Sultry voice, poetic lyrics and surprising harmonies are just a part of the recipe that makes Chiara's music so irresistible.
The distance she has traveled is both musical and spiritual-literally stretching across the Atlantic Ocean. Born in Rome, Chiara was encouraged to play the piano by her grandmother; she kids that her nonna's out-of-tune upright afforded the best ear training. She briefly tried the acoustic guitar, but that ended almost comically with a drive to get some gelato. "The little car only had two doors," she remembers. "When I sat down, I broke the neck of the guitar. That was it for me. No more guitar. My mother said, 'You'd better sing, girl!'"
Chiara had already been in some classical choirs, but was looking for something freer than the operatic traditions of her homeland. A friend suggested that she learn jazz; she'd never heard of it. A little investigation brought her to a private music school that she would attend through her four years of high school: the St. Louis Music Academy in Rome. When she was sixteen, Chiara began singing professionally and won a scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. She enrolled there from 1994-98. By the first year Chiara was a regular on the Boston club scene, performing with different bands.
But her journey didn't end with Boston or jazz. Chiara's move to New York City was inevitable. Searching for something musically closer to her Mediterranean roots, she immersed herself in Latin and Brazilian music, learning Spanish and Portuguese along the way. She also wrote her first song, "Parole Incerte" ("Uncertain Words"), about the misunderstandings that can come from the distance between a person and her loved ones.
Meanwhile, two of Chiara's bandmates - pianist Alain Mallet and drummer Jamey Haddad - had begun working with Paul Simon and invited her to a rehearsal. It was there that she met producer Russ Titelman and left him with a demo of "Parole Incerte." He called the very next day and insisted, "You are a songwriter. Forget about everything else you are doing. You have to write." Chiara began composing lyrics in English. She studied the work of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor.
Titelman let president and CEO of Verve hear the song and the next day Chiara was offered a record deal that not only allowed her to enter the studio but made her the first Italian born to be signed by Verve Records.
From this series of encouraging and exciting encounters emerged the 10 original compositions included on her debut album LAST QUARTER MOON, Verve2005; seven written by herself and three co-writes, including the brooding ballad "Trouble" that was co-written with legend Burt Bacharach. "I had almost every song on the album," recalls Chiara, "when Russ called me to say that Burt Bacharach was interested in writing with me." "Trouble" came together during a three day session at Bacharach's Los Angeles home. Chiara arrived with an idea for the melody; they shaped and refined it as a team.
The first album granted her a first round of the world and great position in the charts of italy and Japan.
Billboard Magazine noted that, “the beauty, charm and allure of singer/pianist/songwriter Chiara Civello’s debut…makes for an auspicious beginning and marks the first revelation of the New Year.” The International Herald Tribune declared “her combination of personality, soulfulness and sophistication…striking.”
The second album The Space Between (2007 Universal Classic and Jazz) produced by Steve Addabbo , shows a more intimate and immediate side of the singer songwriter, leading us us through a journey of thirteen beautiful moments where we feel we can get really close to her.
“This is a record about ‘the space between’. The space between the notes, the silence between words, the space between me and you, me and my past, me and my future, and all the spaces between that nowadays are so difficult to stop and think about….the space between that makes you feel the reality better, the space that makes you miss someone, the space between that makes you not say everything all at once, but bit by bit, as the need of saying it gets stronger in you. The space between what I think and what I say… In Italy, we have a saying: Between saying and doing, there is the sea.”
The album entered successfully the Italian and Japanese chiarts and led her to new important artistic collaborations.
Definitely an itinerant soul, Chiara describes her life as:” My home is the world, as long as there’s a piano at the destination, my world fits in a suitcase, the rest I carry with me : my computer and my guitar.
"Jazz was the most incredible diving machine when it came to going really deep into music," says Civello, about her path of discovery, one sure to continue in the future. "But I knew I couldn't be the new Ella Fitzgerald; I couldn't be the new Shirley Horn. I learned all different kinds of music and then I said to myself, 'I need to find my own voice. Time to unlearn now, time to be free.' It's like a hot air balloon: To be able to fly you have to throw off the sandbags. I want to be as light as I can-light as a feather."
