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 |  A blog about music from my unique perspective (also a spot for some poetry I’ve written) |
A blog, generally about music, usually for projects hosted by Jeff  . I may also write about the 48-Hour Media Prompt Challenge if I don't feel like writing a story or poem inspired by the given song. Other bits of poetry or different topics of discussion might end up here as well.![Merit Badge in WDC Media Prompt
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| My fourth choice is a dance track dropped January 24th, 2025. Kygo is an EDM (electronic dance music) producer who often collaborates with my favorite artists, OneRepublic and Imagine Dragons. Even when he doesn't, he's one of the few EDM people I can usually recognize his light, shimmering style in a song's production. Chasing Paradise is a bright and cheerful song, where lead singer and lyricist Ryan Tedder shows off his best skills. He opens on a gruff note, and indeed the whole song runs deeper than he usually does, which reminds me of what I learned recently about his little trick of coughing up a cigar to deepen his voice. (Why do that when you can adjust it electronically? More authentic, I guess.) Something I appreciate about Ryan's songwriting is when he packs more words into a song than would be generally expected. Sometimes, especially recently, he gets lazy with the lyrics, but occasionally 1R comes out with a song with more variety than repetition. This is important when dealing with EDM, as they often do not have as many unique lyrics as an ordinary song and can be repetitive to the point of devaluation. This song dropped at exactly the right moment for me, as I'd been struggling through about ten days of polar vortex, becoming irritable and emotionally drained by the lack of sunlight and constant damp chill in the air. I've lived in Florida since 2019, so I was no longer acclimated to days barely reaching 45°F. Finally that morning the sun broke through the clouds, and Chasing Paradise was there to help cheer me up and remind me of warmer days ahead. I had it on loop all day, dancing to it at home and bringing it with me to combat the noisy environment as I shopped, which I don't usually do. (Ironically, as I removed my earbuds while leaving, I found Walmart was playing an old favorite from OneRepublic: Love Runs Out (2014)  )Enjoy this warm and hopeful spot of sunshine on a cloudy day  Words: 349. |
Number three in my "The Soundtrack of Your Life"  tracklist is Monica, an old demo which Imagine Dragons released from the vault about a week ago in celebration of the tenth anniversary of their sophomore album Smoke + Mirrors. I'm including it just for fun.When I first listened to this song, I spent most of it trying to figure out why on earth Dan Reynolds fake deepened his voice to such an exaggerated extent. It was almost over when I realized he probably wanted to sound more like George Ezra, an artist who was trending at approximately the time this demo was created. After the initial shock, I found myself laughing at the almost asinine yet deadpan goofiness of the lyrics: "popcorn candy - my favorite." It hearkens back to some of ID's earliest work such as Emma (2009), when Dan was unsure of himself as a songwriter and tended to write corny, mostly fictionalized songs about failed love, rather than being brave enough to really share his heart with us. I can see why Monica never made it to the album, as it largely lacks the moody, medieval mystique which I love so much about S+M, instead dealing with a dud relationship in absurdly whimsical detail. It feels like a song Dan sat down and put together experimentally (indeed almost haphazardly) on his computer… which is exactly what a demo usually is, I suppose. I've actually watched him show us how he composes raw demos, but that's a story for another time. An interesting observation I discovered on Reddit points out the presence of "tritones" in Monica, which I'd never heard of before. Having no knowledge of music theory, I'm not sure if I can identify them myself, but it's certainly something which adds depth to what could be considered a rather disposable song.At any rate, this is a side of the Dragons we've not seen before, and as such it's quaint and amusing. Words: 338. |
| My second choice for "The Soundtrack of Your Life" is a song released by Christian artists For King and Country in 2022 as a single off their What Are We Waiting For album. Relate crossed over from spiritual into secular pop playlists shortly after its release, and last year I heard it several times at McDonald's. I remember when I first noticed it a few years ago I wasn't particularly impressed. It seemed rather milquetoast, watered down to appeal to a wider audience with a message already common in pop music. After a while, though, it grew on me; at one point I heard it on a secular station in passing and felt bad when I did not recognize their voices right away. I'm usually excellent at spotting the voices of artists I'm familiar with, and I always wonder how I can call myself a fan of 4K+C if I am only familiar with a handful of their work. So I sat down with Relate and added it to my personal playlist to get to know them better. It has a simple rhetorical theme, showcasing the brothers' signature calm, clear voices. They don't strike exaggerated high notes, maintaining an even tone throughout. This is one of the things I appreciate about 4K+C. Words: 217. |
