- 2023-06-04
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MUSIC
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Victoria Staff Releases New Song “Campfire”
Toronto-based singer-songwriter Victoria Staff released a new song “Campfire” on May 31, 2023.
The song is the her third single off, following “Records & Honesty” and “Olive and Ruby”.
The track is inspired by her tough experience.
She writes music to help herself, and she shares it to help other people. She lends a voice to those in silence by a far too prevalent atrocity through the song.
“This is a tough one. When I was 16, I was sexually assaulted. At the time, I had no idea how to process what had happened to me, and no way of telling people. I wrote 'Campfire' as a coping mechanism – a way to tell the people around me what I had experienced and was still going through,” Victoria Staff said of the song. “I finally felt that it was time to share this song with the world. Looking back, I felt like there were lots of songs about overcoming trauma and being the bigger person in the face of hardship, but I wanted a song that talked about how it felt to be in the eye of the storm. I want this song to support people who don't have a way to voice their experience and are still in the place of processing.”- She continued, “As much as this song is about a horrible experience, it's also about broken trust. When you think of building campfires with friends, there's joy in that experience – but then to be tossed in instead? It's frightening to have your trust broken like that. It's a perfect metaphor to represent the fact that my trust had been completely violated.”
She added, “Processing trauma is grueling and difficult, and frankly, it's something I have to learn to do everyday. When I wrote this song, I didn't feel inspired – I felt rage, hurt, disgust, shame, guilt and a host of other emotions.”
She said, “It felt like it would be a disservice to my younger self to make this song inspirational. I also wanted this song to transport listeners to the state I was in, in hopes that it would make them understand the experience of other survivors of assault. And for those of you who have experienced trauma too, I hope you can understand it is okay and normal to feel all sorts of negative emotions while processing it and not feel alone in that.” -
Background photo by Martin Prchal - source : Apple Music
