Imagine you are walking on a busy street in a busy city. It's rush hour, it might be raining; maybe you are in a hurry to go to work, perhaps you have a girlfriend that just told you she's cheating on you with your best friend; maybe,and just maybe, you are looking to change your career, or even so, just realised you are in love with your boss. Anyway.... You encounter someone, walking with a pace of slug, as if she were thousands of miles away, somewhere in the countryside where you wish you were just then. You notice her unruly pitch black hair and a huge black mole at the back of her neck. She's small, so much so that even she's on your way, you don't dare to push her to the side. This is then, when you realise she's on the phone to someone, she's actually singing out loud to that person over the phone; however her words are almost nonsensical, her speech is slurred and keeps on repeating phrases over and over again, in different notes and harmonies... You just bumped into me.
I don't know if you have ever written a song in your life, but, for me it started as such an incredibly challenging process.
In my previous blog I talked about Super Jam, my first song. When I wrote it, I thought a lot about the structure and the harmonies, the chords, the violin riffs... the result? Stale, boring, repressed, impersonal. I am so used to working with very talented musicians and songwriters who compose with an ease that make my third eye go green of envy (the good envy though...), so I kind of forgot the music I am really in-tune with.
I felt so insecure about writing, I mean, I was being too harsh to myself; wanting my tunes to sound like this or that artist I love, nothing was good enough.
But one day I had no choice, I lost my Ipod. I used to listen to my Ipod at all times, no joking, even at clubs when I didn't like the music the DJ was playing... That's bad, isn't it? With my Ipod gone, I had no choice but to sing made-up tunes to myself. Since they became the soundtracks of my journeys, I began to enjoy the process.
I record these little tunes on my phone (nope, it's not an Iphone it's a very simple old Sony Ericsson phone that I can record sounds into). Every single word or melody that come into my head. I don't care if it sounds like something I heard before, all artists are pirates, anyway. Once I started, the only way I can describe it is 'burping emotions'. Yes, burping, like when you have too much beer and something garlicky to eat after (some people call it discharging - what the heck??!!). Burping because they are loud and spontaneous; emotions because the melodies come with words attached to them, words that come unconsciously into my head and turn into songs. This 'burping' comes unapologetically everywhere, let's hope it doesn't stop. Oops, braaawww, ooops! sorry....
