Geelong artist Lana Karlay puts self-respect at the centre of Cross Your Mind, a song about leaving a relationship you have been holding together alone.
Released via GYRO, it moves from soft vocals into driving drums, guitars and a chorus built around the line:
I have to cross you to cross your mind.
Lana says:
Cross Your Mind is about reaching the point where you realise you’re carrying the weight of a relationship on your own. You’re constantly thinking about the other person, making excuses for them and trying to hold everything together, while they only seem to think about you when it’s convenient or when something goes wrong.
Lana co-wrote and produced the track with brother duo Mason & Julez, with mastering by Mark Parfitt. After exploring different sounds on earlier releases, she sees this combination of pop songwriting and live instrumentation as the clearest expression yet of where she wants to go.
She says:
I think this is the song that really cements the pop-rock direction I’ve been moving towards as an artist. More than anything, I feel like Cross Your Mind is the closest I’ve come to finding my own sound.
That direction gives the song’s decision to walk away its weight: the chorus hits hard, but the hope that the other person might finally understand has not quite disappeared.