WP1 | Music: The Miracle Berry of Messages
Have you ever heard of or tasted the miracle berry? Also deemed the M-Berry, it is a unique fruit that makes everything taste sweet. You simply eat a single tablet of these berries and every food you eat afterward will taste sweet, making even the most sour foods pleasant to eat. It opens up a world of possibilities for even the most intolerant consumers. Similarly, music acts as a miracle berry for hard to swallow messages, dampening the most difficult themes and making them palatable to otherwise inaccessible audiences.
Music is an ancient form of media that we consume everyday, consciously and subconsciously. It is a vessel for messages, stories, and themes. The fundamentals that make up music — melodies, chord progressions, notes, words, and more all function to relay the intent of the creator. Every time we listen to music we experience a feeling. When we hear music it affects us at a physiological level, while there may be an underlying theme and message within the music, the fundamentals take the edge off this theme through the physiological impact. You see, listening to music “increases blood flow to brain regions that generate and control emotions” affecting our moods and emotions without us even being aware. The affect music has on the brain also extends past this, and may be responsible for releasing “dopamine, a neurotransmitter that triggers sensations of pleasure and well-being”.
Knowing the affect music has on our brains helps us to understand why it is possible to pack difficult themes into music. If every instance that we hear certain songs we receive a release of dopamine, then our natural disposition towards the song is favorable. The thing about music is that we feel it before we understand it. No one listens to a song for the first time and is immediately aware of the message. In most cases, we listen and enjoy a song based on the elements of it. We enjoy a hook, we like a melody, we think the song is catchy and so forth.
Have you ever heard the song “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster The People? If not, take a second to listen to it below.
Nice song right? The music makes you feel nice and the groove of the song is upbeat, overall it is a very catchy song. However, what lies beneath is a dark story of a school shooting. The message does not match the vibe of the song, and for good reason. How many of us would willingly click on a song that we know is about such a dark topic? I for one, can’t name any people that get excited over kids getting shot, it’s just not something we want to even imagine.
So why do we happily sing along to songs like this? Because in music, the audience chooses the depth in which they participate in a song. For many of us, we simply enjoy the dopamine release we get from listening to music and the depth in which we dive into a project is purely superficial. It always begins at this level, we begin by listening to the elements of the song and making our judgment based on what we like. Any further exploration of a song, past this superficial level, is entirely up to the listener.
If they do decide to delve deeper they will come across different layers of the song. Underneath the superficial level lies the story of the song, the meaning of it, why the artists created it. In the song “Pumped Up Kicks”, this is the story of the school shooting. The song takes you through the mind and events of the school shooter through complex lyrics. This level of participation requires nothing more than astute listening.
The deeper you delve into a piece, the more effort it takes. The layer beneath astute listening requires interpretation. Connecting the message of the song to a larger picture in society or within yourself. Continuing with the example of “Pumped Up Kicks” it is clearly a critique of the frequent mass shootings in the U.S.
By giving the listener the option to delve deep into a work, the artist is allowing their message to not only permeate through the music, but also be better received by the listener. Due to the freedom the listener has when consuming music, the depth in which they participate is contingent upon their own interest. When combined with the dopamine that the music provides to listeners, interest is another pivotal aspect, it “is a powerful motivational process that energizes learning”.
Freedom to choose, dopamine, and a pleasant disposition make music an ideal vessel for reaching a variety of audiences. Through music we can tell stories, evoke emotions, inspire people, and deliver messages. But from an artist’s perspective is it that simple?
I decided to undertake the task of creating a song and observing the intentional decisions made in order to get my message across. There were many subtleties and small choices that were made in order to package our message but I will let it speak for itself. You can listen below, the song is titled “Grandma’s Adobo”.
I have no intentions on dictating your participation in the song, especially not after the whole spiel I just gave on freedom. However, if you wish to delve a little deeper into the work you have the option to do so below. If not I hope you found the song pleasant and you are always welcome to return to this page to discover more.
If you’re still reading it means you want to delve a little deeper in the music. If you haven’t put it together yet this song is about the sudden death of my grandmother. I can babble on all day about how loving and caring my grandmother was but I think its understood. What I wish to delve into is the process, with such a heavy topic we wanted the song to feel light. Therefore, the chord progression we chose was more upbeat and happy in hopes of contrasting the actual story the song tells. The percussion we chose was very folkish in hopes of giving the song a bouncy feel to add to the upbeat vibe. The bass and guitar were both intentionally very simple, because we did not want to take away from the melody.
The lyrics were actually much less intentional than the instruments and melody when it came to the content. The lyrics came very naturally, however the arrangement took time. We flipped the first and second verses in order to make the meaning of the song more ambiguous to start. There were many other decisions made to create this simple song. If you wish you can find a full breakdown of the lyrics and their meaning here.
How you connect this breakdown to overarching themes is completely up to you. Our goal as artists was to make you feel something. I hope the song was able to accomplish this, whether it was purely superficial or in depth. If you are walking away from this project with a better understanding of how you consume music then the mission has been accomplished.
Works Cited
Enemi. “Grandma’s Adobo”. Soundcloud, Josiah Zamora, 2024.
Foster The People. “Pumped Up Kicks”. Torches, Youtube, Official Audio, FosterThePeople, 2010.
Harackiewicz JM, Smith JL, Priniski SJ. Interest Matters: The Importance of Promoting Interest in Education. Policy Insights Behav Brain Sci. 2016 Oct;3(2)
Link, Jennifer. Why — and How — Music Moves Us. Pfizer. https://www.pfizer.com/news/articles/why_and_how_music_moves_us
