From Montreal, Canada, the Singer-Songwriter and pop-rock artist Tatum Quinn releases a spicy anthem for revenge with her latest single, "Set You Straight."
Trained at Berklee College of Music, Tatum Quinn and her evolving music career have landed on stages opening for renowned acts like Kool & the Gang, The Pointer Sisters, April Wine, Boy George, and many others. Also featured on Ubisoft's game, Just Dance, Tatum Quinn strives to bring listeners into a safe and fun environment with absolutely zero judgment.
Recently releasing her powerhouse single, "Set You Straight," Tatum Quinn mentioned that this track is the needed anthem for anyone going through a rough time. As Tatum Quinn belts her brilliant vocals over our speakers, her intense electronic/organic instrumentation pierces our speakers like the sharp edge of revenge.
Expanding on the single, "Set You Straight," the song opens with an ominous electric guitar that drops into the groovy instrumental breakdown with an incredibly punchy drum arrangement. As Tatum Quinn enters the song, she begins to haunt someone of her past with the painful moments and feelings that have lingered in her mind for far too long.
As she yearns for them to be set straight and get a bittersweet taste of reality, Tatum Quinn continues to powerfully expand on how actions are louder than words while leaving listeners entirely enthralled with her exhilarating performance. As she continues to belt and beam through our speakers, Tatum Quinn closes the song on this highly stimulating note that leaves us chanting her catchy and relatable words.
Get your dose of revenge with help from Tatum Quinn's latest single, "Set You Straight," now available on all digital streaming platforms.
What a powerful and highly relatable theme you've captured with your recent single, "Set You Straight." What inspired you to write a track based on the sweet taste of revenge?
"Set You Straight" sparked from a really horrible relationship, which I shouldn’t even be called a relationship because we weren’t ever actually together. He was someone I knew for my entire life and someone I thought would NEVER do me dirty, especially the way he did! When I finally had enough, there were so many emotions. I was still in shock at how this person could have treated me with such disrespect! So that's where "Set You Straight" came in. I remember sitting in my bedroom, staring at my keyboard, contemplating if I even wanted to write a song about the situation because in my mind he really didn't deserve to have a song written about him, even a revenge song! That was a really hard feeling to navigate.
But I thought about how many songs have helped me feel better when I was going through something and I wanted to not only get MY feelings off my chest, but also give people something that they could relate to, but not in a sappy way.
"Set You Straight" is supposed to be that song where you acknowledge all your feelings but you're making the conscious decision to take your power back! & that's the thing… he took everything from me. But the worst thing he took was my sense of self and it allowed me to find my worth and realize that “NO, it’s not me, it’s this asshole who gets off on making people feel worthless.”
So the misfitting teenager in me that I haven’t fully grown out of yet wanted revenge and what better way than to write a song that can not only help people find their sense of self but also be heard and sung by the world until the end of time!
We were totally enthralled by your blend of synthetic and organic instrumentals within "Set You Straight." Why did you want the song to be so infectious and stimulating in sound? How do the sonics amplify your lyrical message?
"Set You Straight" started as a bare-bones 4 chord song, written on my keyboard at about 2:30 am. Before writing the song, I remember laying on my bed listening to the Back to Black album by Amy Winehouse taking comfort that I wasn’t the only one who’s been through the wringer. I was listening to “Tears Dry on Their Own,” thinking, “wow there's so much pain in this song but the overall vibe of the music makes me feel really good.” It allowed me not to get caught up in the negative feelings I was having.
When it comes to intention/sonics there wasn’t too much thought that went into it. The song developed pretty naturally! I knew I wanted to write a song that empowered me as well as my listener. I wanted to write a song that everyone could relate to, with raw, real lyrics and an infectious groove with some vintage influence, to create an experience of the stereotypical 50s era “housewife,” sweet on the outside but clearly has something up her sleeve.
I really wanted people to find comfort within the lyrics & to sing along on the top of their lungs! (That was also part of the revenge plan).
My parents raised me on all kinds of music but I was really raised on 60’s-80’s music. So I knew that I wanted to keep real, organic instruments in my music, while still playing with current sounds, so adding some electronic instruments helped bring that balance and my vision to life. It’s funny you ask about sonics because even though SYS didn’t have much sonic inspiration related to the lyrics, I do have another song dropping in a couple of months which was totally written through sonics, to create an overall experience that matched the lyrical topic. I’m SUPER excited to share that one with everyone!
Was it easy to write your lyricism for "Set You Straight"? Or was it difficult to reach back to those painful memories and channel those emotions?
Writing the lyrics for "Set You Straight" definitely sent me into emotional overload. I was angry, hurt, shocked and confused all at the same time.
I sat at my piano jotting down ideas in my songbook about words I wanted to use and things I wanted to say. I then began to form the lyrics from those ideas. The first lyric that came to mind was “took all that I had and just walked away,” I remember writing this lyric with tears streaming down my face, trying to push through to write the next line that came to mind which was “I feel so numb without you here.”
"Set You Straight" was a very difficult song to write because my feelings were so fresh and super conflicted. I didn’t love this guy. I just never thought HE would've treated me as horribly as he did. I was stuck holding onto the person that I once knew for my whole life, rather than recognizing the person he actually is. So that made it extremely difficult to access those emotions and thoughts in a constructive way if that makes sense.
Do you normally release such exciting and spirited tunes like "Set You Straight"? Do songs like these represent your artistic brand?
"Set You Straight" definitely represents my artistic brand! It’s edgy/attitudey, playful and the feelings are totally raw, which is everything I stand for. I’m someone who’s all over the place. Somedays I want a vintage sound, and somedays I want super gritty guitars blaring so the neighbors can hear! My music represents the chaos that is Tatum Quinn and it’s never going to be predictable! Personally, music has always really affected me and my mood. I tend to overthink a lot, so if I listen to music that's really sad and slow, my mood tends to shift into those feelings. That's why I love writing upbeat music like SYS! You can still get your message across but while creating something that will also make people feel really good and empowered! Now don’t get me wrong, I do like sad/slow music and I think it’s important to have those songs as well, I just prefer the lighter stuff as it helps me get through whatever I need to get through without feeling stuck in those “low” feelings. I hope that my music will help people and make them feel like they have a place where they belong and where they’re accepted! Especially in a world that can be so harsh and judgemental.