“I was in such an interesting, reflective, and incredibly challenging time in my life, and I’ve always turned to songwriting for comfort, or to make sense of something,” Gretta Ray tells Apple Music. “But I’ve never had it be so powerful in terms of how much these songs spilled out of me, and they were so matter-of-fact.” For a while there, the Melbourne-raised singer-songwriter thought she might never make another album. In 2024, fresh off the critical and commercial acclaim that greeted her 2023 record Positive Spin, Ray was struck down with a rare, life-threatening infection affecting the inner lining and valves of her heart. For six weeks she lay in a hospital bed in London, where she’d recently moved to pursue international opportunities, unsure of her future. Upon being discharged , she returned to her family home in Melbourne to start the long process of healing, while grieving the potentially permanent pause the heart disease had placed on her musical career and, eventually, the long-term relationship it claimed. “I called [the album] Heartsong because a heartsong can be like a heartfelt poem or message,” says Ray. “But when I went deeper into the meaning, it’s often used in the context of significant life experiences. And I knew that the title of the album would have something to do with the heart. And these songs were all born from such a specific place, because it’s so much about this event in my life, or the aftermath of it.” Here, Ray explores some of the record’s key songs. “Heartsong” “On the day where it had been one year exactly since I had been admitted to hospital with my heart disease, I took the opportunity to write a letter to myself a year ago. Essentially like, ‘You’re about to have a horrendous time, but it’s going to be okay.’ And it was such a beautiful exercise to be like, ‘You’re going to experience so much loss, but there will be so much that you learn.’” “Partner in Crime” “I had a lot of grief surrounding the end of my [long-term relationship]. The sadness of that loss was all-consuming, especially in a time where I was dealing with so many other elements of grief. And I felt very alone. But I was thinking about the way that we had come undone and felt very eager to tell the story. Also because, as I say in the song, I didn’t want to have any resentment. I wanted to acknowledge that we had been up against such a challenging turn of events and time in our lives. It’s a breakup song, but in so many ways it’s also a love song.” “Coming Up for Air” “I had been feeling like I was drowning for so long, but I was beginning to experience little moments of , like, life could be good again. And I was really learning to acknowledge when those moments would happen: back relief I’m feeling, this moment where I’m not crying, is real. But I’m probably going to go back under and I just have to brace myself for the next wave. But as the song says, I knew that the storm would pass eventually.” “Turn Off My Music” “I had been having these moments with my darling friends who love listening to my music. They have my songs in their playlists. And when we were all hanging out over the summer, I would hear this music that I love so much. But it was obviously a reminder of this life I felt I had lost. So I really couldn’t stand it. I built the song around that sense of loss, and around the alarming truth that I also reference in the chorus that my whole identity is defined by this [career].” “Please Be Gentle with Me” “The ability to let someone new in after you have been so distraught and let down, you do feel very fragile going into it. And I think that the song really holds this energy, as vulnerable as I was and as fragile as I felt. I’ve got a broken little heart, and I need this to be safe and good and kind.” “Lucky (In My Life)” “I was starting to feel this strange sense of normalcy again. And I was at first uncertain of what to do with that feeling, because I was so used to being like, what’s going to happen? When’s the next event? It was like, oh, I think things are just normal now. And I just needed to be so grateful for that, because there were so many times when I was in such a bad way that I dreamed of things feeling normal and mundane. So ‘Lucky’ is just about what a privilege it is to feel like there’s a sense of rhythm in your life. And the fact that I was able to come back to that after all that I went through felt like such an achievement.”