Supporting the song with Olivia Penalva

Canadian pop singer-songwriter Olivia Penalva joined us to talk about collaboration, abstract lyrics, and visualizing her music. Download the lyrics to Code Blue to follow along. We talked about:

• Our songwriting challenge for 2026 to write a traditional country song
• Things that make for a good collaboration experience; even working remotely
• Taking personal experiences and finding a metaphor and images to express them
• Finding visual images for cover art or music videos in line with the songwriting
• How Olivia refers to previous songs she’s written to inspire her current song
• Writing, or not writing, declarative choruses

About Olivia Penalva

Olivia Penalva is a Canadian pop singer-songwriter known for her ethereal vocals, emotionally rich melodies, and introspective storytelling.… Read the rest