SORRY, COULD YOU SAY THAT AGAIN?

The pandemic has been an emotional ride. And since so much emotion can be shown in music, I wanted to make a dynamic composition that represented my own feelings throughout these past months. The beginning of my song represents “normal” life. For this, I took one of the most common “pop” chord progressions: I-V-vi-IV, and played a basic rhythm on guitar, with some simple drums. It’s a boring, basic resting place, but we accept it as normal. I then abruptly cut the intro so the happy music spins down and is replaced by distorted drums and a mood of confusion. This is the time of chaos where the song creates a “wait, what?” feeling, like when I suddenly couldn’t go to school or see my friends. After this section it switches to an uncertain mood. In the beginning of the pandemic during lockdown, I remember my parents being scared that they or our friends were going to get COVID. I remember sitting on the couch and feeling like all of the chaos was circling around me and I was just confused. I didn’t understand what was really happening, to be honest I was just inconvenienced. At the end of the third section it starts to speed up, creating a very unpleasant feeling. Each bar the tempo increases which makes me feel really unsettled, and reflects the weird “what?” moments of the pandemic. The fast tempo also creates a scared feeling. I remember being out in public with my parents around people, and finally being really scared. I was scared that my family was going to get COVID and I couldn’t stand that. At the end of my song I took the opening guitar, but reversed it to make it sound sadder and more emotional. I also pitched it up to create a kind of spooky uncanny feeling. What we’re in now is like a mixed up, reversed way of normal life. I go to virtual school and everywhere with a mask. This is our “new normal,” and I’ve fallen into a new rhythm.