As an artist, a lot of what I do is guided by instincts. It’s the only way I know how to navigate music authentically. If I overanalyze, I can’t tell if it’s good anymore because I’m using reason instead of my reptilian brain. But there’s no reasoning with music. You can’t convince yourself to like it by making a solid argument. You either like it or you don’t.
When I write a song that I like, there’s a natural attachment that forms right off the bat. Over the years, I’ve gotten better and better at relinquishing control and being open to the song moving in another direction. It’s not without work though, and sometimes it can be harder to overcome than I care to admit.
Writing “Chemical”
At some point in the summer of 2023, I started a song in Logic during my morning writing sessions. I forgot about it since it was just an instrumental, and I must have been in some sort of flow state because my memory of working on it is nonexistent. When I opened it back up in January, I was inspired to work on it.
A few hours later, I had an intro, a verse, and a catchy chorus hook that I was pretty excited about; it turned into a song called “Chemical” about following your passion in life. I even had a little arpeggiator part after the chorus that reminded me of some early Owl City songs (very nostalgic). Then I did the thing that I do nowadays which is close the session and immediately wonder if it’s complete trash or actually really good (there is apparently no in-between for me). I sent it to Soren and he agreed we should work on it.
Approach with Curiosity
When we mapped the song out in the studio, Soren said he heard the song arranged differently and suggested we try using the intro as a pre-chorus instead.
Unpopular opinion: “Let’s just try it” is producer code for “I think this is better and I really hope you don’t make a worse decision.” He also asked me to sit down at the piano and figure out the actual chords for the song because they were way too ambiguous 🙄 Seriously Soren! So demanding! 😉
Over the years working in my business, we’ve developed a mantra: approach with curiosity. You never know what you might miss out on if you come in too hot with your own opinion. I remind myself to be curious in response to situations that trigger me to dig my heels in and respond with inflexibility.
Honestly though, I was really into my intro. I thought it was cool that it only happened one time and didn’t repeat. I was happy with how the verse developed into the chorus. I felt like the whole exercise of “trying it” was a little pointless because I already liked the song structure exactly the way it was when I demoed it on my own. But, I wanted to be a good sport, and I do believe in the curiosity mantra, so we tried it. Then, guess what happened?
It totally grew on me.
I like it way better than the original idea. Not only that, but I had based the song idea around a sample that we dropped completely (this is good because you can’t use samples without running into potential issues down the line; more on that in a future post). We ended up building a much more energetic instrumental and losing the Owl City vibes. I’m pleased to report it is turning into SUCH a fun song. I’m also excited to announce that it’s the last song we’re recording for the album, meaning that we’re almost done! It’s extra cool to end the recording phase of Blue Hour with something that feels extremely collaborative and that wouldn’t have happened the same way without a healthy dose of openness and curiosity.
Long story short, be curious. You never know what will happen.
