I Don't Know What I Wanna Do
William Z.
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I made this song to be a part of our band’s (@comp.ound_fracture) first studio album (work in progress). I composed and recorded every part of the song (except the drums, I composed that with MIDI).
I had two goals in mind while making this song. I wanted it to convey a story, and I wanted to use my knowledge of music theory to convey its emotions.
The only part that I didn’t make was the singing. Thank you Marissa for singing the song!
Story:
I wanted to make a breakup song that brought something new to the table, so I wrote the lyrics with a double meaning. If you first listen to the song and skim the lyrics, it’s pretty clear that it’s a breakup song. The female speaker is lamenting over a broken relationship, but little is revealed about the breakup. Everything was perfect, why did you have to end it all? This interpretation remains static until the bridge, where the speaker mentions blood and her dream ending. This wasn’t a breakup; the male subject passed away, and all the lyrics that were interpreted as a breakup could also euphemistically reference death: “you had it end it all anyway.” After the bridge, the chorus repeats two times to give the listener time to reinterpret the lyrics to the song. The story with the girl and the boy continues on with some of the other songs I wrote, but have yet to produce. Kind of like a rock opera.
Music Theory:
After reading the lyrics, the song comes off as ironic; the speaker talks about death and despair while the song is upbeat and energetic. Also, for listeners who don’t analyze lyrics, I wanted this song to be enjoyable to listen to as a pop-rock song. To convey this feeling, I used a variety of different musical devices. I started with a major scale with strong chord progressions. To maintain this energy while still making the chorus the climax, I modulated up a major third for each chorus. I added 2 measure transitional phases before and after the chorus, using secondary dominants and chromatic movement for the modulation. For the bridge, I used a ton of secondary dominants and 7th chords so it would maintain a strong sense of harmonic movement while sounding different from the rest of the song.
Music Composition:
I used Logic Pro to produce this song. I connected an audio interface to my laptop and recorded the guitars directly into the software. I played around with virtual amps and pedals so that each instrument had a suitable sound. Writing and recording the guitar and bass lines was definitely the most fun part.
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I discovered my love for creative expression as a musician. I realized that music, like other forms of art, was a gateway to convey your feelings, to connect to your audience at a deeper, emotional level. Why let this elegant medium for communication go to waste?
