Wars in a Wonderland

**WARS IN A WONDERLAND** is Neoni's debut EP, featuring 8 songs. It was released on August 20, 2021.

Listen to WARS IN A WONDERLAND

## Theme

*"We worked on writing most of the songs at the beginning of this year and I think there was just so much pent-up energy, stress and aggravation following a year so full of uncertainty. The songs really came from this place of tension. We’d had so much time to think about the way we live our lives, what we thought was important, and the way humans interact with each other. The EP was our way to break down all these new things we’d had time to think about. We live in this perfect world that’s so full of small luxuries that we think will make us happy, but they never do. Wars in a Wonderland is a reflection on these struggles"*

*“There’s always a moment in every person’s life when you take off your rose-colored glasses and see life in its less than cheery colours. That’s what ‘**WONDERLAND**‘ is about. It’s an introduction to life as it is. It’s about losing that innocence that lets you believe that life will always be perfect. It’s about the moment when you see through all the hype. It’s about growing up and facing everything that people didn’t mention.”*

"*The vision for the project came into vision. We'd never really done an album/EP and really wanted them to feel different but also connected. We wanted to tell a larger story, wanted to build a world with it. The idea behind **Wars in a Wonderland** is the things in society that bother us or what things we don't feel like fit what we want to do with our lives, and then what we are going to do to change it. What are we going to do to overcome it?*

*WONDERLAND is a part of that because the world isn't always what we think it is when we're young. WONDERLAND specifically is about reaching this moment where you're like, "oh, not everything is as I thought it would be". And that's one of the big overarching themes for the album.  Another overarching theme is that we're living in the 21st century, this is kind of the most connected, the most farthest advanced we've ever been as humanity, and yet there's still things that leave us feeling empty and keep us feeling separated. And we really wanted to go in that and be like, "Oh, what are the things we're still fighting in a world that is in so many ways so good? What are the things that still dig us? What are the things that still keep us feeling empty and drained?" You hear a lot of that in RIP when we talk about the value you put in items that you think are gonna make you feel better or to prove yourself to other people by material things. That was one of the themes in that one.*

*In MACHINE, it's just like there's a lot of expectations on how you're supposed to live your life, like there's an order to it, a certain way that's right. And I think MACHINE is really about breaking down that concept because everyone lives differently. Everyone's path is meant to be different.  The general overarching thing is things that we don't understand, that doesn't make sense in our world and targeting those and opening up that concept. The first half is talking about the actual struggle and actual things, this is what I'm gonna call out, this is what I'm gonna say that's gonna be bothering us. And then the second half talks about what you're gonna do about it.*

*LOSER is the bridge of "oh, you think that I'm a mess, you think I'm a loser because I don't do things the way you do, well let me tell you something" and then we go into the back half of the EP where you're action-oriented. The first half is more contemplative and introspective, it's like a commentary, and then the second half is like action, action-oriented, what are we gonna do to make things better? What are we gonna do to change it?*"

## Background

* Its release was announced on August 16, 2021

## Songs included

1. WONDERLAND (released August 20, 2021)
2. MACHINE (released on June 18, 2021)
3. UH OH (was released on May 28, 2021)
4. LOSER (released on July 30, 2021)
5. RIP (released August 20, 2021)
6. DARKSIDE (released on January 29, 2021)
7. OUTLAW (released on November 13, 2020)
8. MUTINY (released on April 30, 2021)

## Trivia

* The name for "Wars in a Wonderland" came during the **WONDERLAND** session.
* Started writing it end of 2020/early 2021.
	+ The whole EP was written and produced during quarantine, it all came together pretty quickly
* **WONDERLAND** and **RIP** were the only songs not released before the EP's release.
* **RIP** is Sidney's favorite song on Wars in a Wonderland, while **LOSER** is Caitlin's favorite song in the EP.
* GH'S later used **WONDERLAND** and **DARKSIDE** in animations.

## Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.lakesideentertainmentgroup.com/blog/neoni
2. ↑ https://cldkid.com/release/warsinawonderland/
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://youtu.be/xLO5eHmNr3A
4. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CSpDAFmrHGw/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_copy\_link
5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLO5eHmNr3A
6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSs0HFGG6eg
7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJlxeS3\_RnI&t=4s