune and engineer Mike Lizzaraga at Ground Up Studios. The single was just released last Friday and is the first of several new singles she plans to roll out in 2019.
The song was recorded in one take with vocals and guitar, after which Midtune, with the assistance of Lizzaraga and engineer Kai Nakamura, added drums, guitar and cello (beautifully played by Jean Paul Barjon) around the core track. This process allowed Midtune to capture in the studio the exact vibe she had created when she performed it live.
The song is about a real, everlasting kind of love with someone who is the fuel to his or her partner’s flame. Midtune personalized it to her own life with a whimsical video featuring raw home movie footage of her walking along a deserted beach – the moments presumably being captured by a romantic interest of her own.
The cinematography in the video is simply beautiful. It shows the full emotional impact of the song, creating a romantic masterpiece. Even if you don’t currently have that special person in your life, you can relate to the emotion of loving somebody, and feel that joy again and again with each viewing.
Midtune has collaborated extensively with Brittney Bouchard, and the songwriting team has either won or placed high in numerous songwriting competitions. She has also had success with placements in film, including last year’s documentary The Way North, which follows Midtune and her family as they traveled to Norway to uncover their heritage and their grandfather’s past.
“’My Light’ is different from any other song I have ever written,” says Midtune. “My friend is a literary genius, a philosophy major, and wrote me an essay about her love for her husband. I absorbed her words and let them be my inspiration. What I love most about the song is that there are words that I would never have used, like ‘more than enough’, because I have a different vocabulary than her. They are also more spiritual than I am, and my lyrics reflect that. The tricky part was making sure the song also completely resonated with me, and that it was ‘catchy’ and grooved enough that I would want to sing it to an audience.”
“On a deeper level, I think it perfectly reflects who I am as a songwriter,” she says. “I was able to make this beautiful song out of someone’s story and make it my own. I thought the task might me daunting, but it ended up being a blast from start to finish. I will be teaching songwriting at Cal Poly Pomona University starting this fall semester and I’m excited to share ‘My Light’ as an example of what you can do with someone else’s story.”
