Depth of the mixed Cd and a reflection

This Mixed Tape goes through several similar themes; identity, private vs public self, and being an outcast. As the tape goes through each song the listener is going through a musical journey of self acceptance and loving ones self.

The Logical Song - Supertramp

This song is going first in the mixtape. The first part is about how wonderful life is when you are little and that everyone gets along. As the song goes on the tone of the song is changing. My favorite part is the chorus about thinking late at night. Who am I? The ultimate struggle of defining your person and trying to be your own person and dealing with the ups and downs. This is an obvious theme of identity. 

People are Strange - The Doors

This song is about not fitting in. Each line is the stuff that people are fighting with in their heads all the time. Specifically not fitting in (When you’re strange). The line “Women seem wicked when you are down.” It touches on the fact that people feel unloved, unwanted, and insecure in the world. This song specifically resonates with the private of feeling judged by the public at large and how being different makes you feel alone.

Welcome To My Life- Simple Plan

Teen angst, no one understands me, this mixtape of identity would not be complete without this song. Each lyric is about getting by in life and how everyone feels like they are going about the world on their own. Of course all the themes in this song “To be hurt, to feel lost, to be left out in the dark, To be kicked, when you're down, To feel like you've been pushed around.” The basic I am feeling left alone and forgotten. This goes into all of the themes with ideals of not fitting in as the identity and the personal self.

Shout - Tears For Fears

 Fun Fact: This song was written about political protests. 

I added this song after The Doors to keep a similar sound but bring in different ideas. “Shout let it all out.” This one is more about letting the private out, of course this does not happen often but it is letting your self let go of  the things that are messing with your head. Letting frustration and pain out about the things that ail you can help you relax. 

Failure By Design- Brand New 

This is more about accepting the mistakes that we are as people. Shout took the listener out of the stoic sad sounds of The Doors and Supertramp into the teen punk rebellion. Hating yourself and feeling stuck. “I’m another day late and one year older, It’s failure by design.” Stuck, stuck stuck. Stuck on the girl, on the things that help you forget about what is haunting you.This is more on the theme of identity and private vs public self. Really angst songs are a perfect show of private self vs public self.(Every single second that I pull this off is another lonely night I gotta race the clock.) The whole song is about just getting by in this shitty world after finally admitting that things are kinda sucky.

Who Are You - The Who

Done with the teen angst. Now in a drunken confusion still asking yourself who am I? Am I the person who I know I am deep inside or am I this persona that I hide behind? How does one change into this new person when they have been perceived one way? Still trying to find yourself , “I musta lost my sense of direction because I ended up a superstar.” of course for Pete Townshend he literally became a superstar most of the time people find themselves in other things like a dead beat job they never wanted or stuck with an ideal of them that is a public view. 

A Lifeless Ordinary (Need a Little Help) - Motion City Soundtrack

Continuing with the idea of change this song take witty words and strings them into beautiful poetic ideas. “I think I can figure it out but I’m gonna need a little help.” Is the chorus and is prominent throughout the song as searching for the person and just trying to be happy with the world, but still has the ever present darkness “I wish I was someone else.”. This ever present need for escape from yourself but being trapped and having to make the best of it. The singer is obviously trying to change though and make the best of his world while still saying he has bad days.

Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been- Relient K 

Okay finally a happy song. Well not truly, it is a I have changed song. This is an apoligize about the past and the mistakes he has made. The singer says a great line “And the things bottled inside have begun, to create so much pressure that I’ll soon blow up.” This is the tie into the earlier songs of keeping the internal problems and the personal self hiding to make room for the public self. The identity of one is partly hiding true feelings and ideas. 

Unstoppable- Foxy Shazam

Now our tempo is up. The world is feeling a bit better. WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE! Finally fighting the world that has been putting our spirits down we are stepping up to the plate for ourselves and for the things we believe in. Even though life has been spent harshly “Sticks and stones may hurt, but we don’t care.” The song is saying it is time to step up and fight back. Identity is finally coming out through the public self.

 Mixology of Tom Collins - Less Than Jake

This song is much like the last though more on a sour note. The song is accepting yourself as you are but more so just not letting others opinions get in the way “ Who the hell needs self doubt.”. This song is needed because it is not alway a great change but it is a change and the happiness with who you are.

The Middle- Jimmy Eat World

Cliche, I know, but this song is the last. Be yourself. Things suck but it will be all fine in the end which. This last song is one of assurance that always gets me pumped when I am down and is therefor required for this mixtape. Leave the listener on a good note that even if things suck now it is not as bad as you think and things will only get better.

Self Reflection 

My creative piece is a musical partner. As a teenager specifically the world sucks, it feel like everyone is out to get you and you hate yourself. I wanted this cd to say it was okay. That feeling this way is normal and that even though you feel horrible now it will get better. This mix is what has been going on in my head the last few years. I mean specifically relating to these themes of identity and private vs public. I kept the mix less specific to me and more obtuse so that more people can relate to the music and think back to that time in their life when everything kinda sucked at they felt stuck. Or when they were so sad and alone that things get better and how you think changes as you change and go through experiences.

I have been spending a lot of time on Spotify because of this Mixed Cd and I feel like my biggest regret of this project will be that I slowly find better songs to portray the point I want to get across. I had a mix of twenty songs widdled that down to ten and than swapped them out for better songs. I could do that for days though until it was perfect and still find something that means more. I think that I could of done the tape better I feel like there are songs hiding out there that describe what I want to say perfectly but the mix I have put together is still important to me because I know that one day I will need a pick me up and I can listen to this. 

Another thing I wish I could of fixed was my song analyzation. Some of these songs I could of ripped apart and told a whole story with it showing everyone of my feelings of the depth of some of the lyrics but I did not want to overwhelm the situation. Thinking about it now though I like that I gave a brief point to the songs because it forces the listener to see them with more of their own eye.