“In the first album you search, in the second you focus, in the third you find yourself…. and here I am,” says Chiara Civello in describing her third album titled “7752” of upcoming release.
7752 is the distance in Kilometers from New York City to Rio de Janeiro, the two cities that provided the inspiration for this album. New York is where Chiara lives, while Rio changed Chiara’s life…
While visiting her friend, Daniel Jobim, in Rio in February 2008, Chiara was taken to a party (known as SARAO) where artists and musicians of all kinds get together. The guitar went around and everyone sang a song. As Chiara shared, listened, and learned, a new phase of her artistic path began.
“Co-writing I was already familiar with,” says Chiara, “since those unforgettable three days spent in Santa Monica in which I wrote Trouble with Burt Bacharach for my first album…but in Brazil everyone co writes. It’s a big party, everyone shares and dares and makes it happen.”
Ana Carolina, a Brazilian pop star, is one of the main collaborators of 7752. Not only did she co-write five of the songs with Chiara, but she also played acoustic guitar on most of them. “We met at that party and she asked me if I had a melody for her, so the next day I started RESTA, a song that soon after we finished together and sang as a duet live in Sao Paulo.” Success has already accompanied the collaboration with Ana Carolina, as RESTA will be featured on the new Novela of Globo TV called “Passione,” starting on May 17, 2010.
Written between Rio, New York, and Trastevere (Rome), 7752 includes ten musical moments of which eight were recorded in NYC (and produced by the eclectic producer Andres Levin), while four were recorded in Rio and produced by Chiara herself.
“All my friends and favorite musicians merged into this record in the most natural way…it was like bringing the Rio spirit into the studio: Mauro Refosco (Thom Yorke, David Byrne, Forro’ in The Dark) and Guilherme Monteiro (Ron Carter, Forro in The Dark) had already recorded with me and I couldn’t possibly think of a record without them, Anat Cohen is one of my best friends and I have always wanted to have her on my album but we never were able to make it happen; Jaques Morelenbaum is one of the most talented and sentimental musicians I have ever met; Mark Ribot was the perfect guy for these songs, not to mention the great rhythm section that Andres brought in the studio, Gene Lake on the drums and Jonathan Maron on the bass. Ana Carolina who wrote most of the songs with me already owned them on the acoustic guitar and added her tremendous groove to them”.
Already defined as an “enticing and contagious” album, 7752 sounds lively, while portraying a new, playful and joyous aspect of Chiara’s singing and songwriting. The sound is a beautiful alchemy among the 60s, Italian melody, Brazilian harmonies, and R&B.
http://www.chiaracivello.com
What Now My Love
Chiara Civello Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
How can I live through another day
Watching my dreams turning to ashes
cnd all my hopes into bits of clay
Once I could see, once I could feel
Now I am numb, I've become unreal
I walk the night without a goalStripped of my heart
Stripped of my soul
What now my love, now that it's over
I feel the world closing in on me
Here come the stars tumbling around me
There's the sky where the sea should be
What now my love, now that you've gone
I'd be a fool to go on and on
No one would care, no one would cry
If I should live, if I should die
What now my love
Now there is nothing
Only my last goodbye
Only my last goodbye
Only my last goodbye
Only my last goodbye
The lyrics of Chiara Civello's "What Now My Love" convey a profound sense of despair and emptiness that arises from the end of a significant romantic relationship. The opening lines set the tone for the emotional journey the singer is experiencing. The rhetorical question, "What now my love now that you've left me," captures the feeling of abandonment and the overwhelming sense of loss. The singer is grappling with a day-to-day existence that feels unbearable, accentuated by powerful imagery of dreams turning to "ashes" and "hopes into bits of clay." These metaphors illustrate how the cherished aspirations and desires the singer had, now lie in ruins, as if they have been stripped of meaning and substance due to the absence of the loved one. Such vivid imagery reinforces the notion that love is not just an emotional bond but also a source of identity and purpose, which has now been shattered.
