Makin Waves Song of the Week: "Never Meant to Be" by Jim Mill

By Bob Makin

originally published: 03/31/2023

“Never Meant to Be,” the latest single from Jersey Shore singer-songwriter Jim Mill’s new EP, “Unhappy Hour,” is the Makin Waves Song of the Week.

Apple’s Garage Band makes it that much easier to record, and Jersey Shore singer-songwriter Jim Mill has taken full advantage by using the program to produce his sophomore solo EP, “Unhappy Hour.”

The long-awaited follow-up to the 2013 solo debut, “Aperture,” the EP features the second single, “Never Meant To Be,” the Makin Waves Song of the Week.

As the Makin Waves Song of the Week, “Never Meant To Be” also can be heard between 6 and 8 p.m. on March 31 on “Radio Jersey” at ThePenguinRocks.com. If you miss it, you can tune in any time in the archives at The Penguin or MixCloud.

A veteran of such bands as Gravity Well and Wynward, Jim wrote, recorded and mixed all of “Unhappy Hour” completely solo at home with an Ipad using the aforementioned Garage Band.

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“I played every instrument — guitar, bass, keyboard — on the EP aside from the drums, which I programmed using Garage Band’s AI Drums to every song,” Jim said. “There was no outside influence on any song.

“The EP's theme is loss, life, and processing how fragile navigating that all can be,” he continued. “A personal benchmark of where my mind was in the last year, and why I took a small hiatus from music.”

Jim’s first recorded project since Wynward’s 2017 debut album, “Tides,” the name “Unhappy Hour” came up when he started testing the songs with a friend.

He explained that they mentioned that the lyrical themes of the songs are sad, but musically, they’re upbeat and radio-friendly.

“Like songs you’d typically hear during happy hour at a bar,” Jim said.

About “Never Meant To Be,” he added, “During the fall, I started getting back into really collecting vinyl again, and in turn, I began listening — and covering — a lot of bands from the ‘80s. I was listening to a lot of Tears for Fears, The Cure, Joy Division, and early R.E.M. when I got the urge to do something entirely new for me. I really wanted to try and capture the twangy guitar sound along with the droning keyboards you’d hear on a lot of those post-punk songs. The first part of the song I wrote was the chorus and the rest sort of came from that.

“The song is about realizing that sometimes your dreams are just dreams,” Jim continued. “The theme came from when I took a hiatus from music. I felt burned out on performing entirely. I felt like I wasted so much of my time trying to get somewhere with it, and that maybe it wasn’t meant to be — and it was something I needed to make peace with.”

Fear not!

Jim not only is performing in support of “Unhappy Hour,” he will be making a video for “Never Meant To Be” soon.

The EP’s first single, “Oh Where It Takes Me,” was the song that planted the idea to finally release an EP after it did really well on TikTok, Jim said.

Hear both songs and more live April 15 and May 6 at Max Devros, Manasquan, and July 22, Pino’s, Highland Park. In the fall, Jim is planning a live run of Weezer’s “Blue” album with an allstar band.

For more, click here.

Bob Makin has produced Makin Waves since 1988. Follow Makin Waves on Facebook and contact Bob at [email protected].

About the author:

New Jersey Stage is proud to be the home of Bob Makin's Makin Waves column since 2017. His Song of the Week column comes out every Friday. He also writes an Album of the Month and Interview of the Month as well.

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