Author: cteng

Posted on

“when the party’s over”

Emerging alternative-pop artist Billie Eilish has written many songs that describe loss and heartbreak. With over 2.5 billion overall combined streams globally, one of her most popular songs, “when the party’s over” describes the ups and downs of a toxic relationship.

“when the party’s over” was written by Billie’s own brother, Finneas O’Connell, who had claimed he had just “wrote this crazy f*cking song.” The lyrics allude to an unhealthy relationship, as she confronts her partner about their relationship, but it is hard to let go.

“Don’t you know I’m no good for you
I’ve learned to lose you, can’t afford to
Tore my shirt to stop you bleedin’
But nothin’ ever stops you leavin’”

lyrics from http://storyofsong.com/story/when-the-partys-over/

The chorus repeats “And I’ll call you when the party’s over” alluding to the two meeting up after a party because they need each other, even though Billie is trying to move on away from them. This concept is relatable to many people, as unhealthy relationships can tend to spiral out of control.

The meaning of the title can also have another meaning, other than toxic relationships with other people. It can also allude to the anxieties that people encounter when they go to a social event with other people around. Many people can appear to be fine at a big social gathering, but what happens to them after? It may be a huge sigh of relief that it’s over, because it can be overwhelming to some.

One of Billie’s main inspirations is Tyler the Creator. The two seem to have a thing for merging traditional body horror with the psychological torture of social anxiety in their music videos.

“when the party’s over” video was inspired by one of Billie’s own fans, where they drew a picture of her with black eyes and black dripping down her face. She was immediately star-struck by the image, and wanted to recreate it in this video.

Billie Eilish’s “when the party’s over” music video

When the video released, fans went nuts over it and curiosity struck as to how these effects were created. The video shows Billie alone in an empty room, dressed in all white. She forcefully drinks an entire glassful of a pure black liquid. As she is finished, the same black liquid oozes out of both her eyes. This is not the average “girl crying and mascara dripping down her face” kind of vibe, but more of a gruesome yet beautiful image.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqBZGBlFGVH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Billie’s instagram (post now deleted) of how the effects were made in “when the party’s over”

As Billie drinks the liquid, it seems as if she is forcefully finishing all of it. Since so many of her songs are about toxic relationships, the black substance alludes to an unhealthy relationship

YouTuber “Cherry Pie” comments: “My interpretation of the video: Her sitting in an all white room with white clothing means that she is in a place of mind where she pure and happy. Even though many bad things have happened (which is kept in the cup) she is trying to rethink it to make herself a happier person. That’s why if you think about it she looks like she is hesitating to drink the cup of black liquid because she knows it will hurt her, but she can’t help herself so she gives into the pain. She drinks it and then the black tears come out of her eyes to show that she is suffering from not letting go on the darkness in her mind. Before the end, you can see she isn’t moving from her seat, she stays silent and still while this pain goes inside of her, and because she didn’t say anything and no one came to help, the sadness ripped her apart to death. I think this video represents that if there is sadness in your heart and everyday it gets heavier, do not stay silent about it. Heartbreaks and other things in life can be terrible, but do not hold it in, or else it will find it’s way out one way or another. Find someone to talk to your pain about. Don’t stay silent about it “

This comment stood out the most, as it also had 3.6k likes on it. Although most of the time, YouTube comments focus more on the negative aspects of a video, Cherry Pie’s comment is an example that now and then, there are people on the internet trying to spread love and awareness. I would agree/stand by this interpretation, as it describes a lot of pain that Billie is experiencing, and by drinking the entire glass of black liquid, she is giving in to the pain because she can’t help it. In an interview about the music video, Billie even stated that she enjoys pain and being uncomfortable: “Dude, I bring the most miserable things onto myself. I just do, I don’t know why I do it, but I do it. I just love pain. I’ve always loved pain. I love being uncomfortable.”

For the majority of the comments on this video, many focus on the positive and humerous aspects of Billie’s video. Jordan Alana comments a funny, “when you accidentally get liquid eyeliner in your eye 😩😩” while Madison Mitchell uses a popular meme “Me: Billie stop crying ink Billie Eilish: i said i like it like that”

Although not all the comments are as deep and emotional like Cherry Pie’s, there are fewer negative comments than one expects to see on the Internet. Rather than slamming on the artist, many YouTube comments commend her on the powerful message she is sending to her audience.

Posted on

Same Love

  • Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

“Hey Macklemore, can we go thrift shopping?”

“What? What? What? What?”

The infamous song “Thrift Shop” is sung by 35-year-old rapper Macklemore, who rose to fame with his collaboration with Ryan Lewis in their debut album, The Heist. With more than 6 million downloads with “Thrift Shop” and rising to No. 1 on the Hot 100 Chart with “Can’t Hold Us,” they became the first duo in music history to have first two singles reach the top of the pop charts. With their successes at a high, they went on to receive four Grammy’s in 2014.

“Same Love” was song that was inspired by a news article in 2012 about a teenager who committed suicide after being bullied. After reading about it, Macklemore wrote this song to embrace and promote gay marriage, which many raps song did not. Macklemore expressed how he believed the epithets routinely heard in rap music were partly to blame, and that denying gay adults the right to be married contributed to negative effects on gay teenagers. He “just wanted to hold myself accountable and hold hip-hop accountable and bring up an issue that was being pushed under the rug.”

