Q&A: Exploring the Duality of Goodbye with Julia DeTomaso in Her New Single “Goodbye, Goodnight, Good Seeing You”
WRITTEN BY GINGER
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Photo by Garrett Brown
“Goodbye” is a word we’ve been taught to treat as final. A full stop at the end of a sentence, a chapter, or even a relationship as you go your separate ways with your partner for the last time. But “goodbye” still has the word “good” in it — a quiet contradiction that raises the question, is saying goodbye ever really good?
Florida indie-pop artist and songwriter Julia DeTomaso leans into the uncomfortable grey area with her new single “Goodnight, Goodbye, Good Seeing You” which explores the complicated space of closure and longing with powerful vocals that give listeners a chance to scream into her void with her as well.
DeTomaso comes from a family of music with her grandfather who was a professional musician to her mother who had a background in musical theater. She names Lizzy McAlpine, Gracie Abrams, Lennon Stella and more as her music inspirations but also gave shoutouts to Charlotte Brontë and Kaveh Akbar whose prose strengthened her songwriting.
Life on Jupiter had a chance to speak with DeTomaso weeks after her first show performing “Goodbye, Goodnight, Good Seeing You” in her hometown, Naples, to discuss her single.
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LIFE ON JUPITER: Thanks for speaking with us! Could you share your creative process and how the single came to be?
JULIA DETOMASO: When I was writing the single, I was in this state of exasperation. It was a case of seeing a guy I was once involved with find his next girl in real time and having to witness it all given our shared social group provided me with a mix of grief and resignation that I channeled into the lyrics.
With the vocals, I also wanted it to be right in front of your face and I feel there’s something really true to the core of the song in that way. I wanted it to feel honest and not overly refined, just like how emotions after a final cut off aren’t refined either.
‘I believed in him and now I’m agnostic’ - is such a powerful line, how did you come up with that?
DETOMASO: Honestly I was trying to find something to rhyme with ‘topic’. I thought the word ‘agnostic’ was interesting and kind of reverse engineered my way to the idea of halfway believing in someone’s reliability. That being the final line of the verse sets up the chorus well to kind of prove and illustrate that point like “here’s why I can’t believe in you the way I used to.”
“Goodbye, Goodnight, Good Seeing You” is really powerful in showcasing the duality of a relationship, especially with lyrics like ‘the good in goodbye’ as those phrases are often used as ending statements but it still has the word good in it. Do you think some of the most painful moments in life are also the ones that remind us of what was good in the first place?
DETOMASO: I was thinking about that irony when writing the song, saying goodbye when you don’t want to doesn’t feel good. Seeing someone you used to know and using colloquialisms like “goodnight” feels so fake and gross because that is a “badnight” instead.
For me, the song doesn’t serve to remind me of what was good before, it feels like proof that meaning changes when feelings change.
You gave a shoutout to two writers when mentioning your biggest influences, what do you think is the importance of conveying prose through the art of songwriting?
DETOMASO: I think prose is what makes songwriting accessible for the listener. I know the feeling of getting a poetic overload when reading something and I think music isn’t exempt from that - the best writing is layered that way.
I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve heard a line for the umpteenth time and had a moment where I go, “Oh, I get it!” I believe if you can write something in a way where there’s no pretention, what you are trying to convey will be widely accessible to all and if you can do it in a way where the beauty is open to interpretation, that’s even better.
What was your proudest moment of the song?
DETOMASO: The writing. I’ve heard it so many times that sometimes it becomes white noise but when I’m able to take in the lyrics as if I didn’t write them myself, I feel a sense of wonder. I’ll never grow tired of it. Plus I got to track drums on this one. Bonus points.
If you could tell something to the version of Julia who wrote the song, what would you say to her?
DETOMASO: That’s not the life you wanted anyway.
Congratulations on your recent hometown show as well! How was that for you?
DETOMASO: I was truly blown away by the amount of support I received from total strangers. One girl even made her own fan merch bedazzled with my name on it and that was the cutest thing to witness ever! Having only released the single a few weeks prior, I was astounded by people who were singing along with me. I had no poker face that night and loved every moment of it. It was such a whirlwind.
One final note, what’s something you want to say “goodbye” to right now?
DETOMASO: Champagne mangos. I just tried one today and it was regrettable. Why is it chalky? *sad face*