Setlist__April 3rd, 2023__9pm

“Pennies From Heaven” by Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke (feat. Abe)

I like Sarah Vaughan’s version. 

“Normalcy” by Paula Shin (feat. Stuart and Carson)

Check out our music video on Youtube and recording on all streaming platforms!

I wrote this song with love in mind. Specifically the absence of it, and the emotional volatility in a relationship with someone who has borderline personality disorder. They bounce back and forth from intense longing to intense loathing of the one they love the most. I don’t think you have to have BPD to understand the euphoria of requited love, the sting of rejection, the addictive quality of wanting what you can’t have.

Here are my lyrics:

Pleasant memories, never-ending

I can see inside my dreams

Asleep, I’m free

I’m cold and alone

Where are you?

I forget you’re perfect and I don’t belong in your head

All I want, in your arms

Be with me for all of time

Love is so divine

“Saving All My Love” by Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin (feat. Graeham and Stu)

Originally recorded by Whitney Houston.

“All Done” by Paula Shin (feat. Dom and Abe)

This was the final project in my first Zoom jazz class at USC.

Here are the lyrics:

All done. All done. All done.

We are done with school for now. Love you, bye!

We’re all done. All done. All done.

We are done with school til next year. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry.

“Werewolf” by Fiona Apple (feat. Abe and Sam)

Here is Fiona Apple’s original recording and my combo’s jazzy take.

“Very Early” by Bill Evans with lyrics by Tierney Sutton (feat. Abe)

“Santa Baby” by Joan Javitz and Philip Springer, arr. by Ryan Kiernan (feat. Abe)

I recorded this with Ryan Kiernan for my Christmas album, which came out in 2022. My three main vocal inspirations were Eartha Kitt, Liz Gillies, and Madonna. As for Ryan’s harmonic inspiration? I have no f***ing clue. This s**t is so weird. They were probably inspired by me, if anything.

“Isfahan” by  Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington, lyrics by Paula Shin (feat. Dom)

Lyrics (from the perspective of a cat named Isfahan):

My name’s Isfahan, I’m on your pretty lap

I’m a kitty cat

I want just a little nap

I’m not from Iran; far as I know, never gone, but

I put the purr in Persian song

‘Long as I get all the pets, I’m set

I’ll give you a fist bump with my tiny head

Can you make the fish jump? Haven’t been fed

I’m waiting, making biscuits, but have no bread

My name’s Isfahan, I’ll sleep instead

My name’s Isfahan, I’m kitten fresh

My name’s Isfahan, I’m glad we met

“Daisy Come Back” by Sergio Rodriguez and Paula Shin

Daisy lives in the valley. 

Lyrics:

I miss holding her hand

Bring her to the band

I can’t play without her

She’s gone

Daisy come back

My name is Paula Shin, a.k.a. Paula Tha Balla, a.k.a. PTHAB, a.k.a. the Babey Balla. I spell it with an E because I saw a twitter account once called “best babey names” and the tweets were “hot dog” and “ketamine” and “horse manure” and other good baby names like that.

I’ve overcome some traumatic experiences throughout my childhood and young adulthood, and inner child healing has been effective in learning to live a happier and more hopeful life. My earliest traumatic memory, however, occurred when I was three years old. So I reach back further than my childhood, all the way back to my babeyhood—when I had simple emotions and solvable problems and everybody loved me. I let that babey know every day that I love them, and I take care of them.

Bein’ Babey, for me, is expressing myself through art, by drawing dogs and cats, and by singing silly songs that make people laugh. Babey loves to learn. Babey doesn’t feel shame for being wrong or for asking questions or for crying. Babey feels safe and cared for.

It’s a bit oxymoronic that by choosing to take care of myself as if I’m an infant, I don’t feel the need to be vigilant for my own safety. Taking care of myself because I’m an adult feels scarier for some reason. I suppose the paradoxical nature of it all makes it feel akin to a religion. I do believe in babey. I have faith in myself.

I’m a few years older than the other students in my graduating class. I met my peers during the pandemic, when we were all the freshman guinea pigs for a university that took place entirely on the computer. We all shared this traumatic experience, but I realized that my friends, who had just graduated high school while socially distant, were grieving a lot more than I was. I had missed like, one community college concert I was mildly excited for. These poor kids were denied their chance to walk the stage with all their friends! And their God-given right to attend and/or hate on prom! So for my birthday party in September 2021, one of the first major social gatherings since we started taking classes together in person, I set a Prom theme. It turns out that giving the people Prom may be a higher calling for me.

The Promenade Dance is a formal event for high school seniors to develop social skills and practice formal behaviors. I remember wearing a wedding dress with dirty Vans sneakers to my high school prom at the California Science Center. It wasn’t that much fun, and I went because my mom didn’t want me to miss out on any stereotypical rites of passage. I thought it would be stupid, and it was. My ideal prom would be in a much more intimate venue, and only the people I hang out with would be invited, and we would play music for each other instead of hiring a DJ. I guess my ideal prom is a house show. 

So I threw a house show for my birthday and my USC Jazz friends played live, and we all dressed in tuxes and dresses and we looked beautiful while we played and danced. I wore a tiara, crowning myself the Prom King/Queen (or perhaps the Prom Babey); it was my birthday, after all, and I’m sort of one of those people who rarely win popularity contests. I had to crown myself. It all ties together nicely, though, since Babeys do come into the world by crowning. 

So now, a senior in college, I’d like to crown for you. The pandemic showed us that entertainment can take on new forms, challenge the traditions of live music, and play by whatever rules we decide to set. At Paula Prom, a senior jazz recital can be silly and formal all at once. You can draw and write on the program. We can project a cat photo onto the stage. A group can have both an upright bass and an electric bass playing at the same time! Nothing is right or wrong when it comes to artistic expression. Just be a babey. Say out loud, “I love myself. I am a good baby.” You ARE a good baby. Happy prom!