What
do
an
R&B
singer-
songwriter, a genius playwright, a
rock ‘n’ roll legend and a California
hitmaker all have in common?
To any practical person, they are
all insane. But they’ve also come
together as subjects for the four-
part docuseries “Song Exploder,”
hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway,
which emerged from the popular
podcast of the same name. Each
episode focuses on one of these
iconic musical artists and takes
fans
on
a
televised
journey,
revealing how their most beloved
songs were created.
The guests chosen for the
series are Alicia Keys, Lin-Manuel
Miranda, R.E.M. and Ty Dolla
$ign. At first glance, these artists
and their creations have little
in common. Yet, there is one
underlying commonality in their
operations: feel first, build later.
The core of being an artist is
absolute lunacy. It’s to stumble
upon something — a feeling — that
just works, and to try to deliver
it to an audience in a fathomable
way. There’s nothing about it that
makes any rational sense, and
that is precisely what makes it so
profound.
Whether
you’re
a
creative
yourself or just a music fan, it’s
difficult not to be moved by how
much genuine passion this series
is built with. Besides hosting the
podcast and show, Hirway is a
musician and composer, and his
love for the craft is always evident.
He asks questions that are strictly
about the music, gives himself
as little screen time as possible
and ends each episode by playing
the song being examined in its
entirety. The people who make this
show aren’t concerned with cheap
gimmicks. They’re just as big of
fans as we are, and they’re dying
to get inside the minds that have
created such monumental works
of art.
Nobody
encapsulates
that
honest love for music more than
Alicia Keys. So it makes sense that
she was the chosen guest to kick off
the show. In her episode, she breaks
down her 2020 song “3 Hour Drive”
which features younger R&B artist
Sampha. For Alicia, songwriting
is a joyful process. She explains
how adding fewer instruments can
actually make a song “feel bigger,”
a remark that captures the stripped
down beauty of her music.
She and Sampha begin by
singing out words to a composition,
until they finally land on the phrase
“three-hour drive.” The small line
strikes a chord with both of them
for very different reasons. It’s a
complete instinct, and they chase it
down until they emerge victorious
with a full piece.
If Alicia’s songwriting process
can
be
described
as
tender
and honest, then Lin-Manuel
Miranda’s is completely manic.
The brilliant rapper-playwright is
a lovable dork, absolutely obsessed
with finding just the right feeling.
In one of the more memorable
moments of the show, he recounts
how he thought of the idea for the
Hamilton standout song “Wait
For It” while riding the train to a
friend’s party. While fast-walking
through the streets of New York,
he quietly and shakily sings the
chorus into his phone, hastily
trying to get it down. When he
arrives at the party, he leaves after
half a drink.
Breaking down the intro track
to his debut album, Ty Dolla $ign
talks about how important the “car
test” is to him. He is driven by the
need for everything to sound just
right, and to do so, he’ll go through
five bass players until he finds one
he likes. To make a bigger sound on
his song “LA,” he spent $75,000 of
money he did not have just to hire
an orchestra for one part of a single
song.
Artists are crazy.
To make something great, you
have to be willing to chase down
a shapeless idea that may not
make sense to anyone else. And
you have to be willing to commit
to it. There’s no right way to do it.
There aren’t any steps to follow
that will guarantee you arrive at
your destination. To many people,
operating in that gray area is
terrifying. But to an artist, that
pursuit is the only thing worth
doing.
“Song Exploder” celebrates the
tremendous amount of time, effort
and human emotion that goes into
everything an artist does, and how
insane you have to be to do it well.
Contributor Ben Servetah can be
reached at bserve@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
12 — Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Live music in the age of
COVID-19: an evolution
2020 was supposed to be
the most revenue-generating
year the live music industry
had ever seen. In fact, live
music revenue is predicted
to double by 2030, and this
long-term growth is expected
to stay consistent despite the
75% drop in revenue this year
due to COVID-19. Looking at
the numbers, investors and
analysts have an optimistic
view of live music and firmly
believe that the industry will
rebound as soon as people can
safely gather once again. While
it’s easy to say that live music is
simply hitting a slight bump in
the road from a bird’s eye view,
this temporary hold on live
shows is slowly changing the
live music scene and testing
what consumers are willing
to pay for when it comes to
watching their favorite artists
perform.
