Songful Style Link Party #29 | “Burning House” by Cam

About Songful Style

Songful Style is an ageless style challenge series hosted by Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge, Marsha of Marsha in the Middle, and Suzy of Suzy Turner, The Grey Brunette (formerly The Grey Brunette).

Each month we will share a song with the lyrics and video and we invite you to use whatever aspect of the song that inspires you to create an outfit. 

It is similar to Style Imitating Art where we use artwork to inspire our outfit creations. Except Songful Style gives you lyrics, music, video, and album artwork to inspire your fashion creativity. You may even find inspiration in a memory triggered by the selected song. It is all open to your own personal interpretation and just a fun way to discover new music and get a little bit more creative with your wardrobe.

Anyone is welcome to join us on a permanent basis or you can just play along without any obligation to do anything other than feel inspired. We are flexible and fun and just want to find more ways to play dress up because it’s what we enjoy doing! 

We will be posting on the last Monday of each month and will announce our song choice for the following month at the end of each post. You are welcome to style your own song inspired outfit and add it to the link party or link anything that you want to share even if it has nothing to do with the song. 

It was Suzy’s turn to choose our musical inspiration and she picked one of her favorite songs ever…“Burning House” by Cam.

The Song Lyrics

I had a dream about a burning house
You were stuck inside, I couldn't get you out
I laid beside you and pulled you close
And the two of us went up in smoke

Love isn't all that it seems I did you wrong
I'll stay here with you until this dream is gone

I've been sleepwalking, been wandering all night
Trying to take what's lost and broke and make it right
I've been sleepwalking too close to the fire
But it's the only place that I can hold you tight
In this burning house

See you at a party and you look the same
I could take you back but people don't ever change
Wish that we could go back in time
I'd be the one you thought you'd find

Love isn't all that it seems I did you wrong
I'll stay here with you until this dream is gone

I've been sleepwalking, been wandering all night
Trying to take what's lost and broke and make it right
I've been sleepwalking too close to the fire
But it's the only place that I can hold you tight
In this burning house

The flames are getting bigger now
In this burning house
I can hold on to you somehow
In this burning house
Oh, and I don't wanna wake up
In this burning house

And I've been sleepwalking, been wandering all night
Trying to take what's lost and broke and make it right
I've been sleepwalking too close to the fire
But it's the only place that I can hold you tight
In this burning house

About the Artist and the Song

Camaron Marvel Ochs, known professionally as Cam, is an American country music singer and songwriter. Born on November 19, 1984, in Huntington Beach, California, and raised in Lafayette, California, she spent time on her grandparents’ ranch in Oceanside where she grew an appreciation for country music.

Throughout high school and college, Cam was a member of various choral groups including the Contra Costa Children’s Chorus where she learned to sing in 14 different languages. In 2004, as an undergraduate psychology student at the University of California, Davis, she became a founding member of the all female collegiate a cappella group, The Spokes, which still performs for the university today.

Cam spent some time studying abroad in the Netherlands where she learned to play the guitar. She continued building her confidence playing guitar during a trip to Nepal where she lived in a rural mountain community for a few weeks without modern conveniences. Following her graduation from college, she performed music sporadically while working in research labs. Feeling conflicted about her career choices, the singer consulted with a trusted professor who presented her with the question, “Just picture yourself at 80 years old. Looking back at your life, what would you regret not doing: music or psychology?”

In 2010, Cam released her debut studio album, Heartforward, a contemporary pop album including songs that were inspired by her trip to Nepal. She soon moved to Los Angeles where she began songwriting collaborations with major artists like Miley Cyrus, Sam Smith, and Beyonce. Following her success in Los Angeles, Cam moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where she continued writing songs for other artists. After releasing her single “Down This Road” in 2013, she signed with Sony Music Entertainment in New York City. Armed only with her acoustic guitar, she performed a song she had been developing called “Burning House” which she was later asked to perform at the Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony.

In 2014, she was signed to Sony’s country division, Arista Nashville, and began touring with Dan + Shay that same year. Early in 2015, her first single under Arista Nashville was released. “My Mistake” debuted at number 58 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, peaking at number 52 a few weeks later. Still using her full name, Camaron Ochs, she soon decided to shorten it to Cam because she realized some people struggled with the correct pronunciation of her last name. In March 2015, Cam released her debut EP, Welcome to Cam Country, which peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

Her next single, “Burning House” was released on June 16, 2015, as the second single on her second album, Untamed. Co-written with Tyler Johnson and Jeff Bhasker, the song was inspired by a dream that Cam had about rescuing her boyfriend from a house that was on fire. The song peaked at number 2 on both the Billboard Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts and number 29 on the Hot 100 chart. “Burning House” was certified platinum after selling 1,125,000 units by November 2016.

Billboard ranked “Burning House” at number 24 on its best songs of 2015 list, saying, “In one four-minute track, Cam manages to pack in frustration, despair, anguish, and torment. But what makes it beautiful is the wounded vocal melody set against gentle guitar strumming and understated strings. This is the rare quiet breakout hit of 2015.” The song was nominated for Best Solo Country Performance at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards but ultimately lost to Chris Stapleton’s “Traveller”.

In July 2018, Cam left Arista Nashville, making the transition to RCA Records.

In October 2016, Cam married Adam Weaver, a Nashville business broker, in a small ceremony in the California desert. The couple welcomed their first child, Lucy, in December 2019.

How the Song Inspired My Outfit

My outfit was almost entirely inspired by the outfit that Cam is wearing in the video…a fancy white dress with a white lace topper.

At first I had planned to wear this ivory slip dress with a long ivory crocheted vest, but it all felt just a bit too casual for the emotions that the video evokes. So I switched to a fancier white dress, the one I call my Marilyn Monroe dress, and added an ivory lace shawl as my topper.

Because it is a country song, my white cowgirl boots seemed to be the perfect footwear. Keeping all things white, I added my cowgirl hat with sunflowers because the sun represents the fire that is referenced in the song.

To incorporate even more fire references, I added a dainty red crystal necklace that looks like hot little red embers around my throat. And I completed the look with my red wooden flying phoenix earrings because phoenixes rise from the ashes of the fire.

I tend to keep this dress for “special occasions” but isn’t every single day that we wake up alive and well special occasion enough to wear our fancy clothes? Just change up your accessories to more casual items and you can wear all your favorite things for any occasion at all!

How did I do?

I do hope you will check out how my songful friends have styled their outfits inspired by “Burning House”. 

• Marsha of Marsha in the Middle
• Suzy of Suzy Turner, The Grey Brunette

Featured Favorite from Songful Style Link Party #28 | “Record Player” by Daisy the Great x AJR

Emma of Style Splash

Be sure to stop back on August 26, 2024, to see how we find sartorial inspiration from my next song choice…“Vienna” by Billy Joel.

Keeping it on the edge, 

Shelbee

Joining these Fabulous Link Parties.