Final Project Blog

Music has the power to stimulate strong emotions within us. Music has been reported to evoke the full range of human emotion from sad, nostalgic and tense, to happy, relaxed and empowering. Most of us listen to music in order to experience emotions, concentrate, or to overcome what’s bringing us down. Emotions are also contagious. When exposed to sounds or videos we’re likely to experience similar expressions and feelings while observing. Here I am going to share with you two songs that I believe have great messages and can connect emotionally to many.

“Fight Song” – Rachel Platten

This song is written and song by Rachel Platten along with other writers David Bassett and Jon Levine and is from the album Wildfire released February 19, 2015 in the United Sates. This song is empowering, anthemic, honest, raw and emotional says songwriter Rachel. This song was written by Rachel and a reflection on her life, she has been rejected dealt with struggles but she wouldn’t give up on herself and created an empowering song.

The song starts out rather slow and sad, you feel the pain of being let down and upset. Rather quickly, the beat starts to pick up immediately followed by stronger lyrics. This fight song  is about fighting for and taking ownership of your life. This song is very empowering for one who may feel down or going through something tough and that no matter what they do they are being pushed down. You need to fight for what you believe in even when no one else does. “…I don’t really care if nobody else believes. I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me.” This song can easily speak to many people. Everyone is faced with obstacles during their life. You can take it two ways, let it get the best of you and bring you down or you can fight.

There is a variety of musical instruments in this song. Ranging from piano, guitar and the drums. The beat is very steady and it’s uses a variety of sounds. Ranging from 70-89 BPM. Then, as the music progresses, the beat changes, more upbeat and fast. The tempo of this song starts off slow, then goes faster. The mood for this song is created by the melody. In the beginning of the song, its rather slow feeling down about yourself, then later on it progresses into a faster more powerful song.

“Rise Up” –Andra Day

“Rise Up” by Andra Day and Jenn Decilveo is from the album Cheers To the Fall released August 28, 2015. The lyrics have become an anthem for Black Lives Matter and performed for Mothers of the Movement, who lost their sons to police or gun violence. “There’s a lot going on culturally and socially right now that needs to be talked about… What you do in music can change people’s lives and affect them in a real way.” (Andrea, suntimes.com)

Rise Up is a rather slow song, 60 MPB, that is about strength and power. The slower tempo makes this emotional and sad. Listening to the lyrics, you will hear the phrase “I’ll rise up” several times. When the song speeds up during the chorus you can start to relate to the song. Watching the video and listening to the lyrics you feel the strength that Andra is trying to show. This song will make you want to rise up and not give up even when you are going through something tough. It’s all about staying strong and going on even when you’re tired.

This course helped me look at music in a completely different way and helped me deal with personal issues. I chose to write about empowering, and share emotions that songs have on us. I recently dealt with a tragic loss of my father and music has helped me through the process so much. Music has empowered me, it has kept me going even on the bad days. This class has taught me to look deeper into music. I learned that there is more to music than just the way it sounds. Music uses metaphors, and really makes you connected on a personal level. Music is empowering and can have strong emotions behind the lyrics. Cultures use music to communicate and pass down stories from one generation to another. I will continue to learn music in the new way I see and hear it. Thank you!

 

“Fight Song (Rachel Platten Song).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Dec. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_Song_(Rachel_Platten_song).

Rachel Platten Reveals the Meaning of ‘Fight Song’.” Sweety High, www.sweetyhigh.com/read/rachel-platten-fight-song.

Selena Fragassi – For the Sun-Times. “Andra Day Still Spreading the Message to ‘Rise Up’.” Chicago Sun-Times, 16 Nov. 2016, chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/andra-day-still-spreading-the-message-to-rise-up/.