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Listen / order here: The song was written together with Harry Sommerdahl, co-writer of I Walk Alone, in 2008. Nevertheless, I didn’t quite feel that the song was having the character nor spirit for one of my rock album releases, but since I loved the song very much, I kept it always present for a later use. “The Cruellest Goodbye” is a sad story about a forbidden love. Even though it was originally composed and arranged as a piano song, I always imagined it with acoustic guitars. “Friday Night In San Francisco” is a live album by 3 of the best acoustic guitar players in the world: Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía and it was the main reference and source of inspiration for the sound I was hoping for. I was living in Buenos Aires, Argentina back in 2013 when I got the news that Al Di Meola was having a concert in October the 2nd at the Gran Rex Theater. I took a chance to meet him and talk about my song. I visited him at his superb concert, and we had a glass of wine at the backstage after the show was over. Al was very kind and showed immediate interest to take part in our project. It was early stages for the whole idea, so I still didn´t have many references to give him, but one: to be himself. It’s amazing how openminded he was about the recordings and the outcome shows you the great effort he put on to the song. He is outstanding, virtuoso musician and made the song feel like there has always been a guitar involved since the birth of it. Not only he played several tracks with his acoustic trademark guitar sound, but also delighted us with an additional synthetized guitar that blends totally in synch with the programmed background. I am so grateful for Al to trust his talent with us. The Cruellest Goodbye went through few difficulties during the production process. Torsten’s computer hard drive really crashed several times, so I ended up recording vocals for the song 4 times spread though 13 years! Anyway, every time I did, it felt refreshing and new to me, so I didn’t mind about it and definitely enjoyed the process. I am very happy that “The Cruellest Goodbye” finally find its home with Outlanders. CREATION OF THE VISUALIZER During the first year of pandemic and just after getting out of the mandatory quarantine, I was not able to travel to Antigua since there were no flights going. While the images from Torsten were taken in Antigua, as for the rest of the visualizers we filmed, we decided to work with Tim Tronckoe in Marbella, Spain for a video of one of the chosen first singles. We did a photo shooting for my book during the day and when the sun went down we headed for the beach. During the night time, we filmed images for The Cruellest Goodbye video near by my home. The ocean breeze was beautiful and the weather just perfect for filming. I sang the song several times while Tim was directing and filming me. The set up was the most simple one; just a light and the camera. As the song is very touching and emotional, the images we captured are very intimate and fitting to the mood of the song. It was very nice to work with my friend Tim again. Vocals Tarja Programming Torsten Guitars Al Di Meola Recorded and engineered at Embassy Studio Antigua & Barbuda by Torsten Stenzel Vocals recorded by Tarja at Stardust III, Marbella, Spain Guitars recorded by Csaba Toth Bagi Guitars co-produced by Al Di Meola Produced and mixed by Torsten Stenzel, Tarja & MIC Mastered by Tom Porcell Mastering Executive Producer Marcelo Cabuli for NEMS Enterprises SRL Art Direction Tarja & MIC Antigua & Barbuda Photographs by Alexis Andrews Artwork by Firma Freimauer, Sebastian Rohde LYRICS Two souls once connected So close, but apart A dream has been wasted Worship, blinded The promise is broken by hallowed beliefs restrained the devotion Vicious, madness How can they let it all go? Even knowing And while they’re losing control The distance’s growing Too weak to decide The roses will die It’s the cruellest goodbye The words are all useless They’re screaming in vain Remember the first kiss Vanished, wiped out Sacred, Sadness How can they let it all go? Even knowing And while they’re losing control The distance’s growing Too weak to decide The roses will die It’s the cruellest goodbye Fear is dividing Courage is hiding, Where did it get lost? Who wrote the rules killed the love How can they let it all go? Even knowing And while they’re losing control The distance’s growing Too weak to decide The roses will die It’s the cruellest goodbye It’s the cruellest goodbye Catch up with the latest news on all earMUSIC releases here: earMUSIC on Facebook: earMUSIC on Instagram: earMUSIC on Twitter:
