Music Notes

Stargazing, by OneRepublic

As I begin writing this post while waiting in line at Walmart, would you believe 2013's Counting Stars started playing overhead? Yep. Good ol' OneRepublic

Stargazing is a deep cut off their 2024 album Artificial Paradise. There's an acoustic version on the Super Deluxe album, and it's hard to choose a favorite. 1R does wonders with acoustics… when they're not too lazy to record a fresh set of vocals over them

Sound:
This song has a "vibe-y" sound, classic OneRepublic in all respects: guitar strums, harmonies, echoes, etc. Listening to the original, I'm wondering what exactly the difference is with the acoustic. I'll let you know…

Ok, the acoustic begins with a piano rather than a guitar. Ryan speaks into near silence at first, and the instruments are much sparser. I believe they did indeed record a fresh vocal track for this version. It also seems a bit slower, but that's more the pacing of the music than the actual length, which is identical to the original.

Oh, there's no drum. That means I can add the acoustic Stargazing to my "no drums" playlist. Which means I should probably go back through the acoustic set and see if any of the others don't have drums either. I was in a bit of a rush when the Super Deluxe Artificial Paradise came out. Hardly had a chance to truly appreciate some of the treasures on it.

Theme:
Stargazing is one of the cornerstones of AP, shedding more lyrical light on the album's themes and concepts. It speaks with a hint of sadness: "dark side of the moon/ the world looks so blue/ I'ma leave it all behind if I have to…"

Remember what I said about "Singapore, by OneRepublic"  painting a musical picture of an alien encounter? Well, Stargazing pretty much paints a lyrical picture of such. The chorus, "top down, now we're beaming up" and "welcome home to the afterglow" as well as the general desire to be removed from the world's pains and sorrows by losing yourself in celestial wonders…

Significance:
Stargazing was an immediate favorite of mine, one of the AP tracks which fell into the more classic and acoustic category rather than being more electronic or funky.

As I listened to this song while condensing my ideas about AP's overarching narrative, I realized I had already tapped into this same idea of running away with aliens, three months before the song appeared! Inspired by Nathan W. Pyle's loveable Strange Planet creatures, I wrote "Little Blue"  for Gaby's "Game of Thrones"  activity in April of 2024.

Enjoy this beautiful, wistful song.

Words: 448.