| I'll begin my 2025 journey through "The Soundtrack of Your Life" with a song that shaped my year in an exciting and inspiring way. Eyes Closed is the lead single off of Imagine Dragons 2024 album Loom. It dropped at a time when I was feeling conflicted about my loyalty to ID as a band, due to the divorce of lead singer Dan Reynolds. More details about my evolution on that can be found here "I Almost Boycotted Imagine Dragons..." and here "Challenge Day 4 (Art in His Soul?)" Suffice it to say, hearing Dan's voice on the opening lines of this song was enough to restore my appreciation for the unique and heartfelt content he brings us.This is a fiesty comeback song, with an overdramatic vocabulary and exaggerated synths which I've described in my journal as "wop-wop wub-wub." At first listen it may perhaps be one of the "ugliest" songs you've heard in a while. But the theme contained in the lyrics is one which Dan and I understand all too well: deep-seated conflict with oneself and the desire to deal with one's flaws in a quiet place sealed off from the world. The apparent swashbuckling bravado of the lyrics belies brokenness and uncertainty, as we hear dueling voices declaring "I can do this with my eyes closed" and mocking "turn out the lights!" Eyes Closed dropped on April 3rd, and it immediately became my theme song for "Game of Thrones" which I participated in that month. In fact, the month was precisely bookended by the release of the official acoustic music video on the 29th or thereabouts. It's the kind of song I have multiple renditions of on my playlist: studio, acoustic, live, special sessions, even the collaboration with J. Balvin.This song, particularly the bridge, eventually inspired me to write my first placing entry in Shadows and Light free verse poetry contest, "Island" I'm unsure which version y'all might find most palatable. Below are the official music video for the studio version, as well as the Amazon Music Songline performance, which includes a good-humored explanatory note from Dan and is likely much easier to watch and listen to. Enjoy… if you can  Words: 360. |
| A few days ago, I mentioned For King and Country recently released a Christmas collaboration single with country music singer Gabby Barrett. I said in passing I don't think much of her as an artist. Yesterday I noticed her 2020 single The Good Ones in an exclusively soft pop public playlist, which means the song, and the artist, has officially crossed over into the pop genre. Seeing this, I thought I'd put together a few words on why exactly I'm not interested in her work. The Good Ones is probably the first song I noticed from her. It describes the narrator's relationship with the man of her dreams and declares he's "one of the good ones." At first, a few years ago, I thought it was naive and silly, like "you'll be singing a different tune when you find out the truth about him..." But after a while it started growing on me, until I would get chills whenever I heard it. So I took note of the artist's name and gradually started connecting the dots of her other work. I found she sings a pathetic song about "every time I see an F-150, all the memories come and hit me..." complaining about the truck her ex drives. She also sings I Hope (She Cheats), which became a pop crossover hit early on, so much so that she did a remix featuring Charlie Puth... Which doesn't even make sense from a lyrical standpoint. My long view of Gabby Barrett is that she's another one of a wave of young female country artists who have been showing up and crossing over to pop in the past few years. I feel it's part of an attempt by the country music industry to make it more palatable to a general audience. I've noticed over the years that "hot" country music has been substituted in certain situations for "hot" pop music, which these days is becoming rapidly trashier, rappier, and less suited for a general audience. I've felt as though country music is putting itself up as the "family friendly" alternative, which to me is laughable. Country has always been a genre which glorifies alcohol, bar culture, breakups, and making out in the beds of pickup trucks with chicks you picked up drunk at the bar. No amount of cutesy songs that mention Jesus and marriage and white picket fences, written by the same handful of producers who write the trashy songs, can make me think otherwise. Which brings me to the most important point of my dislike of country music as a genre. It is ultimately a soulless and highly commercialized genre run by a few top influencers you've never heard of who turn out hundreds of formulaic songs for dozens of artists. I can name at least three off the top of my head: Thomas Rhett, Hillary Lindsey and Ashley Gorely. My point being: any given country music singer does not write their own lyrics. They are simply a mouthpiece for whatever doggerel catches their fancy out of a pool of carefully crafted demos which draw