I wrote, produced, arranged and recorded this record more than four years ago and it just recently surfaced on the web as a ‘new’ song. More interesting is the fact that I walked into Duane Read on Broadway two nights ago and a girl in line stopped me excitedly to say, ‘Ryan, I’m listening to you right now’. She handed me her left headphone and there it was blasting: ‘When I think about love, you’re the one I want…’
Being original means having the courage to be different. The first few lines of this song were written with my longtime collaborator and friend Corey ‘Latif’ Williams. Instead of writing a record from a male perspective with the ever-so-popular misogynistic undertone, we opted for honesty. This record is about having the guts to admit you’re not ready to fully commit and in fact you’re actually ‘just thinking’ about the concept of love.
Stevie Wonder wrote a song for the ‘Jungle Fever’ soundtrack called ‘Make Sure You’re Sure’. My song is about the thinking that’s necessary in order to be sure that you want to take someone on your love trip.
Though this song never ended up on any of my albums, I’m glad it’s in the universe now because it’s always been one of my favorites. It feels good to confidently know that you’re earnestly thinking about what your next move will be. So the next time you’ve got the urge to jump all the way in, take a few minutes to rock this record and think about whether you’re really sure. Who knows, you might end up playing it over and over while enjoying the process of ‘just thinking’ before you ‘do’.
