Song Premiere: Wild Child, “Pillow Talk”

Videos by American Songwriter

If you like She & Him, you’re going to love Wild Child, the Austin, Texas band helmed by songwriters Kelsey Wilson and Alexander Beggins, Their song “Pillow Talk” is the kind of pleasantly soothing song you want to wake up to in the morning, or hear in your dreams. Until you pay attention to the lyrics, which capture both sides of a failing relationship —  then you want to hide under the covers.


Pillow Talk by WildChildSounds

Alexander Beggins sets the scene:

“Pillow Talk” was written on the floor of Kelsey’s room, as are many of our songs. I remember playing the first two chords back and forth and seeing Kelsey’s eyes light up. She has such a mind for melody; it’s just crazy how fast the melody of the song came to her. Within minutes we were hovering over our little black journal ferociously scribbling down lyrics. Even after the first couple songs we wrote, we knew that we wanted to title the album Pillow Talk. It just seemed so fitting for the themes that we were writing about. We decided immediately that we wanted this song, with this riff, to be the title track.

We wanted to write about both perspectives of a failing relationship. The male verses portray a person in the relationship that is ready to give up. Though he cares about her, he doesn’t see her the way he used to and is ready to move on. The female verses portray a person that can’t let go but know there is little hope the relationship will work out in the end.

There is a consistent sleeping/dreaming theme throughout the entire album. We saw sleep as an escape from problems in our relationships and wanted to reflect on that lyrically throughout the album. When we started writing the lyrics for “Pillow Talk,” they basically poured out of the pen. I think it took us about 30 minutes to finish the song end-to-end. We both have really great memories from that night. For such a serious subject it might seem odd how giggly and light-hearted we were, but really it just felt so incredible to get it out on paper and give our feelings justice. I think the chorus of the song properly sums up the feeling we were trying to communicate:

This pillow talk / Don’t wake me up
My dream is done / I’m still in love
I know your fears / Just lying here
I think I’ll leave / Please don’t my dear
This pillow talk will wake me up no matter what I’m dreaming

Wild Child’s debut album Pillow Talk is due October 25 via Major Nation Records.

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