from a playbook of cultural cliches and catchphrases. Therefore, I cannot say "oh yeah, I like so-and-so, they're good..." Because even if they happen to sing one or two decent songs, even cute songs, they've all sang the stupid ones as well. They're all drinking from the same Kool-aid... Or is it Jack Daniels? No one country music artist is any more "decent" or "sincere" than any other. Rather than pouring their hearts into their own work, allowing us to build a picture of their personalities from their words, they allow themselves to be used by a handful of "culture makers" who have their own agenda. It's not their story they're telling, but a story they've been told to tell. Coming back to Gabby Barrett, I have to admit I don't know much about her, but I suspect if I ran my eye down the credits of any of her songs I would find the same producers behind them as with all the rest. This in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing, as there are also a limited number of high-level producers in pop music. It's the fictionalized, cheapened, exaggerated cultural narrative these producers peddle (pop or country, either way) which I don't like. There's no way for me to "get into" Gabby Barrett as a person because she presumably doesn't write her own songs, so from one song to the next, there's no consistency of lyrical quality or overarching narrative. Think of it like how we write our stories here. After reading a certain amount of anyone's writing, I get a feel for who they are as a person: the type of language they use, the kind of stories they like to tell, their overall level of taste, decency, or class, their unique, distinctive idiosyncrasies. In other words, their writing style comes through consistently. This is impossible in country music, because there are no artists who write freely from the heart and sing what they wrote. (If you know of any, let me know.) So... Yeah. I don't think there's anything more I can say about it than that. Sure, there's always going to be a country song here and there where I'm like "oh, this is a good one," but it can never be personally connected to a given artist in the way I would like. There is no country music artist who only sings "the good ones." And that's a deal breaker for me. Words: 924. |
| My twelfth and final track for "12 Days of "Christmas"" is not a Christmas song, nor is it associated with anything relating to a December holiday. Yet I knew it would be one of my choices right from the beginning of the month when I prepped this list. OneRepublic released Ordinary Human in 2014, as part of the soundtrack for the movie The Giver, based on the book by Lois Lowry. With a low, throbbing backbeat opening, soaring choruses, and an eerie reverb throughout, this song has all the feels while providing a fascinating and transcendental theme. I remember the day I discovered it: Mom and I were spending the winter in Naples, FL, and when I found Ordinary Human I put it on repeat about a million times, bringing it in the car with me as we drove around sightseeing. I was in awe. I still am; I'm getting chills listening to it right now. One of the endearing features is how Ryan Tedder opens with a slightly gravelly note, as if he hadn't cleared his throat properly. He climaxes to his signature crystal clear melisma flawlessly, while giving the song a reassuringly relatable and accessible feeling. I enjoy singing it to myself; it has a surprisingly easy melody. An interesting aside about Ryan's voice… just a couple days ago, after writing this up, I saw a snippet 1R shared on X where he laughs about a habit he used to have, during the Counting Stars era, of modifying his voice by lighting a cigar and "intentionally inhaling, which you're not supposed to do," to make himself cough and give his voice a "rougher, warmer" sound. At first I'm like  and then I'm like "aha!" because that's the exact type of note he strikes on the opening words of Ordinary Human, which is from this era. I never realized he also sounds that way on the opening of Counting Stars.Now to explain why I associate Ordinary Human with Christmas. The bridge and finale goes "there'll be peace in the city tonight, but when I'm gone, I hope they get it right." If that isn't a picture of the Nativity and the Ascension all at once, I don't know what is. The overall theme of an "ordinary human" bringing salvation by his very nature, or alternately an ordinary human humbly acknowledging his ordinariness and learning to seek salvation by reaching upward instead of inward, are both concepts which run deep throughout Christian doctrine. I believe Ryan Tedder was aware of all this when he wrote the song, because he grew up in a Pentecostal home with a preacher grandfather, and he has drawn upon the basic worldview assumptions of Christianity frequently in his lyrics over the years. A big shout-out to Jeff for getting this up and running at the last minute while juggling all manner of other projects. I had a wonderful time sharing some of my favorite seasonal music with you, and I hope you liked it as much as I did.This is a perfect song to end my holiday soundtrack series with. Enjoy the goosebumps Words: 532. Bonus excerpt (under two minutes) where Ryan Tedder shares how Counting Stars was made and mentions "the cigar technique:" Full video (14 minutes) from Vanity magazine where Ryan Tedder discusses the art of music production for Counting Stars as well as another song: |
