M. Marshall 1.24
When picking an assignment, I try to pick something feasible that speaks to me. Like my mother, I am long winded. I can talk about anything for any amount of time if I’m allowed to, so this blog thing has really opened up an outlet for me. So, a captive audience is really my thing.
And so is music! It bothers me when people say things like “I feel things deeper than other people” or “I have a really strong connection to music”. Everyone feels things deeply! Everyone has a really strong connection to music! I think assuming that something is more personal to you or that you understand a general human experience on a deeper level than others perpetuates an idea that our uniqueness is what separates us and not what provides a greater ability to diversify human experience. But now I’m rambling about things that no one is looking to read in a blog post about a song.
The song I chose comes from my 7 hour playlist of songs that I feel in my chest when I listen to them, I could really choose any song on this playlist and talk for a long time about the way that it makes me feel, but the song I chose is Pilot with a Fear of Heights by Felicity.
The first verse she sings about trying to leave a former relationship and its memories behind, hoping they’ll turn into ghosts. She is afraid of someone that she can’t stop thinking about, someone she loves. The first verse is very nice, but it’s the clapping indicating that the chorus is beginning (at exactly 00:45, if you’re wondering) that makes me feel like things are really getting good.
I’ve been thinking ’bout you all night
Like a pilot with a fear of heights
You got me thinking like ooh, ooh
Singing about a pilot with a fear of heights as a metaphor for someone that you’ve been with and can’t stop reliving the memory of? I just remember hearing that and thinking it was so brilliant. To be honest, I hadn’t really heard the saying about a pilot with a fear of heights before this song, which made the saying especially revolutionary. The line you got me thinking like ooh, ooh may not be particularly unique, but it’s the way that she sings it that really hammers in the feeling. It makes me feel understood on a deeper level.
I’ve been thinking ’bout you all night
Like a tiger that’s afraid to bite
You got me thinking like ooh, ooh
It’s ironic, isn’t it? The tiger can’t survive without catching and killing (or, biting) its prey. The pilot can’t work without flying an airplane in the sky, but it’s terrifying! And she can’t be happy without a relationship which is full of turmoil. Sometimes when I hear this song I feel like a pilot with a fear of heights myself. I myself have a fear of heights, except I just can’t help but look down. It’s the adrenaline rush, I guess. I would definitely say this song gives me an adrenaline rush.
This is so unnatural
That we’re on this level
‘Cause my heart’s surrendering
For this new beginning
This verse feels so fresh and wild. It’s really important to hear her vocals in this to really capture the feeling the song gives you. Of course, the audience for this song is probably aimed towards young women and teenage girls, so those in a separate demographic from me may not enjoy it as I do, but it effervescently brings you to the feeling of a new relationship.
I’ve been thinking ’bout you all night
Like a fire that’s afraid to light
In the second and final chorus Felicity compares herself to that of a fire which is afraid to light. Jumping into a new situation, whether it be a relationship, job, activity, etc. can be very nerve wracking, but it is that very thing that will bring you joy and life. It is the very thing that brings you to your destiny.
To connect this to a cyberpunk/tech noir theme, I looked into the impact of artificial intelligence in music and stumbled upon this article in Vox, written by Adam Clair whose focus is on the intersection of culture and technology. This song was released in 2018, when artificial intelligence wasn’t much more than a hypothetical idea. Reading the article, I thought to myself, maybe it would have been more helpful to choose a song written more recently. And as ridiculous and dramatic as it sounds, I gasped to remember that AI was an integral asset in the creation of one of the songs on my aforementioned 7 hour playlist.
Not so long ago, in November of 2023 The Beatles released a new song. Even the dead ones were involved! It feels like it has been such a long time since AI has been revolutionary to me, but it was hardly a year ago that I sent Now and Then by The Beatles to my dad and explained the wonders of the technology that was able to isolate, replicate, and produce a song from a dead man’s voice, isn’t it amazing they were able to use AI to make this? I remember talking to my friend who is a lifelong fan of The Beatles and he told me he cried when he listened to it. I felt amazed that something non-human could create something so beautiful and so human.
It is easy for me to become pessimistic when I think about artificial intelligence and its gradual overtaking of the content we consume, but it was a fond moment to remember how excited and fascinated I was at such an advancement in technology.
