Nashville-based singer/songwriter Hana Eid takes us track-by-track through her brutally honest and beautifully exposed debut EP ‘I Exist Because You Say So,’ an exercise in unapologetic and uncompromising vulnerability.
for fans of Phoebe Bridgers, Ethel Cain, BEL, Charli Adams, girlhouse
Stream: “Weird” – Hana Eid
How can I get happy in these conditions? The cancer inside me won’t enter remission, unless you look at me like I am everything and you are not…
Hana Eid’s debut EP is an exercise in unapologetic and uncompromising vulnerability.
The indie rock singer/songwriter bares her soul on I Exist Because You Say So through six breathtaking songs that capture the turbulence and tumult of young adulthood.
Her lyrics are candid and confessional – intimate enough to be torn from her diary, but stream-of-conscious in a way that feels immediate and present; even if the people or moments she’s singing about are long gone, Eid pulls them all into the here and now, reviving not just how her experiences felt, but how they looked; how they tasted; how they smelled. She holds nothing back in building vast, vivid worlds out of visceral emotions, searing, sweltering sounds, and heavy, scabby memories – flooding the airwaves with delicate and dramatic music that triggers a gut reaction as she journeys deep into herself and her own innermost depths.
It’s a passionate, poetic, and utterly personal musical adventure – one that hits hard and leaves a lasting mark as Eid unpacks the traumas, trials, and tribulations of her teens and twenties.
Inner turmoil serves as the basis for some of the most heartfelt, moving, and all-consuming music you’ll hear all year.
Borrowing your shoes
To walk home
Filling the gaps in conversation
With a smoke
And screaming for the love of god
I want it so bad
I would never make you feel like that
Why can’t I make you feel like that?
And I wanna talk about it
And I wanna talk to you
I wanna understand
what I feel and I think I know I do
I wanna settle the scoreboard
Wanna render myself weak
I’ll grow up when I’m 21
and you’re 23
I want you to think about me
Is that weird to say?
– “Weird,” Hana Eid
Independently released February 23, 2024, I Exist Because You Say So is brutally honest and beautifully exposed. Hana Eid effortlessly captures the endless ache, the raw pain, and the exhilarating rush of coming of age and feeling everything all at once on a debut EP that immediately sets her apart as an artist-to-watch forever after – its seamless blend of intimacy and intensity calling to mind the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Ethel Cain, Julien Baker, and more in the indie/alternative space.
A Virginia-born singer/songwriter and one-time Atwood Magazine Editor’s Pick, Eid is already a rising star in her adopted home of Nashville, Tennessee – where she attends Belmont University and gigs regularly – and for the past two years, she has played double-duty, maintaining her college career while released a steady stream of soul-stirring singles full of fire and (an inner, aching) fury.
Not only is I Exist Because You Say So the culmination of a seven-month release campaign that started back in August, but it’s also the climax for a journey of artistic discovery and affirmation that began with 2022’s “Dancing to the Smiths,” a spirited and cinematic song that single-handedly changed Eid’s course, turning her musical direction toward the indie rock space as she embraced sweaty, smoldering overdriven guitars and roaring drums.
It’s also a shrine, of sorts, to that life transition we all must make, if we’re lucky enough, from doe-eyed youths to battle-scarred adults.
“I Exist Because You Say So is an accumulation of songs I wrote as a true ‘young adult,’” Eid tells Atwood Magazine. “It feels very coming-of-age and indicative of a very finite and precious time in my life. While the project isn’t conceptual per se, it’s all tied together by the same longing that seems characteristic of entering adulthood.”
“I honestly don’t know that I had a very specific vision,” she adds. “My producer, Tone Def, and I worked on the first five songs at once, and then did ‘Austin Song’ a few months later. Because we worked on the majority of the project in one batch, I think the aim for me during this process largely was to achieve cohesiveness without sameness. It was always very important to me that this felt like an interconnected body of work, without letting the nuances between songs get lost. With that said, I think the vision of what I wanted sonically stayed pretty consistent throughout.”
You say that I’m pretty, and I feel lovely
Until I’m naked in my room
I’d be lucky to touch myself
And finish to the thought of you
And you don’t care if I come and visit
And I care enough to do it for sure
But you’re in the passenger seat
Yelling faster
So I put my pedal to the floor
And I couldn’t want you more
Intentional or not, the rollercoaster of young adulthood comes into full swing as she spills her guts in song.
“I feel like I Exist Because You Say So introduces myself and my artistry well because it’s a strong step in solidifying the sonic palette I’ve been working to craft with my previous releases,” she explains. “Leaning into the rock/alternative sphere has been really fun for me. The recording process was also very hands-on; I tracked a lot of the guitars myself and worked closely with my producer to create tones that made sense. I also was fortunate to have some of my good friends – Aidan Cunningham (drums), Jake Robuck (guitar), Maddie Bouton (bass) – lend their tastes to this project. They all play in my live band as well, and it feels really great to hear their voices throughout the EP.”
Eid describes the record itself as yearning, anticipatory, and angsty. The EP’s title comes from a line of text she found on her phone.
“I was having a pretty tough time coming up with a title for the project, so I went into the Notes app on my phone and just scrolled for a bit to see if anything stood out,” she recalls. “I found a note from many months earlier with just the words ‘i exist because you say so,’ and it felt like I’d struck gold. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote it, but it seemed entirely on-point.”
The goal was never perfection; it was vulnerability. My greatest hope for this project is that it makes somebody feel seen.
Highlights abound throughout this record that aches from the inside out.
