Story Behind the Song: Reyna Roberts, ’67 (Winchester)’
Reyna Roberts is a self-described "really shy and awkward, and just really nerdy" -- which is somewhat hard to believe coming from such a talkative, bubbly and fashionable person, but talk with her a little while and she's sure to drop a Star Wars reference or two.
It's not too surprising, then, to learn the inspiration behind Roberts' driving, sultry song "67 (Winchester)": Dean Winchester, one of the protagonists in the CW series Supernatural. He's portrayed by actor Jensen Ackles and drives a 1967 Chevrolet Impala; his car, in fact, is what sparked the whole idea for the song.
Below, Roberts shares the story behind "67 (Winchester)" in her own words.
"67" was the first song I put out by myself; it was before I had a team or anything. And I freakin' love that song! I wrote it by myself, and I'm really proud of it ...
One of my favorite shows is Supernatural. One of the main characters, his name is Jensen Ackles, and he plays a badass character named Dean Winchester. I've been watching that show since I was, like, 14 or so and always just thought this character was amazing ... I loved the storytelling, and so, it always inspired me.
I was, like, 19 when I wrote the song, and I was like, "Why have I not written about Dean Winchester? He's my favorite character." And he's just a badass, and I like -- Jensen Ackles just portrays the character so freakin' amazingly.
One day -- my dad had gotten me this little, miniature '67 car, from the show. I was looking at it one day, and I was at my piano, and I was like, "I have an idea!" And so, it started on the piano.
It was just supposed to be about the car at first, but as I started getting more into the song, started writing it more, I started thinking about Dean. I think he's stunning, I think he's really gorgeous, and I love his attitude, so I was like, "Why don't I talk about him and the car at the same time?" And so, that's how I put it together ...
That's something I really care about: taking a personal story or something I really like and making sure anybody in the world is like, "I can relate to that." I had a picture of him and the car on my phone, so I just kind of wrote down the details. I was like, "How many people have tattoos? How many people have a five o'clock shadow?" so when whoever's listening to a song, they can envision whoever their person is. So, the traits weren't so specific that you couldn't think about somebody else when you're listening to it or singing along to it. That was kind of the way: Using certain terms that would relate to a lot of people ...
It took me a little bit to write that song; it took me a week or so. I was getting so frustrated, like, "I've gotta finish the song" ... I always want to make things better ... and I was just trying to make it better -- as great as I could make it.
[I know a song is done after] I usually sing it to somebody -- whether it's my friend or my mom or my dad or my stepdad ... I'll be like, "If there's anything in here you don't like, let me know ... and I'll revisit it to see if I can make it better." But [this time], they were like, "I love the song!" and I was like, "Okay, cool, good to go." I just stopped right there. So that's how I got to the finish point.
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