Feel Like You're Going Through Some Growing Pains? Siobhan Cotchin Wrote a Whole Song About It

“Growing up is a scam, I wish I knew before I signed up.”

We’ve all had days where we've felt overwhelmed by the uncertainty of the future, unsure about who we are anymore or even just questioned the purpose of time ticking on by.

Whoa, that got deep real fast.

But it was a feeling Perth singer-songwriter Siobhan Cotchin couldn’t shake, so she took to her journal to write about it, and then turned those words into a song.

"Growing Pains” is an alternative indie guitar ballad you can’t help but relate to, but also take comfort in—we’re all just figuring out this crazy ride of life together.

Inspired by the likes of Noah Dillon, Haim and Sheryl Crow, the song is Siobhan's most candid and emotional yet, following the release of her EP "Highways and Heartbreaks" earlier this year.

We sat down with the 21-year-old to talk about how she was feeling when she wrote the song, what her 'growing pains’ have been as a young person, and her advice to those of us trying to find our feet right now.

“Existential dread”.

“It was kind of frustrating because I had finally graduated, and I was ready to go out and travel and do [life] properly… then I was just aimlessly floating around,” she said.

“I was at home all the time, not playing any gigs and trying to figure out who I was without music. And that’s a scary thought. It’s made me panic thinking about what I would do if I didn’t do music."

So, she put pen to paper and then turned those potential lyrics into a melody to create “Growing Pains”, which Siobhan describes as an “ode to anxiety”.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by SIOBHAN COTCHIN (@siobhancotchinmusic)

“When I was writing this song, I was coming to terms with the fact that I couldn’t just ignore the world and be oblivious to everything going on. I was becoming an adult and I had to have responsibilities and get a job and all that stuff.

“I was going into this existential dread, basically just really overthinking things. I was just really mad that this is what we have to do as humans—none of us signed up for it but now we’re here. That’s pretty dark, but that’s how I was feeling at that point.”

Siobhan's own growing pains.

Siobhan said she thought of growing pains as “situations or experiences that shape you as a person” and she can narrow down her list to five big moments in her life. 

Discovering Taylor Swift – "Taylor Swift is one of the first songwriters I fell in love with. She changed my life and that sounds corny and lame, but it’s true. I hadn’t really found a way to express myself at that point and then I heard Taylor and I knew it was what I wanted to do."

My first gig – "Playing gigs and open mic nights were so important to my growth and development as an artist and I’m so grateful I got the opportunities that I did when I was that young."

Graduating high school – "I’m grateful for the experience I had and the friends I surrounded myself with, but I think there was always a part of me that felt I didn’t belong. Once I left school and went on to study the Music Artist diploma at WAAPA, I felt like I’d finally found my people."

COVID-19 – "I think that it was an important part in my life because it made me stronger and more resilient. I learnt a lot of lessons, wrote a lot of songs and worked on myself during the lockdowns."

Nashville, Tennessee – "I love Nashville so much, it’s the perfect place for a songwriter, whether you’re country or not. I went when I was 16 with my parents and… I felt like I finally fit in. I haven’t planned any trips [back] yet but that’s a real goal of mine… I’m dying to go back."

Any advice for people listening to this song thinking ‘that’s me, that’s how I’m feeling’?

When it comes to passing on words of wisdom, Siobhan said it starts by recognising that it can feel "debilitating" not knowing what you're doing.

"It’s quite confronting to realise ‘oh my god, I have to do something with myself’ even though we’re on a floating rock in space so why does anything matter?" she said.

"That sounds awful, I enjoy existing, don’t get me wrong but it’s hard sometimes to be human."

So, she said to just take it one day at a time. 

"Figure out the things you can control and get rid of the things you can’t," she said.

"There is no point stressing out about the things you have no control over... that’s something that’s helped me so much.

"If you’re doing everything you can, that’s enough."

Check out Siobhan Cotchin on Instagram and stream "Growing Pains" on Apple Music, Spotify or wherever you get your tunes. 

Header Image: Michael Tartaglia.