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Project Overview
I am quite the sucker for multi-part songs. The some popular song with multi-parts would be “Formation” by Beyonce or “SICKO MODE” by Travis Scott. Despite my aversion to mainstream music, the reason I like these songs is the unexpected factor. Creating an entirely separate part that musically resembles the first one but otherwise sounds like a different song is an addicting concept. My real favorites of the multi-part songs would be “Posthumous Forgiveness” by Tame Impala, a song that needs the two parts because of the emotional shift from one of betrayal and anger to acceptance.
Because I like the two part structure so much, I decided for my second single I too would try to incorporate the distinct sections, not only musically but also with the overall theme. I unexpectedly decided to focus on my relationship with socialization. As someone who grew up feeling different, and therefore projected an unwillingness to mingle, it was quite challenging to change my behavior while growing up. While I found mechanisms to fight my fear of being perceived, one could argue that the exchanges I made were not all calculated well.
In the first section of the song, I focus on that feeling of being overwhelmed, and resorting to conformity in order to appease those fears of socializing. During this part, there’s a feeling of recognition, that this may not be the best way to handle the situation. Then, the song takes an unexpected bridge, leading to the second part where the sentiment has changed. Never is it so simple that conformity destroys the aspect of self, and in the second part there is an acknowledgment that, yes, socializing can be difficult. But despite it being so, there will always be other options to approach my fears. Never is it ever said and done.
Composition Approach
Weirdly I kept the trend of using songs whose vibes don’t match what I’m going for as the structural template. In this case, it was “Chamber of Reflection” by Mac DeMarco. I used this as a foundation for the first part of the song structure.
All of the sounds in this song came from Fl Studio’s FLEX synth plugins. As with my previous single, I found some nice chords and melody line to use for each part, and from there added onto the foundation with lots of ornamentation.
Speaking of which, I had lots of fun with the drum-line specifically. Unlike my last single with a pretty static drum-line, I added a ton of fun fills, and completely switched up the groove for the second half.
I also took a massive amount of inspiration from “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter for the layered chorus vocals. So many different takes of melody and harmony lines, lows and highs, were put into making the chorus. Probably my most favorite and memorable part of this song was arranging all of those takes. The process of doing so made me completely revamp how I record vocals, with a loop for individual sections taking as many take variations as possible. A pain to sift through, but very rewarding to put together.
Artwork
For the cover, I decided to setup a scene using variety of mediums- physical props and 2D drawings.
Reflections
The reception to this song was overall more positive, I would say, than my first released single. Personally, I wish I could’ve spend more time with the lyrics in the verse sections- I found the words to not fit the rhythm exactly at times. But criticism aside, I am very proud of this song. This took me a week to write, and another week to record, mix, and master. There is a clear sound quality difference from the first single, so improvements are definitely being made! I consider this a nice stepping stone into the song style of mainstream-type pop music.