| My eleventh track for "12 Days of "Christmas"" is a classic which has been covered and rearranged hundreds of times over the centuries. I chose For King and Country because I like their calm, clear, unexaggerated voices and I feel they approach it with proper reverence and respect. I do enjoy almost every other rendition of Joy to the World I've ever heard in public; it's the kind of timeless spiritual carol which is a relief to the ears in between Santa Baby and Rocking Around the Christmas Tree. I always marvel at the tenuous balance between spirituality and secularism, which dual spectacularly with each other during the holiday season. Now, I'll have to admit this Joy to the World does bear the "softly bombastic" stylistic fingerprint of 4K+C specifically and contemporary Christian music generally, but perhaps that's a good thing. I generally prefer songs with styles and voices I recognize to material from "out of the blue." Knowing the artist gave me something to go on so I knew I would be less likely to waste my limited music time listening to versions I might not like. As I said, I'm fussy. The audio boundary is a line I take great care to draw, because my default environment is usually quiet. At any rate, enjoy Words: 221. |
| My tenth track for "12 Days of "Christmas"" is from Australian brothers For King and Country and their holiday album A Drummer Boy Christmas.. I like the way Joel and Luke Smallbone bring in their wives to sing with them on some of their work. It's something not many pop artists do. When I went to pull up the YouTube video for this entry, I found 4K+C released a new version of it this year... Featuring country singer Gabby Barrett  I'm impressed with her song The Good Ones, but I don't think much of her as an artist for the same reasons I don't like country music generally (a long story...) I'll stick with the original version.One of the reasons I like 4K+C is their calm, harmonious voices. This quiet harmony is exemplified on both Go Tell It On the Mountain and my next track choice, their Joy to the World. This carol generally is one I wasn't familiar with growing up, but as I encountered it more recently I was drawn to the melody. Being fussy, I'm pretty sure this is the only rendition of it I like, however. 4K+C have emphasized what makes it special without letting it become repetitive or monotonous. Which for some reason reminds me, I never did find a version I like of "do you hear what I hear." I tend to lump these two songs together because I never heard of either of them until a few years ago. I like the lyrics to "do you hear what I hear," with the talking animals visiting the king, and the melody is good, but I haven't had time to look into finding a good one. Maybe next year when we do this, I'll have found one for us. In the meantime, enjoy Go Tell It On the Mountain .Words: 304. |
| My ninth track for "12 Days of "Christmas"" is the Simply Three instrumental version of O Little Town of Bethlehem. This is from their 2013 Xmas album (which featured a lady on violin) which is more traditional than Lux, but this track nonetheless displays a fascinating ingenuity. The violin, cello and bass interact in complex layers, with dual backing lines and the violin overlaid, tracing the lyrical melody. I'm parsing through it repeatedly as I write… I wish I had adequate musical vocabulary to describe it more technically. It's quite engaging, especially for me as I strive to remember the actual lyrics and thread them through the competing melodies without losing track of everything. I wonder what the production sound chart would look like as it runs across a screen. (See, I don't even know what that's called  )At any rate, this is the kind of track I could play a zillion times and lose myself in, almost forgetting the Christmas carol it's supposed to be. As far as I know, Simply Three's arrangement is unique. Words: 180. |
| My eighth track for "12 Days of "Christmas"" is another piece from the Christmas album by Andrew Dale and David Chafe. I'm beginning with the vocal version (my next track will be an instrumental of the same) because I have always loved the words of this carol. I had them memorized as a kid from my old booklet of Christmas sheet music, but I never knew how it was supposed to sound. When I discovered the Midnight Clear album and saw O Little Town of Bethlehem on it, I knew this would be the perfect rendition for me. With his calm, clear voice and the piano following gently along, these artists together pay homage to the reverent spirit of the carol. I don't know how many times I've prayed the final prayer in my own heart over the years. It's a song I'm very close to, though I'm still familiarizing myself with the true melody after years of not knowing. I'll be discussing both a vocal and an instrumental of O Little Town of Bethlehem, so we can all appreciate it in the deepest possible way. Enjoy Words: 190. |
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