A Piece of Me

I would say that my musical interest is pretty diverse. A lot of different genres and artists have shaped the music that I listen to and the music that I want to produce. From a young age I always found that music was an extra voice in this world that gave people a voice that often felt unheard. It was also a platform for people to express their views on the world and on different social issues.

The first video on the playlist is ‘Funhouse’ by P!nk. Funhouse was the first album I ever owned. This was the first moment in my life that I remember falling in love with music.

The second video on the playlist is of Lin-Manuel Miranda acceptance speech at the 70thTony Awards. He is a scriptwriter and song writer. Lin-Manuel Miranda has written a few musicals that have appeared on Broadway, with ‘Hamilton’ being his most successful musical to date. What has drawn me to Lin is the revolutionary way he uses music to create a message. Hamilton is a rap musical that explores the genre of rap and RnB. Hamilton is a musical about the founding fathers of America. It raises awareness of issues of that time period that has never been explored before. He tells the story through his poetic lyrics in a way that can relate to almost anyone. The way he creates music in a completely different way to what has ever been done, especially in the musical theatre genre has been a major influence in the type of music I want to produce.

Growing up, Good Charlotte was always a band that I admired. I was also interested in their protest against what was expected of the rich and famous, despite being a famous band. The song “Lifestyle of the Rich and the Famous” (video number 3) is a massive statement against the celebrity world that gave a voice to your average person who felt like life was a struggle. I always thought that they were pretty strong and brave for releasing a song like that for the rest of the world to hear. This song has always been a musical influence both in genre and meaning.

Twenty one pilots is a band that has been a recent musical influence on the type of music that I want to produce. They use a combination of both real instruments and electronic music. What I really admire about twenty one pilots is that they create music that speaks about issue such as mental and social issues as well as personal insecurities. When first listening to their music, you are exposed to an upbeat tune, but when you listen to what they are singing about, it can been seen as quite confronting. The song on the playlist “Guns for Hands” talks about the use of guns in society and how it has gotten out of control, something that I'm very passionate about. What twenty one pilots does so well is voice different issues that people are often too scared to talk about. That is the type of music that I want to strive to create.

The fifth video is a song from the musical “Rent”. Rent addresses the AIDs epidemic in America in the 90s. This musical gave insight into the lives of people who lived with people with AIDs and people who were living with AIDs. It had allowed people around the world to relate to the challenges that people experience every day. This really spoke to me and made me even more aware of how people can raise awareness of different issues through music and how effective it is.

The final song on the playlist is Green Day’s song “American Idiot”. This song was recorded after 9/11. It was a statement against the American media. This song was to tell people to not follow social norms and to think for themselves. Releasing a song on creative media, attacking the media was a very risky move. However, this song became one of Green Day’s most popular songs. A song like this gives your average person courage to stand up for themselves and to not be robots in society. I think this is something only music can do and why this song is a major musical influence for me.

I love any music from punk rock to musicals. I would love to be able to produce any type of music like that. One thing that I want to make sure of is that the music I produce gives people a voice just like these musical influences have done for me and so many people.