out of the blue | george clarkey

40; one day it'll all make sense

after the trip, dan and i spent a lot more time in his home studio finishing up the final stages of the album and finalising all the songs we wanted on there. i decided i wanted the album to almost be chronological from my breakup till now with george. it follows the process of feeling betrayed, going through a breakup and then finally finding love again whilst navigating fame and pressure from the media and i was so proud of that. we also experimented with lots of different genres and sounds which was a challenge but also ended up being so fun and it also meant the songs will hopefully appeal to everyone.

 "okay, before i press send are we happy with the following: 

track 1: vampire (originally by olivia rodrigo)

track 2: enough for you (by olivia rodrigo)

track 3: body better (by maisie peters)

track 4: pretty isn't pretty (by olivia rodrigo)

track 5: happier than ever (by billie eilish)

track 6: love is embarrassing (by olivia rodrigo)

track 7: the blue (by gracie abrams)

track 8: feels like (by gracie abrams)

track 9: everywhere, everything ft. arthur hill (by noah kahan ft. gracie abrams)

track 10: dress (by taylor swift)

track 11: paris (by taylor swift)"

(i know i mentioned dan working with olivia but just imagine these songs never existed to her lol and all the songs mentioned above imagine elena and dan wrote and elena sang them- i put the original artists in brackets)

dan says as he is about to send all of the final songs over to the label. he's saying it as if we haven't spent the last week debating each one. i had played most of them to george and made sure he was comfortable with everything i'd said in the songs before i put them out but also to make sure the ones he liked made it. 

we finally had the album finished, so it was time to start doing things like the album covers and promo photos. today i had the big album shoot and i was feeling really nervous so george kindly agreed to come along. "i promise you, you'll be great. should've got you a bottle of prosecco" george says in the back of the uber to the shooting location. "george, it's 9am" i laugh. "i know but it might have loosened you up a little bit" he adds. 

we finally arrive and me and george enter the dressing room with my stylist. "so, we have quite a few looks today but only need a few so have a flick through the rails and let me know which ones you like" 

george and i flick through the racks as my stylist leaves the room. george jokingly holds the dresses up to his body and it makes me laugh. i eventually pick out a few looks and try them on. i give him a mini fashion show and he comments on each of them. "i like that one, it compliments your skin tone" "i think that one would go better with a skirt" and by the end, he was acting like bloody gok wan but i was grateful he actually showed genuine interest.

we decided on the final looks and i went straight to hair and makeup. george had a call with his manager whilst i got ready so he left the room. when he was done, i was about to go shoot. "oh wow, you look great!" he said smiling, holding onto my arm comfortingly. "thank you" i smiled. "elena to set please!" the creative director called. "go smash it" george said as he pecked my lips quickly then let me go. 

i posed for about 20 minutes with different lighting and locations and then we swapped outfits. i had to be quick so george came into the room with me to help me change. "you're doing really well! i can see the photos, you look great" he says reassuringly as i'm putting trousers on. "thank you, i really appreciate you being here" i smile. it's true, i was a very self conscious person so photoshoots are just not my thing but having george here made it all feel so much easier as he was the best support system i could ask for.