The Story Behind the Song “Calling You By Your Name”
There are songs that are written because an idea suddenly comes to your mind.
There are songs that are written because you experienced something yourself.
And then there are songs that you don’t really choose to write. They simply come out of you, because something you read, something you saw, or something you felt touched you so deeply that you can no longer keep it inside.
“Calling You By Your Name” is one of those songs.
The News Story I Couldn’t Forget
Before I wrote the song, I read a news story that deeply shocked me.
A devastating fire in Liti, Oreokastro, Greece, turned a family’s home into the scene of an unimaginable tragedy. A 66-year-old father lost his life, while a second body was found inside the house, believed at the time to be that of his 12-year-old son.
What broke my heart was the information that the child was found inside a closet.
The thought that a twelve-year-old child, terrified by the fire and the smoke, may have tried to find somewhere to hide and protect himself was something I simply could not process emotionally.
I cried.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what might have been going through that child’s mind during those final moments.
The fear.
The confusion.
The desperation.
The desperate need to find somewhere safe.
And above all, I couldn’t stop thinking about his parents.
His mother.
His father.
And the unimaginable pain of a parent losing a child.
That thought became the reason I sat down and started writing.
How “Calling You By Your Name” Was Born
I didn’t sit down intending to write a song.
I sat down carrying a feeling of pain.
The first words came together with the images that had formed in my mind after reading the story.
The fire.
The smoke.
The darkness.
The child searching for somewhere to hide.
The closet.
The desperation.
The mother left behind.
The father trying to protect his home and his family.
And, at the center of everything, a child.
A child who could have been anyone’s child.
Our child.
A friend’s child.
A neighbor’s child.
Any child.
That is why the title “Calling You By Your Name” is not simply about one particular child.
It feels like a final cry.
Like a parent trying to keep the presence of their child alive simply by saying their name.
Calling them.
Talking to them.
Refusing to let them disappear.
“In the Closet of Fear…”
The line:
“In the closet of fear”
came almost naturally.
The closet became a symbol of fear in the song.
A place that normally belongs to the safety of a home — a place filled with children’s clothes, toys, everyday memories and family life — suddenly becomes a hiding place from a fire.
And that was perhaps the most painful part of the story for me.
Because a home is supposed to be the safest place for a child.
The place where a child should feel protected.
And yet, in this tragedy, the home became a trap.
The Lyrics Became Images
When I started writing the song, I knew I didn’t want it to exist only through the lyrics.
I wanted the images in the video to speak to the story.
That is why the footage I chose for the YouTube video is closely connected to the lyrics.
The fire.
The smoke.
The darkness.
The loneliness.
Childhood.
The search for a safe place.
Absence.
The mother.
The father.
And the voice of a child who seems to be asking simply not to be left alone.
I didn’t want to create just another music video.
I wanted to create an audiovisual story.
A story where the images help you understand why every line was written.
The Hardest Song I Have Ever Sung
This song was perhaps one of the most emotional songs I have ever written and, at the same time, one of the hardest songs I have ever tried to sing.
There were moments when I simply couldn’t get my voice out.
Especially during the chorus.
Sometimes my voice broke.
Some notes did not come out the way I would normally want them to.
There are even moments where the singing is slightly out of tune.
And I chose to leave them there.
Not because I couldn’t correct them.
But because I didn’t want to correct them.
Because at that moment, I didn’t want a technically perfect vocal performance.
I wanted the pain to be heard.
I wanted the grief to be heard.
I wanted to hear that breaking point in the voice — the moment when a person can no longer control what they are feeling.
For me, that was more important than hitting every note perfectly.
Because a parent who loses a child does not cry out with perfect vocal technique.
They scream.
And that scream is what I tried to let come through my voice.
“Please, God, Don’t Let Me Go.”
Perhaps the hardest line in the song is:
“Please, God, don’t let me go.”
I don’t know if anyone can hear those words without imagining a frightened child.
A child asking for help.
A child who cannot understand why this is happening.
And at the same time, a parent who would give absolutely anything to be able to protect their child.
This is where the real news story ends and the music begins.
I did not want to assume exactly what happened during the child’s final moments. No one who was not there can truly know.
The song is an emotional interpretation of what the story made me feel.
The fear I felt while reading it.
The sadness.
The helplessness.
And above all, the thought that no child should ever have to experience something like this.
This Is Not a Song About Death
Although the song was born from a tragedy, I did not want it to be only a song about death.
I wanted it to be a song about the love that remains.
Because when someone leaves us — and especially when a child dies — love does not disappear.
It remains.
In the rooms.
In the belongings.
In the photographs.
In the memories.
In the voices of the parents.
In the name they continue to say.
Calling you by your name.
Calling you by your name, as if a single name could bring back an entire world.
For All Our Children
I never knew this family.
I never knew this child.
And yet, his story made me cry.
Perhaps because when it comes to a child, the distance between “their child” and “our child” suddenly disappears.
We all have children we love in our lives.
And we all want to see them grow.
Laugh.
Dream.
Make mistakes.
Go to school.
Grow older.
Become whatever they dream of becoming.
That is why the final thought I want to leave through this song is not fear.
It is a wish.
May all our children be well.
May they be healthy.
May they be safe.
And may no parent ever have to live through such a nightmare.
“Calling You By Your Name”
This song was written in a few moments of overwhelming emotion, but it carries a story that is difficult to contain within a song.
It was not written to exploit a tragedy.
It was written as a way of turning emotion into music.
Turning pain into lyrics.
Silence into melody.
And a cry into a voice.
If you watch the video on YouTube, you will understand why every shot was chosen the way it was.
They are not simply images accompanying a song.
They are pieces of the story.
And if, at some point, you hear my voice break or notice that a note is not perfectly in tune, leave it there.
That may be the most honest part of the entire song.
Because in those moments, I wasn’t simply singing.
I was trying to keep my voice standing.
And perhaps, in the end, that is what “Calling You By Your Name” really is.
A cry of love.
For a child.
For a family.
For every parent.
For every child.
May all our children be safe.
May all our children be healthy.
And may no one ever have to call a child’s name through the silence of such a tragedy again.