On Thursday, June 30, Katie Hazel, a second-year graduate student studying social work, released her newest single titled “Take My Order.” The song is fun and upbeat while addressing serious societal issues that affect the LGBTQ community. Hazel worked with her manager, Zeph Park, to write the song.
“What I had in mind for the lyrics was a sort of inner monologue that a lot of queer women go through when they have unwanted attention from males,” Hazel said. “It doesn’t even have to be just for queer women. I think a lot of women and men go through that. It’s just a silly take on that awkward situation and that inner dialogue that you have in those situations.”
Hazel and Park were inspired by a trip they took to Chicago to be in a music video for the band Lawrence. The music video was set in a diner and gave the two the idea of this situation where you’re just trying to order your food.
“Zeph wrote it originally from his point of view with him being the waiter, and he thinks that the girl’s pretty, but she’s so not interested in him,” Hazel said. “Then we were like, ‘What if we twisted this and made it more from my perspective as I’m the girl sitting in the diner?’”
Hazel and Park paid homage to their inspiration by including some horns in the background to mimic a Lawrence feel. Hazel said the song will be on an album or EP that is out by the end of the year.
According to Hazel, she debated between writing a song that was slow and addressing a lot of the social issues that are currently happening, or something that was upbeat and may be able to distract the listener a little bit.
“I went the fun route because I always deal with my problems through humor,” Hazel said. “I want to write more meaningful music later on, but this song is definitely supposed to be more uplifting and distracting from quarantine and stuff like that.”
Hazel, however, doesn’t want to take away from the current social movements and societal issues, just to provide an outlet for listeners to escape in a way. Overall, Hazel feels “Take My Order” is a representation of herself in all aspects.
“I feel like this song is very much me, both personality-wise and music-wise,” Hazel said. “I just love upbeat pop music and the narrative that goes along with it. I think it really lines up well with the rest of the songs I’ve been putting out.”
For more information about Katie Hazel or her music, visit her Spotify page.
