Colin Tracey, better known as Comfort Club, has returned with yet another hit single, “If You Got To Know Her.” Drawing from his experiences with insecurity, vulnerability, and romantic pursuits, the track perfectly encapsulates feelings that many can relate to. Songbird was fortunate enough to sit down with Colin to discuss this song, his creative process, and musical inspirations.

The song’s chorus feels extremely raw and authentic, particularly the line, “So why do I stay if she’s giving me closure?”. Tracey admitted, “I think I’ve often overstayed in relationships, friendships, and work situations, especially when it’s obvious that I need to walk away. I have such a hard time walking away from things. It’s weird when someone is legitimately giving you closure—it just makes you want to fight for it harder.” He added that the line just came to him naturally. He felt like it made sense in the chorus. “I always want to have one line in [the chorus]...that defines the whole song, and defines the gut punch that this song is trying to be.”

Lyrically, Comfort Club’s songs are unmatched. Tracey paints a vivid picture of the song’s subject, detailing to Songbird, “I was trying to write about a character in this song. It’s a mixture of a lot of people that I know in my life into this all-American girl: a genius, just the perfect person.” In his own life, Tracey is an avid reader, leading him to include a reference to author Kurt Vonnegut in the song.

When asked about his thought process that compelled him to include the reference, he explained, “I was thinking about who someone so ‘genius’ would think is an overrated author, and I thought of Kurt Vonnegut—it’s almost a pretentious take, but if I’m saying it in someone else’s voice, it’s them being pretentious. It kind of shows you the type of person she is, where [Vonnegut is] someone who’s seen as a very profound author, and she still finds a way to take a dig at someone like that. So, it’s fun to channel that through a character, as opposed to me saying it and being pretentious.”

Aside from his phenomenal characterization and literary references, Tracey masterfully balances the line between self-deprecation and infatuation. The verse, “I’m wrapped around her pinky ring/God it’s so embarrassing/She opens her heart just to close it,” is a stunning example of this. He admitted that our generation puts “everything out there,” and that he finds his music tame compared to other artists’ who are releasing extremely personal lyrics.

“I try to keep it at, like, ‘this is something that I think we all experience that I’d feel comfortable talking about,’ because I think that just brings everyone to the same table, and it’s like, okay, we all feel this way,” Tracey explained. “There are so many people out there who are insecure. Still, I feel like it's taboo to say that you're an insecure person, because that makes you unfit for relationships, or trying to be an artist, or trying to be a career person—you have to front like you're this super secure, super confident person. My music really strives to show that I’m insecure, and I’m working on it, but it’s a disservice for people to pretend like we’re not insecure. I think that even if my music doesn’t connect with the masses, it connects with people who feel the same way I do.”

In a press release, Tracey admitted that he often finds himself in toxic relationships because of this insecurity, something many can relate to. “What I’m realizing in writing this song is that when I’m in a toxic relationship, it’s because of what I’m bringing to it that is making it toxic,” he revealed. “There’s always going to be some sort of accountability on both sides for a relationship that is imperfect. But, until I take responsibility for the unhealthy things that I bring to a relationship, I’m never going to be in a non-toxic relationship—and I don’t even know if non-toxic relationships exist. To be in a truly stable and beneficial relationship for everyone involved, you need to address the baggage that you bring to it. I think a lot of people, myself included, probably stay in those toxic relationships because they feel like they shouldn’t have gotten in there in the first place.”

Musically, “If You Got To Know Her” is inspired by both Pinegrove and COIN, regardless of their styles being quite different from each other. Tracey admires COIN’s Chase Lawrence as a producer and finds Lawrence’s approach to production extremely unique, with features like distorted drums that he wanted to channel into his own music. As for Pinegrove, Tracey wanted to channel lead singer and guitarist Evan’s literary influences in his lyrics. Pinegrove, he mentioned, has a lot of “unique chords and twinkly, melodic guitar,” which he takes inspiration from in his own production style.

“I feel what I’m always trying to capture is, ‘how do I make the song, from top to bottom, have as much taste as I possibly can?’ I draw a lot from Pinegrove there, because you could listen to any of their songs, and isolate the drums, or isolate the guitar, and experience a full performance on its own—nothing feels like it’s wasted space,” he detailed.

Other than Pinegrove and COIN, Tracey draws inspiration for his career trajectory, he says, from a select few artists such as Valley and Landon Conrath. “Every time they put out music, albums, visuals, or go on tour, they hit it out of the park. I look to them for inspiration a lot, and I try not to be derivative. I also look at their stuff and [recognize that] they’re setting the bar so high for someone like me who’s trying to achieve that level of artistry,” he says of Valley. “And then there’s someone like Landon Conrath, who makes amazing music—he’s very similar to me in that he has a DIY approach. I would love to be in his shoes five years from now, if I can put in the work and release such great music and tour on a DIY level,” he added.

Structurally, choruses always come first for Tracey. He describes the chorus as the mission statement of the song—the objective. “If I start by writing a verse, it’s almost like just writing and hoping that the chorus appears, which feels more stressful to me, because you’re most likely gonna have to throw away all of the work that you just did. I always try to go for efficiency by starting with the chorus and figuring out what I’m trying to say, which also makes writing verses much easier, because then I’m simply trying to connect from point A to point B.”

However, he noted, Comfort Club is a very pop-structured project, so his approach to writing songs is different than that of artists like Jake Minch. “He is writing stories, so I feel like he could start and end anywhere, and there doesn’t necessarily have to be a chorus in the middle that’s what the song is trying to be. He can just write from start to finish, and it takes you on a journey in that way. So, it’s a different style, but I’m envious of people like him—I wish I could do it that way,” he explained.

While on tour this past spring, Tracey noticed that his audiences responded better to his more rock-sounding songs, which set him on a mission to produce another song of a similar vibe. “My immediate reaction from the first live show I played as Comfort Club, and every show thereafter, has been that people respond more to heavier songs, in terms of reciprocated energy.” He believes that many people who attend DIY shows are there for that very thing—being able to give and receive energy. Unlike many artists who solely make music for themselves, which is in no way a negative thing, Tracey heavily takes his audience into account. “I think I’m trying to keep funneling some of my music into that direction, where I can bring the energy on stage, and we can both collectively rage, as opposed to me performing and expressing myself, and the audience just having to receive it,” he said.

Recently, Tracey released the music video for “If You Got To Know Her,” which was visually inspired by the 2007 movie Juno. When Tracey shared stills from the music video on his Instagram before its release, we immediately recognized Paulie Bleeker’s gym uniform and had to ask how he came upon the concept for the video.

“I was thinking about the concept of the song and how to visually display that I’m trying to keep up with somebody or pursue them,” he detailed. “I thought of a treadmill, but realized that’s been overdone. Then, I thought of the visual of a track, where I’m trying to run and keep up with this girl that’s out of my league. Immediately, when I think of a track, I think of Juno—if I were playing a word association game and somebody said ‘track,’ I would immediately say Juno. I thought that was a fun visual to go for, and I like trying to tie music to culture.” Tracey took this video as an opportunity to display his whimsical side, and show that he doesn’t only make serious music all of the time.

For Comfort Club, “If You Got To Know Her” is a step towards tackling his insecurities. Rather than writing about others, he is writing about himself—and connecting with fans on an even deeper level.