06/03/22
Niv Kavaler
Intro to Music Theory
Final Paper
Final Paper
I chose to transcribe and analyze a song I produced, wrote, sang and released in
December of 2021 titled “sadcore”. This is the first song I have ever released under my
pseudonym “pheni” and has a lot of meaning to me.
The general theme of the lyrics in this song are about loneliness and feeling sad but also
more specifically about moving away from home and dealing with a breakup. In the first verse I
sing, “I defend you when my friends used to diss you, you left me I remember when I kissed you
”. This part of the song does have the literal meaning of recalling when my friends would try to
tell me my ex girlfriend was toxic for me and I would defend her; but also has the metaphor of
remembering a kiss which is not actually about a kiss. The next part of the first verse goes “Mom
had surgery you wouldn’t know, Since I moved away no one hits up my phone, Big city how do I
feel so alone, Haven't even opened up my cologne” This continues the sad and lonely theme but
transitions the topic from an old love interest to my friends back home. When I moved to
Chicago and all my friends spread throughout the country to attend college, we all got caught up
in our new lives and did not talk as much as we used to. This did not seem to bother a lot of my
friends, however, I was feeling very hurt at the time. My mother was going to have a surgery and
none of my friends knew about it because no one had called to check up on me. I could have
called first and told them about what was going on, however I was petty and wanted my friends
to check up on me by their volition. The rest of the song essentially follows and explores the
same themes of feeling sad and unfulfilled in both my romantic and platonic relationships.
Many parts of my lyrics are true in the sense that one or more of our interviewees have
used the term. The term reflects lyrics that are true to the artist with a lot of meaning which I feel
is an accurate way to describe many of my lyrics especially my chorus which goes “Every time I
look at you a part of me dies, Every time I look at you I don't feel right”. While very literal the
lyrics are very true to me and how I feel and my experiences.
When considering what lyrics we have analyzed in class that most closely relate to my
lyrics I found that my lyrics most resemble those written by Lauren Hill. Specifically, we are
both very literal writers who use a lot of similes while not using many metaphors even when
addressing feelings and emotions. An example of a metaphor in my writing is when I say “You
left me I remember when I kissed you”. While on the surface this lyric might be interpreted as
remembering physical intimacy with a former partner, the kiss is actually representative of love
in its entirety. I miss feeling loved and cared for by this person. Also, another example of similes
and other figurative language in my lyrics can be found in my chorus when I wrote “When I see
you, feel like a heart attack”. I do not get an actual heart attack when I see her, however, my
heart races so fast it very much feels like I am having a heart attack. I used figurative language in
the places and way that I did in order to properly convey what I was not only feeling but
experiencing to my audience. My lyrics do not have a lot of imagery and symbolism that expose
more information than they communicate literally. I am a very literal writer and I think this is
primarily due to the fact that I state how I feel in my lyrics instead of exemplifying the same
information using imagery or symbols.
Melodically, the song does not have much range, only varying 3 keys throughout the song
excluding one large melodic motion at the end of the chorus which involves a large downward
leap. This motion is purposeful and helps emphasize the end of the hook to the audience by
creating contrast as it is the same as the beginning of the hook just heavily pitched down. My
song features almost no non-diatonic notes. I could identify many melodic motifs in my song
such as my tendency to draw out the last note in each line while adding variance to my
performance of the syllable. Both verses end in a I or O rhyme so the way I used the motif was
by at the end of every other line instead of singing “oh” I would sing “oh-eee-oh” and for i’s I
would sing “eye-ee-eye”. In considering which melodies most closely relate to mine from the
ones we analyzed in class I believe the closest would be James Brown “talkin loud, sayin
nothing”. We have many similar motifs while sharing a very contained range. Also, we both use
small intervals and rarely any leaps.
Out of all the assigned interviews, the songwriting process used by Tom Waits most
closely resembles my own process as I have experienced it. When asked, “What sorts of things
usually trigger a song for you?”(page 2, Tom Waits Interview) Tom replied, “Sometimes the title
comes first”. This sentiment is one I can relate to as I often go into writing a song with a title and
topic already in mind. The reason for this is that I use music as an emotional outlet so when
going to make music I often have a specific feeling and or event in mind that I would like to
write about. This is reflected in my song “Sadcore” which I went into with the title already in
mind. I combined the words sad with core which in essence means it is supposed to embody the
idea of sadness. Another aspect of the songwriting process I share with Tom Waits is how we
take into account our own voices when writing. When asked how he feels about himself as a
vocalist Tom replied “At best I am a dog but my voice is well suited for my material” (page 2,
Tom Waits Interview) I feel very similarly about my own voice and it is something I consider
when making the music I make and plays a big role in my songwriting. I often pitch up my
vocals due to my insecurity as a vocalist which is a staple of the genre I make, hyperpop.
Overall, when considering the theme and topic of my lyrics, the melodic structure and
motifs while also comparing the aforementioned to artists and music we have previously
discussed in class I was able to find, identify and relate many similarities in the music and lyrics
I have created to the ones we have discussed and analyzed in class.