Phone a Friend: Advice from Donna Missal.

"We just want to connect so bad, and we want vindication. It’s so woven into our fabric to have those things, that we’ll force something to fit that just doesn’t. I think people lie a lot about who they are, maybe because a lot of people don’t really know. And people change, sometimes rapidly, too," says Donna Missal, musing on the confusion of being in love with the idea of a relationship rather than an actual person - a sentiment she sounds out in 'Hurt By You' on her new album, 'Lighter'.

When asked to envisage 'Lighter' reimagined as a film, Missal details: "I'd cast my sisters and my friends. It would be about love. Hate in love, pain in love, fragility in love, losing yourself in love, leaving your love behind, and changing. Finding better love. Maybe inside yourself."

And about her favourite lyrics on the album, Missal says: "[This is] such a difficult question for me because I tend to be so critical of my work - anything that I touch creatively, I try so hard to let go of once it’s out there for people to hear and experience. But I remember how I felt in the studio, when writing and recording 'Bloom'. We recorded it live, just me and guitarist in the room together on two mics. When I got to the chorus, 'I don’t want to be the reason you don’t shine, I realise I'm standing in your light. I don’t want to hurt you, root you out too soon. I don’t want to be the reason you don't bloom,' IDK, I just really felt that. As genuinely as I could mean something, I mean that lyric."

In 'Slow Motion', the album's emotional grenade, Missal poignantly and powerfully declares, "This is the last conversation we'll have." Do you think it's possible to still remain friends with someone after a romantic relationship ends, we ask? "Yeah I think it’s possible. I don’t think it’s normalised because it’s common to attach meaning and memory to people, places, and things. If you allow those meanings to be lasting or permanent, it can be really difficult to continue to interact with someone who you’ve attached these meanings to. If you can let those attachments go, I think it’s possible to see and experience people in a new way regardless of what might have happened between you."

And looking to the future? "I only plan to not fall apart while everything remains so uncertain," replies Missal, concluding that: "I truthfully don’t know what my plans are. I've been making things in any way I can, from home, or in distanced, safe working environments whenever possible. I'm hoping to tour but I don't know when that will be possible."

If one thing is certain though, it's that you can absorb some life advice from Missal below...

SHORT AND SWEET ADVICE COLUMN:

1. Read.

2. Take up a creative activity. Anything that utilises your creativity in any way.

3. Be kind and respectful to everyone you come in contact with, professionally and otherwise, and treat everyone the same. Best advice I've been given.

4. Take part in redistribution of wealth!!!!!!! Shop small, shop black and POC-owned.

5. Listen to music every day.

6. Stretch your body daily, too.

7. Be open to being wrong. You’re going to be wrong sometimes.

8. Donate your clothing - don’t throw it away. Homeless shelters are a good place to start.

9. Drop shitty people.

10. Listen to 'Lighter' ;)

Listen to Donna Missal's new album 'Lighter' here and watch the music video for 'Slow Motion' below:

Want more? Further advice awaits you here.