Ten minute tea with Afternoon Tea. Spend ten minutes with Afternoon Tea. In the time it takes to boil one kettle, and let one cup of tea steep, we will have your daily art + music fix covered. Take your afternoon tea break with our Afternoon Tea curators.
Today’s tea + soundtrack + visuals is curated by Tara Van. Tara Van is releasing the second single from her upcoming album, Rise (due April 2023), the hopeful reflection on self-love that is “Back In Love.”
Composed after a brutal breakup, “Back In Love” is a “self-soothing anthem” in Tara‘s words, an ode to the hopeful nature of rooting oneself once again. The melodic, acoustic pop song layers her harmonies and empowering lyrics to create a peaceful, sonic cocoon.
“Back In Love” reflects on the challenges of being ‘too much’ and the recognition that for oneself and for the right people, one can never be considered ‘too much’ of anything.
Stream + share “Back In Love” here:
Song:
I just saw The Dip play on Feb 19th at The Pheonix and it was as good as I’d hoped for after finding their music a little over a year ago. Their old school soul vibes soothed my broken heart and provided some much needed soul sing outs and solo dance parties. The song of theirs I chose to share is ‘Crickets’ which is pretty much about the end of the world. I feel like this has been on all of our minds for a while now with the multitude of fires, floods, wars, viruses, food and water shortages ect. It’s very easy to get cynical. Life is a precarious thing. My ex and I ruminated on a lot of these issues and where I saw light he saw dark. In the end it’s probably the main division we had, especially when it came to the subject of kids and whether or not to have them. As someone who suffers from eternal optimism it’s hard for me not to see hope. I saw hope in the change of soundscapes globally during the pandemic, I saw hope in the very quick adaptations of flora and fauna, I saw hope in the social and racial equity advocacy and the overall acknowledgement that we have an impact on this world. If we have an impact then there is always hope for change. We can change our habits. We can change our mindsets. We can change our world.
Visual:
I love this print from Strangford. Humans are always depicted as the top of the food chain and I love how this work of a gull swallowing a human invokes a different feeling. I suppose that is why I enjoy the Jurassic Park series so much as well. Humans need to be humbled. We are not invincible and we have our place but we are taking up too much space. What was the first lesson you were taught as a kid? I know one of mine was how to share. When did we unlearn this lesson?
Tea: CBD Tulsi Ashwagandha
I’m a big tea fan and this is one that was gifted to me for Christmas this past year. It’s delicious and wonderfully calming. Adaptogens like licorice root are meant to help us adapt to the ups and downs of life and help facilitate the body when recovering from exertion. This tea has a strong licorice flavour which any part-dutch girl can’t help but enjoy.
Tea + Me 