“If music be the food of love, play on.”
– William Shakespeare
Last week, I went to a concert with some friends on the evening of Fete de la musique (World Music Day) in Paris. During the evening, all bars and venues would tend to host musicians, singers and bands in order to create a musical atmosphere that would allow people to celebrate their differences and share their cultures through music. You could look in any direction and be immediately taken away by the music being played in the background, or sometimes right in front of you. The streets felt alive like never before. Every street corner seemed to represent the gate into another world of music, another form or expression, another genre, another set of instruments, another tone of voice. Until late at night, someone somewhere was expressing themselves through a combination of vibrations, and then every person listening would embrace it through their own eyes.
I was supposed to attend that concert back in 2020, however the pandemic made sure that the band could not perform in Paris before 2022. The band comes from Los Angeles, California and is known to produce indie pop and soft rock songs. The advantage of having a concert postponed for two years is that they managed to release a new album with more songs that they ended up performing live. I discovered The Score in 2017 and have been listening to their songs since. Most of their songs involve motivation, dedication towards one’s dreams, and always getting back up when you have been beaten to the ground. Their music immediately struck a chord (no pun intended) to the point that they quickly became one of my favourite artists. Needless to say, I was strongly excited for this concert, even more so since I knew all of their songs by heart. Although their songs are usually fast paced in order to up one’s adrenaline, one song was performed differently that night.
One of their most famous songs from the latest album Metamorph is called In My Blood. I will be honest in saying that I am not a massive fan of the original version of the song. Make no mistake, I still think it is an incredible song, however The Score has other songs I prefer more. We all have our tastes when it comes to music just like anything else in life. The context we find ourselves in may also affect our perception and taste in certain moments, as I explained in last week’s article. The live version I heard of In My Blood was a perfect application of this article.
“Each memory has a soundtrack of its own.”
– Anonymous
As I mentioned earlier, most of this band’s songs are fast paced in order to motivate people and hype things up. The live versions of their songs were no stranger to that phenomenon, and rightfully so, leading to a great show on all levels. The only exception came when they decided to perform In My Blood with nothing but vocals and piano. For three minutes and forty-five seconds, this fast-beating, highly energised, motivational song turned into a calm, slow, and even slightly melancholic. The perception of the singer Eddie Anthony as he was pronouncing the lyrics did not reflect a strong man who made it to the top and is now taking pride in his accomplishments. On the contrary, it felt like a man down on his knees, who has nothing left to his name, on the verge of giving up, only to remind himself who he is and where he comes from. The same can also be perceived if you decided to listen to this slowed version of the song. Subconsciously, the focus will shift from the glory and greatness in a man’s achievements to the pain and anger of wanting to just give up. The chorus transitions into a shout of pain when one cannot take it anymore.
That is another particularity of music: the way we reproduce songs can completely alter the meaning behind the symphony, the lyrics and the story we associate to such a masterpiece. We discover another way of feeling, we connect a different story and another link with ourselves. There are always new sides, new universes to discover whenever a new version is produced for a song. I used to have a singing coach who would tell me to create my own version of the song, instead of trying to replicate the artist’s version. This is how we reach a greater audience.
Which song has two different stories for you after you heard two various versions of it?
Are they similar in any way?
“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.”
– Ludwig van Beethoven
Change The Lens 