ASEM: Writing About Music

Part 1:

Hello everyone, my name is Cynthia and I am a senior majoring in Biochemistry. I will be graduating in next year in spring. I am from Denver, so I will be spending my summer here. My summer has been pretty busy since I am taking a full-time course load of classes. I do not have any travel plans for this summer, but I do plan on relaxing and spending time with family before the fall quarter. As for my music preferences I like a little bit of everything however, I do have a lot more pop music than any other music genre.

Part 2:

A. One key feature of an album review is to listen to the album multiple times. This is important because listening to the album the first time will help for the initial impressions and the mood. Listening to the album for the second time will help with listening more carefully to the lyrics and the meaning. Another key feature is to do research on the artist as it will help provide even more support to the opinion and review that the critic is writing. This can be done by reading interviews and articles from the artist. The third key feature is to not overthink your own opinion and take too long in reviewing an album, but also not writing it too fast. Taking the right amount of time allows for a full understanding of the music through various perspectives.

B. The background information about Courtney Barnett that Amanda Petrusich adds into her review about “Tell Me How You Really Feel” helps th reader understand Barnett better and her new album because it includes information about her inspirations and what the message of her album is. To add on, this extra information sometimes changes the way we first initially judged the music. Some of the information that we would not have known without doing research is that she was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist.

Part 3:

I was first introduced to Zhavia Ward when her song “Deep Down” was in one of my new music playlists which I really enjoyed. Before going into her first album which was released on June 14, 2019, here is some background information.

Carisa Zhavia Ward, professionally known as Zhavia Ward is from Norwalk, California. She made her first appearance to the public in the reality television show The Four: Battle for Stardom where she made it to the top four. Although she did not win, her fame increased as more opportunities became available to her. In May 2018, she signed a deal with Columbia Records. She started her first tour on March 6, 2019. Also, in 2019, she performed a cover of “A Whole New World” with Zayn Malik for Disney’s Aladdin Soundtrack. This is her first album titled 17. Being her first album, we can expect a lot of songs about personal experiences. In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE Zhavia says “For me, that’s what being an artist is all about: giving your fans something that means something not only to you, but can mean something to them, and they can apply it to their life as well.”

In the first song in her album she introduces herself. The song begins with the lyrics “I grew up in Norwalk hangin by the donut shop didn’t have a car so we used to have to walk the block.” She talks about her childhood and how carefree life used to be. She becomes even more vulnerable in this song as she shares the obstacles she had to face to get to where she is now. Lyrics like “mama worked two jobs” and “used to eat popcorn for dinner with the soda pop.” The song continues with the lyrics “young girl you better grow fast, this world ain’t gonna hold back, you know you gotta own your life.” Besides from being an introduction song it is also a coming of age song about dreaming big. She adds in the support that her mom gave her with “Mama had to quit her job just so I could make a show.” In the people, Zhavia says “She sacrificed a lot for my dreams to come true, she’s always believed in me and been there for me so I really appreciate that.”

Deep Down

This song is chill and upbeat that talks about trusting your instincts. She starts the song with the lyrics “I keep my blessing and my prayers in my back pocket tucked cause I know everything we receive aint luck.” Here she shares her strong religious faith. This I also supported with the cross necklace she is wearing in her album cover. In the chorus she summarizes the purpose of the song, “Something deep down is telling me listen to your gut your instincts you should always trust, calling you to run, run to and not from.” Lastly, she talks about learning from your mistakes in the lyrics “one step back gives me three steps forward , its your mistakes that bring you closer.”

Candlelight

Candlelight changes the mood as the tone of the song is slower and calmer. With metaphorical lyrics like “when you can’t see the shiny under the rust” and “Gotta leave my candlelight burning, if it goes out I will lose it.” This song is about holding on to hope even if it is as small as a lit candle. She also talks about letting go and making a change in your life, “I’ve been walking though my own disaster, thinking its time to move on.”

All I Am (Feat. Skip Marley)
Ez

Both songs are romantic and she writes them about her boyfriend Emmanuel Lateju. In “All I Am” she sings “Give you everything I have, my goals my plans, for you I’d risk it all” and “You are a blessing to my world”. This song has a more reggae tone as well. In “EZ” the tone is also calm and in the song she sings “That you got it, every part of me, we just got it so easy.” In People, she says, “It’s really awesome to have somebody that I trust through this process of being an artist, which sometimes can be difficult.”

100 Ways

She concludes her album with this hip/hop inspired song about not giving up even when she loses. Lyrics such as “them who think that they are stopping me, they don’t know I got a hundred ways” and “If I lose it watch me do it, bet ill come up with another hundred ways.” As a new artist, she is sending the message that she will always get back up and move forward with different paths if one doesn’t work.

Part A:

Kim Cooper’s review of “Neutral Milk Hotel” provides a lot of background information about the band’s album and its strong connection to Anne Frank. The type of research that Cooper did in order to write the track by track analysis is to ask Jeff Magnum himself what the lyrics in his songs meant. By asking the artist, she was able to provide fans with a detailed and well analyzed review of each song in the album. She is able to incorporate this research into her annotations by talking about certain lyrics and rhythms of each song and connecting back to Anne Frank and the meaning behind the song. One annotation that stood out to me was the annotation of the song “Holland, 1945.” Cooper adds in even more background information that she hadn’t added in the beginning because it pertained to this song. Cooper says, “while Anne was not physically in Holland in 1945, the association of the country with the year of the war’s ending nonetheless suggests her presence.” Not only does this help understand the song but also adds meaning to the title of the song as well.

Part B

Tari Gevinson provides a track by track review of Taylor Swifts first three albums as well as her album “Red”. She strategically chooses to vary the length of her annotations of each song to emphasize both her favorite songs as well as the simplicity of the songs that don’t require as much analyzation. For example, in “I Almost Do” she simply says, “Classic cinematic walk-in-the-rain goodness.” This song does not have as much annotations because there’s nothing much to say and the song is as simple as the lyrics and the general mood when listening to the song. The song has a melancholy feeling that is consistent throughout. Since the song “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” is one of her favorites, she has more to say. She adds some of the criticism that the song received and how that can affect the listener. She also includes her favorite lyrics from the song just to further emphasize the catchiness. Lastly, in “Everything Has Changed” she says the song is perfect. This annotation shows how a favorite song doesn’t necessarily have to consist of a long review but instead is just a no comment song.

Part C:

Jonathan Lethem reviews the band Talking Heads and their album “Fear of Music” in a live setting. As the number of band members expanded, this caused the bands live sound to change and ultimately change people’s expectations. Lethem says, “David Bryne begins running in circles around the stage, around the band, even behind Chris Frantz’s riser. The gesture is paradoxical mute and eloquent, a singer running away from his microphone and at the same time seeming to say look a all I can encircle.” He captures his own feelings by analyzing the artist behavior on stage to show how the band evolved but not for better.

Part D:

Shea Serrano and Patterson Hood have different variations of the track by track annotations. By focusing on different artists instead of one, they are able to compare and contrast other songs by different artists under the same genre. The goal of doing this is to review and analyze other songs and in the end still tie it back to how in this case “Bonita Applebum” is the best rap love song.

Discussion #1

Discussion #2