The song quickly made it all the way to the Top 40 and No. 5 on the Rap Songs Chart. The timing of everything was impeccable, as it hit the charts in February, when the Supreme Court was considering challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act and to California’s ban on same-sex marriage.

The lyrics of “Same Love” accuse rappers for constantly using “gay slurs” and abusive language. When we hear rap music today, it mainly consists of having a “sick beat” with rhythmic speech over the music. Although it is very groovy and fun to jam to, what most people don’t realize is how often abusive language is used. It seems that rappers will throw around profanity and offensive language like it’s no big deal. But, just because we hear it all the time doesn’t mean it’s okay, right? That’s the point that Macklemore is trying to express in his lyrics:

If I was gay I would think hip-hop hates me
Have you read the Youtube comments lately
“Man that’s gay” Gets dropped on the daily
We’ve become so numb to what we’re sayin’
Our culture founded from oppression
Yeah, we don’t have acceptance for ’em
Call each other faggots behind the keys of a message board
A word routed in hate, yet our genre still ignores it
Gay is synonymous with the lesser
It’s the same hate that’s caused wars from religion
Gender to skin color the complexion of your pigment

https://www.wordsinthebucket.com/same-love
Mary Lambert, featured in Same Love

Many artists turned down the opportunity to sing this song with Macklemore. With such a controversial topic, no one really wanted to be associated with it. After all, stars and celebrities lose fans all the time when they express an unpopular or polarizing opinion.

They soon found singer Mary Lambert, who agreed to sing alongside. Lambert described singing the song as a “divine moment,” as she had had a very difficult childhood coming out as gay in church.

The Same Love music video depicts the journey of a gay man’s life; from battling a difficult childhood of staying in the closet, to his well-deserved wedding day, and to the inevitable end.

Same Love, music video

Macklemore originally wanted the video to be seen through the perspective of a gay, bullied child; however, he believed that he couldn’t do it because it wasn’t his story to tell. However, he was able to turn a nostalgic piano ballad into a powerful message about marriage equality.

This sparked controversy as this song focused on same-sex marriage, but was written by a white, straight man. In the rap community, there are fewer white rappers that achieve success. Since its roots stem from African-American communities, “the American public has long associated [it] with a particular demographic.” With that being said, Macklemore clearly does not “fit in” with the stereotypical image of rap. During the 2014 Grammy’s, he performed the song with Madonna, as a score of couples (both straight and gay) were married onstage. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis certainly took a risk that night as a duo, as it showed the audience and everyone around the world that they were using their new-found fame to push a progressive message. He once said, “You’re gonna piss people off, but all these moments add up to an understanding and, hopefully, change.”

Posted on

What’s a Hammer?

What do you think of when the word hammer comes to mind?

  • A tool?
  • Rapper/dancer, MC Hammer?
  • A piano?

You may be thinking, “What’s a hammer have to do with a piano?”

Good question.

Hammers are mechanisms inside the keyboard that play a crucial role in its structure and sound. At times, we can forget about them because they are inside the instrument, but they are still an essential part of this big wood contraption. Without the hammers, it would not be able to produce the sound we hear today.

Before the piano was invented, the harpsichord was the main keyboard instrument. It produced sounds by hitting keys, which would strike a device called “jacks” that were in the harpsichord. The strings would be plucked in order to make sound, and a “jack rail” would then control how many strings were plucked at a time. This was what adjusted the volume.

Here’s a simple demonstration of how the jack works:

Bartolomeo Cristofori

The piano eventually came into play in the 1700’s. It was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Italy because many people were unsatisfied with the lack of control they had over the volume of the harpsichord. Cristofori switched the plucking mechanism for a hammer in the 1700’s. He developed an “escapement” mechanism, which allowed a hammer to fall after hitting the strings, as well as a dampening mechanism on the jack so that the strings would not sound when it was not being hit. His invention completely changed the sound of the keyboard instrument. It seems like a very minute detail- silencing the string; however, it makes a big difference. There’s a less abrupt sound, and a nice resonation. All of these characteristics makes the instrument more appealing to the ear.

Closer look of the hammers inside

Cristofori also developed another mechanism that improved the striking action. He used what he named, a “slide-slip.” The device (which was activated by a hand stop) would shift the mechanism so that it would only hit one string instead of three. This is where the soft pedal or una corda originated from.

The head of the hammer was also covered by a piece of felt. This allowed the tool to be protected, and not clash into the strings while keys were played. They were originally covered with layer of leather; however it was changed, most likely because it wasn’t fully developed until the mid 1800’s. The felt material allowed pianists to produce a softer sound, compared to the harpsichord, which was sharper and more abrupt. It had larger gradations in dynamics, which previous keyboard instruments did not have. As the felt quality gradually increased over time, modern pianos developed better tone, which gave room for more expression.

http://www.piano.christophersmit.com/hammer.html

So why are the hammers in the piano even that important? Is it even considered a technology? I would say so! The development of the hammer revolutionized the keyboard instrument. Before, pianists had no control over the volume at which they could play. As a pianist, that would have really bothered me, because the most important thing to have is a large range in dynamics. With the earlier keyboard instruments, the volume could only be controlled with the jack rail, and that still didn’t give much range in dynamics. The articulation of fingers was essentially the only thing that could control the sound and tone. It didn’t matter how much weight you put into the keys. 

With the development of the hammer mechanism, pianists were able to change the sound and volume with the weight of their arms. This allowed them to produce a much bigger range of dynamics. It’s the reason why we are able to play a vast range of fortes and pianos today.