At the start of the pandemic,
artists
were
quick
to
get
creative and utilize the limited
tools they had to engage with
their fans. As artists canceled
shows, many took their talents
to social media where they’d
host livestream performances
from their living rooms. We
saw big acts like The National
host weekly livestream shows,
Miley Cyrus’s Instagram talk-
show “Bright Minded” and we
even saw smaller artists like
Jordy Searcy take a similar
approach through his weekly
livestream shows as well as his
surprise “house shows” where
he would perform for fans
in the Nashville area at their
doorsteps. As the pandemic
dragged on, however, the artist
community realized that live
streaming free performances
was not going to pay the bills,
and suddenly ads for paid
livestream “concerts” emerged
on many artists’ platforms.
In fact, we can look to some
of the strategies implemented
by artists and see how this
new situation is changing the
way we think of live music and
how artists run their brands.
At the start of the pandemic,
Erykah Badu took her music
to her own platform, Badu
World Market, where she set
up her own virtual concert
experience independent of any
venue or concert series. What’s
fascinating about Badu World
Market is that it was set up by
Badu and her team exclusively
and
also
incorporates
merchandise and music sales.
Badu’s website, which enables
her to keep every aspect of her
brand centralized and under
her control, offers a model
for other artists to follow in
which they can own more of
what they make instead of
dividing their brand among
various streaming platforms,
merchandise
vendors
and
concert venues.
Strict
limits
on
social
gatherings
also
raise
the
question of when big artists
will be able to return to large
stadiums and concert halls.
Prior to COVID-19, big names
in music —Taylor Swift, Drake
and Harry Styles, to name a
few — were selling out massive
stadiums
and
arenas,
but
whether fans will be able to
return to those venues in the
foreseeable
future
remains
uncertain. While these artists
have had to take a break from
performing, there may be a
new opportunity for smaller
artists to take advantage of
this lull.
Quinn
XCII
jumped
on
this opportunity to expand
his following by performing
“drive-in”
concerts
in
Cleveland.
Videos
on
his
Instagram show dozens of cars
spread out across a parking lot
with fans singing along from
the trunks of their cars. While
watching a show from your car
is nothing like a true in-person
concert experience, it’s clear
that fans will jump at any
chance to go to an in-person
show in whatever form that
might look like. Quinn XCII’s
drive-in
shows
sold
out
quickly, and other artists have
jumped on the bandwagon and
scheduled outdoor, socially-
distanced concerts like Lauren
Daigle’s “Autumn Nights,” a
drive-in concert experience in
Nashville.
While
artists
seem
to
be finding their way amid
the
chaos,
concert
venues
themselves
have
not
been
faring
well.
In
fact,
The
National Independent Venues
Association predicts that 90
percent of their 3,000 members
will go out of business by
the end of the month. We’ve
already seen the harsh effects
of the virus on the live music
industry
as
major
music
venues have closed their doors
permanently,
including
the
Majestic Theater in Detroit.
Though artists have some
flexibility
and
creative
liberty to find new ways to
generate revenue, the closing
of live music venues could
be devastating to the music
industry in the future. Already,
artists are competing for spots
at venues booking all the way
into 2022, making it difficult
for up-and-coming artists to
catch a break and have the
opportunity to perform live.
Like everything else we’ve
seen through this pandemic,
the music industry is becoming
increasingly competitive, and
as artists fight for their time
on stage, the smaller, less-well-
off acts could get left behind or
have to work harder to build
a following and make those
in-person
connections
with
fans.
Yet at the same time, artists
have already surprised us with
their resilience and creativity
when it comes to engaging
with audiences, and perhaps
the challenges that lie ahead
will be opportunities for them
to get creative and evolve the
music industry as we know it
even further.
Daily Arts Writer Kaitlyn Fox
can be reached at kjfox@umich.
edu.
KAITLYN FOX
Daily Arts Writer
RCA RECORDS LABEL
Five-year-old TikToker’s
album is a post-ironic win
Emily Montes is 5 years old,
TikTok famous and may have
just dropped one of the most
important albums of the year.