As the song progresses, it delves deeper into the singer's emotional landscape, describing an alienating numbness that has overtaken them. In the lines "Once I could see, once I could feel / Now I am numb, I’ve become unreal," there is a stark contrast between past joy and present desolation. This transition hints at the internal void the singer faces—a reality where they feel disconnected from both themselves and the world around them. The phrase "I walk the night without a goal" evokes a sense of aimlessness, where every step feels directionless in the absence of love. Here, the singer's heart and soul are metaphorically stripped away, highlighting a loss that not only affects emotions but their very essence. It suggests that love was an integral part of their identity, and without it, they feel incomplete and adrift.
The chorus reiterates the sense of futility and despair as the singer questions their place in the world following the end of the relationship. The repetition of "What now my love, now that it's over" emphasizes the finality of loss and the intense weight of sorrow it brings. The mention of the "world closing in on me" evokes a claustrophobic feeling, as if the singer is being trapped by their grief. The imagery of "stars tumbling around me" presents a chaotic and surreal depiction of their internal turmoil, further compounded by the notion that the world is no longer what it seems—it is disconnected and distorted ("There's the sky where the sea should be"). As they contemplate existence without their beloved, the singer grapples with existential questions about their worth and significance, culminating in the haunting sentiment that "I'd be a fool to go on and on / No one would care, no one would cry." This stark admission reflects a profound sense of hopelessness, as if they believe their life has lost purpose without the existence of their loved one.
The final lines of "Only my last goodbye" echo like a mantra, encapsulating the essence of grief and finality. The use of repetition amplifies the feeling of resignation, suggesting that the singer’s emotional waves have reached a pinnacle, leading to a moment where they feel they must let go. The finality of their goodbye represents not just the end of a relationship but also a recognition of the personal void that remains—everything seems meaningless without love. In essence, this repeated farewell signifies an emotional death, a surrender to the overwhelming nature of loss. The culmination of the song leaves the listener with a haunting reflection on the impact of love, loss, and the yearning for connection; it underscores the fragility of human emotions and the existential crises that can arise from profound separation.
Line by Line Meaning
What now my love now that you've left me
What course of action do I take, dear one, since you have departed from my life?
How can I live through another day
In what manner can I endure the passage of time when each moment feels unbearable?
Watching my dreams turning to ashes
Observing my once vibrant aspirations disintegrate and become meaningless remnants.
and all my hopes into bits of clay
Seeing my once-solid ambitions reduced to fragile fragments, lacking form and substance.
Once I could see, once I could feel
In the past, I was aware of life and capable of experiencing emotions deeply.
Now I am numb, I've become unreal
Currently, I find myself in a state of emotional desensitization, as if I no longer exist.
I walk the night without a goal
I traverse the darkness aimlessly, devoid of purpose or direction in my life.
Stripped of my heart
I feel as though my capacity for love and passion has been completely removed.
Stripped of my soul
It seems my very essence has been taken away, leaving me hollow and empty.
What now my love, now that it's over
What should I do, dear one, in the aftermath of our relationship’s end?
I feel the world closing in on me
I sense an overwhelming constriction of my surroundings, as if the universe is pressing upon me.
Here come the stars tumbling around me
I witness the celestial bodies spiraling chaotically, reflecting the turmoil in my mind.
There's the sky where the sea should be
The usual harmony of nature is distorted, with the sky occupying the place of the sea, signifying confusion.
What now my love, now that you've gone
What course is left for me, beloved, in the reality of your absence?
I'd be a fool to go on and on
Continuing to persist in life feels like an act of foolishness without you by my side.
No one would care, no one would cry
In the absence of your presence, I believe that my existence would go unnoticed and uncared for.
If I should live, if I should die
Whether I continue to live or succumb to despair, it seems there would be little difference to others.
What now my love
What steps must I now take, dear one, amid this profound loss?
Now there is nothing
At this moment, I am confronted with a void, an absence of meaning and fulfillment.
Only my last goodbye
All that remains is the final farewell to you, signifying the end of everything we shared.
Only my last goodbye
The only sentiment left is this ultimate farewell, encapsulating my sorrow.
Only my last goodbye
What lingers is merely this conclusive parting, the final acknowledgment of our separation.
Only my last goodbye
What echoes in my heart is simply this final goodbye, void of all hope or promise beyond it.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Pierre Delanoë
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind