Welcome to my whole album deep dive of The Butterfly Effect, Zoee's debut album which she released on her birthday, Independence Day! You can read more about Zoee here on Tennessee Vibes. I have written about a couple of these songs before, but I have brought the first five tracks together to give you a comprehensive article about the first side of the album.
The Butterfly Effect
If you have read any of my writing at all, you will know that I have just spent half an hour tracking the evolution of the philosophical concept popularly known as the "butterfly" effect. Is it philosophical, or is it linked to physics and math? I believe it is a little bit of all three. There is nothing new about it. It's a poetic and easily grasped way to explain chaos theory, which basically says that there are some problems in physics, like weather forecasting, which are genuinely impossible using available technology.
The issue is that a microscopic change in the initial circumstances of a weather system, such as a butterfly flapping its wings, changes the system so completely that an accurate weather forecast becomes impossible. This is why the weather never does what we are told it will do. Even if we could accurately capture "all" of the circumstantial conditions, we would still not be able to predict the future because a microscopic rounding error at the start can cause wildly different outcomes. Can one butterfly flap today really cause a tornado half-way around the world tomorrow? Of course not. But it's a fantastic image.
Ray Bradbury wrote a short story in which a butterfly killed by a time traveller caused unexpected havoc in 1952. But it was the scientist Edward Lorenz who is usually credited with the specific image of the butterfly flapping its wings and changing the course of history. It is a powerfully simple image but it only really works on the microscopic or quantum physics scale. Nevertheless, we have all see Gwyneth Paltrow in the movie Sliding Doors. It is indisputable that lives can be changed by such seemingly innocuous slips.
In Zoee's case, her sliding doors moment came from thunder and lightning. The tune itself conjures a storm with the crackling guitars and thundering drums. If the lightning had not cut the power, she would have been able to open the shop or bar on time, would not have missed the flight, would never have met that guy. If lightning had not cut the power, she would not have had the opportunity to write this song, and you would not be singing along. It's a fantastic, bold opening to the album that you can imagine her opening the show with. It even has that little cue for the audience to join in. A worthy opener!
Wendy
This song seems to be talking about Wendy in Peter Pan, but of course it is not. Zoee is obviously Wendy. Neverland almost looks like New Zealand on the page but in this case is Tasmania, Australia. You might know that Tasmania is a small island situated close to Melbourne, which when you look at the globe is the arse end of nowhere.
What Wendy / Zoee is saying is that she should not have left Neverland, but what she really means is there are some days when she wishes she really had stayed in Australia aged 16. What a life she seems to have. Nobody else would agree that leaving Australia was a mistake. I am also writing about the Memphis singer Savannah Brister and her song Limbo Land has an identical sentiment: when she was 12 she wanted nothing more badly than to be 24. Now she is 24, well, 12 looks great!
Red Flags
So many songs, of all genres, are about a communication breakdown at their core. We all know what a red flag is. Red has been the colour of warning since time immemorial, and at least for two hundred years, when dyes became readily available.
In many signaling systems, whether on your car, computer, in the military... red is a warning to others. Microsoft Outlook has red flags and the metaphor is used in business when the shit hits the fan. In this case, Zoee is having an unfortunate time in her relationship.
I really rate this song. The acoustic guitars and drum brushes generate a very gentle start to this song. It is profoundly sad because I have a terrible feeling that this will not be the last time Zoee has these issues. What so many female singers fail to notice is that men are fundamentally different to women. We really are from Mars. We really do want different things.
Quite often I feel like you ask too much of us. You might guess (wrongly) that I am a strong communicator IRL. I am not. I write because I cannot talk, not about the important things. This is even more than case in Britain than in some other countries. We do not enjoy discussing things, we do not enjoy analysing emotional scenarios. What looks to you like indifference is just us being us. For all I know, that guy really was into his girl. He just didn't have the skills to explain himself.
Perhaps the saddest image in this song is the one about him staining her white lace in the washing machine with his anger and frustration. I found Lilly Winwood's Laundry Day the saddest song on her album too, the idea that she had to wait for the one day a week when her former boyfriend would let her use his washing machine. But he did let her. Could he want her back?
In this song, it seems there really were issues. His white lies, his covering for dishonest behaviours show he wasn't just struggling to communicate his feelings. He does seem to have been a bad apple. But even good apples really struggle to maintain long-term relationships.
I'll Have What He's Having
This is a deep song for a single. It calls to mind the scene from the film When Harry Met Sally in which Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm in a diner and another guest tells the waiter: I'll have what she's having!
Stylistically this is a slightly dancey country song with lots of steel guitar and dry desert acoustics. I think this is my favourite song on side 1. It references Cool Springs, TN and a truck with a tailgate. But she wants a "chart-topping double album" that goes double platinum.
Is this guy another singer? Yes he is! He takes a private jet everywhere. He is a big boy with big toys. Emphasis on boy. Why can't she have all these trappings of success? If she really wanted all that cash, she could just ensnare a star like him: it would be a shortcut.
But this isn't Zoee. She's not like this. She doesn't wish for material things, she doesn't complain. You already know this. A private jet would not excite her. We need to dig deeper. It is a persona.
My interpretation is that she worries for the girls who really are like this. They're the same girls who filter themselves excessively on socials such that you have no idea who they really are. The real tragedy here, of course, is that they don't know who they are either.
I Could Complain
This is a really great chugging driving song about being positive, about being thankful to be alive. Interestingly the lyrics and sentiment remind me very much of Chloe Kimes' stunner last week called Afraid To Die, but this is different musically.
Zoee lists a few things she could complain about, from inflation, red and blue states, politics, the end of the world and the way it's all going down, to lots of other things. At least we're all alive. Basically we all want something more, but Zoee is clever and wise enough to know that whatever you achieve, whatever you receive, whatever you win... you will then just want something more, something else. I think the nicest thing Zoee ever said to me was this:
And as you know... the real glow always starts from within.
I love this because she shows she understands the meaning of life itself, that you need to choose happiness first before anything good can happen. But I love it even more because she believes that I also know this! I am one of the few. Sometimes it is an effort to force myself to think this way.
Be positive. Don't complain. There are two ways to read this song: Zoee knows not to complain and she is frustrated that you complain so much, that's the most obvious one. But the second way is that although Zoee knows not to do it, she still feels the urge. She is reminding herself not to complain. Just because you could complain does not mean you should.
Take a pause, take a breath. Stop complaining. Better to say nothing. Your luck and life experiences improve as soon as your thinking patterns become more positive. It's just science.
Reflections on Side A
I got the sense that Zoee really did save up a lifetime's experiences to pour into this album, and The Butterfly Effect has a serious implication in her own life too. If you check out my other articles on Zoee you will see she had a terrifying accident in Australia that, one way or another, either contributed to (or even caused) her decision to pursue a music career in Britain. That gigantic event has repercussions to this day. There is one question I was not brave enough to ask Zoee in our recent Q&A: do you ever wish that accident had not happened? I won't ask her that. But it is interesting to wonder.
You can stream the new album below or on your usual streaming service. You can also buy on physical media.