Not much is known about
Emily. I heard about her
through my friend Brad, and
I have no idea where he heard
about her. According to Emily
on her song “Untitled,” she
“blew up on TikTok.” However,
take a short look at Emily’s
TikTok and you will see that
her videos are more along the
lines of a kid who took her
mom’s iPad on a road trip and
is now filming out the window,
rather than content that would
cause her to go viral. Her most
viewed videos have around
26,000 views, which is still
modest for someone claiming
to have “blown up,” and it is
impossible to tell whether
these views came before or
after her debut album. As
you’ll
come
to
understand
throughout
this
article,
though, if you want to ask
questions, you’re completely
missing the point.
The self-titled album Emily
Montes is 14 songs and spans
five total minutes. Five of
those songs are also titled
“Emily Montes.”
Throughout
the
album,
Emily’s
high-pitched
voice
is heavily auto-tuned to the
point where it is sometimes
difficult to listen to, and the
beats push the typical musical
boundaries, mixing electronic
sounds with hard-hitting 808
drums. What is so strange is
that, musically, this album is
right in line with the trap-
hyperpop sound that has been
festering in the depths of the
internet and is now coming to
the surface of popular culture
through artists like Charli
XCX and 100 gecs. For a five-
year-old girl to be able to
hone in on that unique sound
seems unlikely and, truthfully,
impossible. However, as I said
before, the more questions you
ask, the more you’re missing.
Who cares if she purposefully
crafted
an
album
whose
tone matches this growing
electropop scene? I hope it was
an accident. That would be way
funnier.
Created during the COVID-
19 pandemic, each song is a
small vignette that explores
themes
of
loneliness,
existential dread, complete and
total arrogance and everything
else that comes with being five
years old in quarantine. In
one of her songs titled “Emily
Montes (Breakup),” she sings
over a piano, “Laying in my
bed / Voices in my head / A
broken heart / I’m missing
you.” The next song, titled
“Emily
Montes
(Corona
is
Crazy)” transports us to a trap
beat where Emily raps “This
virus is crazy / It’s the end
of the world! / Boom, Boom,
Boom.” As quickly as it starts,
the song ends and “Frozen”
begins, in which Emily asks,
“I’m outside, it’s frozen / But
where is all the snow?” In just
three songs that amass to 45
seconds,
Emily
investigates
mental
health,
her
broken
heart and climate change (I
think?). It is these disjunct
and sometimes contradictory
messages that make the album
so impactful. So often during
this strange time period, I
have felt as though I couldn’t
control anything around me,
and this album feels just like
that. You never know what
version of Emily you’ll get
next. She may be depressed,
spirited, hopeful or angry. She
may be completely neutral. She
may drop a diss at Travis Scott
and Chance the Rapper for no
particular reason. She may just
rap about how much she loves
Roblox. You have no say. Emily
runs the show.
While
the
sound
is
distinctive and the message
powerful, my true obsession
with “Emily Montes” is that
it really feels like the product
of all internet culture ever.
Complete vulnerability layered
behind nonsensical tangents
and the absurd fact that this
was all created by a five-year-
old girl perfectly encapsulates
the diluted sense of irony
currently
defining
internet
culture,
which
now
feels
impossible to decipher between
authenticity
and
complete
sarcasm. The response to the
album only serves to highlight
this point. Her fans on Twitter
vehemently argue that Emily
Montes is the album of the year
and that she has reinvented
the rap scene. The tweets
themselves seem genuine, but
the fact that they are tweeting
about a five-year-old girl’s five-
minute album in the first place
creates a clear level of irony
within them. These people,
like me, may actually love the
album. And these people, like
me, might be totally joking.
And likely, both are true.
LEO KRINSKY
For The Daily
ROUTENOTE
NETFLIX
Podcast-turned-TV show
is an ode to artists’ lunacy
BEN SERVETAH
For The Daily
Read more online at
michigandaily.com
“Song Exploder”
celebrates the
tremendous
amount of time,
effort and human
emotion that goes
into everything
an artist does, and
how insane you
have to be to do it.