However, it should be noted that I Exist Because You Say So is best listened to from start to finish. The journey begins with the heavily introspective “Weird,” which has enjoyed considerable (and well-deserved) streaming success to date, and sets the scene with piercing lyrics wrenched from the artist’s soul. “I wanna understand what I feel and I think I know I do,” Eid sings in a moment of intense emotional reckoning. “I want you to think I’m pretty; is that weird to say?“
The EP’s third track “Between Your Teeth” might be its rawest and most vulnerable song– a status that, given all that’s been said above, is considerably difficult to achieve. “If I get too close will you rub off on me?” Eid sings hot on the mic, surrendering herself to someone she can’t help but desire, despite them not reciprocating those feelings. “You say that I’m funny and I feel stupid, gonna wash my body like a chore. I’d be lucky to earn your weekends, and I couldn’t want you any more.”
Every song has more than a few lines that send shivers down the spine: “There’s something romantic about feeling so weak,” Eid reflects in “Taller Than Me.” And on “Pitbull,” she confesses, “It makes me feel small, I wanted to bite my tongue off when I heard that you think I talk too much about him, but you’re always thinking about her.”
“I think my personal favorite off the record is ‘Austin Song,’” Eid smiles, adding how the EP’s gentle giant of a finale contains some of her favorite lyrics: “‘I could talk to you with my eyes closed, and I could know you before I fall.’ I feel like it encapsulates so well the feeling of wanting to know someone deeply, regardless of romantic implications. Like, I don’t need to know or care what you look like, and also I am willing to know you before I love you. It’s very honest and sweet, I think.”
You wanna go where you’re not dying
And I think you’re lying to yourself
There’s a polaroid from back in summer
A bottle of aspirin on the shelf
And I could talk to you with my eyes closed
And I could know you before I fall but
Every mother in Austin
Is gonna have you after all
Wearing her heart unconditionally on her sleeve, Hana Eid has us falling hard and fast over these six musical and emotional upheavals.
I Exist Because You Say So captures the young artist’s coming-of-age with stunning detail, yet it’s both what she says as well as how she says it that makes this EP so intoxicatingly irresistible.
“The whole point, to me, is to make somebody feel seen,” Eid shares. “I remember vividly what it was like to be 14 years old and on the school bus, plugging my headphones in and, momentarily, feeling understood. I hope listeners can take whatever they need from it. It’s yours to keep!”
“Creating it was largely cathartic, and also a lot of fun. I definitely feel a little nervous putting it out, especially considering it’s my first body of work, but I’m really, really excited as well. It feels like a very honest reflection of myself at one time or another, which is all I could strive for.”
It makes me feel small
Like I’ll always be lying in the palm of your hand
Filling the gaps in your schedule
But I’m never thinking about that
I’m thinking ‘bout your consolation
Looking at you like you’re better than me
I think I’ll just stay here forever
Watching your face and baring my teeth
– “Pitbull,” Hana Eid
Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside Hana Eid’s I Exist Because You Say So EP with Atwood Magazine as the singer/songwriter takes us track-by-track through the music and lyrics of her debut EP!
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:: stream/purchase I Exist Because You Say So here ::
:: connect with Hana Eid here ::
Stream: ‘I Exist Because You Say So’ – Hana Eid
:: Inside I Exist Because You Say So ::
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Weird
“Weird” is an exercise in vulnerability and self-reflection, centered around having complicated emotions towards someone and attempting to dissect them. In the song, I gave myself the space to let my trains of thought exist in their rawest form, which made bringing this song to life so fulfilling. “Weird,” to me, is a reminder that the way you feel is natural and never too partitioned from the people around you.
Taller Than Me
“Taller Than Me” is about having feelings for someone you don’t believe would give you the time of day. I’ve always had this sort of idea about myself that I’m a little “left-of-center,” especially during adolescence; like I am always on the precipice of having the things I want and narrowly missing the mark. In the song, I indulge that train of thought: am I capable of having the relationships I view as so out-of-reach?
Between Your Teeth
“Between Your Teeth” is about caring for someone far more than they care about you. I wrote this song in a 15-minute, stream-of-consciousness rant when I found myself unexpectedly caring for someone deeply after a series of (albeit brief) interactions. It is one of my most blunt and vulnerable songs on the project. Tackling the hyper-romanticization of seemingly insignificant moments, “Between Your Teeth” tugs on the sentimental parts of us which yearn to be seen. “Between Your Teeth” is about loving hard and without inhibition, even at your own expense.
Pitbull
“Pitbull” is about feeling out-of-control and vulnerable, like a dog lying belly-up. I wrote it shortly after the end of a relationship, when I felt like my emotional state was contingent on how the people around me approached/treated/perceived me. I think what I am trying to say is best summed-up in the chorus: “It makes me feel small.” To me, “Pitbull” is a guttural, blunt monologue about feeling helpless and insubordinate.
Avoid The News
“Avoid The News” is about losing a friendship, but still feeling unable to escape them or cut them out of your routine. I wrote it days after one of my close friendships had ended; I was in French class, and we were working on a word problem and the subject of the problem had the same name as my friend. I felt so frustrated and bummed out by the whole thing. The door had been slammed shut but I could still hear reverberations through the walls, like it wasn’t really over. To me, “Avoid The News” is a song about avoidance and learning to cope with loss.
Austin Song
“Austin Song” is one of the most emotive songs on the project, in my opinion. I wrote it about, in short, the “right person, wrong time.” I had met someone who made me feel seen and special – if only for a few fleeting moments. I didn’t even realize the song was about them until a bit after the fact. I wrote it in the spring of last year; I woke up the first night I’d spent in my current home and it just spilled out of me. A lot of writing the song, I realized, was reconciling with the fact that the way they made me feel wasn’t unique to me. “Austin Song,” fittingly the closing track on the project, is about finding resolution within yourself, and moving on.
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:: stream/purchase I Exist Because You Say So here ::
:: connect with Hana Eid here ::
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