A Peek Behind the Musical Curtains
2025 August 01 journal, musicI like it when some songs "cut to the studio." I mean, sometimes they basically just isolate a vocal track of the singer calling out something like “hang on bring it back one more time” (like in A Story Told's '99 Benz), but it's still an effect I'm fond of.
In visual mediums the disconnect is much harsher, and you have to really commit to what you're doing with a "behind the scenes" moment to justify its inclusion. But music gives it so many ways to elevate a song. The example given above gives the song a moment to celebrate itself. That could be seen as a bit indulgent, but what's wrong with a splash of indulgence here and there? You can open up a song with the artists getting excited or needing to calm down before starting the recording — either of which can set the mood for the song before the instrumentals even kick in. Or, you can do the inverse and either have a bit of celebration after a song ends, or take an extra moment to linger on a final emotional beat.
Besides just being fun, this trick can also expand on a song's thematic meaning. One of my favorite tracks on Jhariah's "TRUST CEREMONY" is "EAT YOUR FRIENDS" featuring Pinkshift. The song is about trying to resist how industries want to creatives to see each other as either collaborators or competitors, rather than allowing genuine relationships to flourish. The inclusions of moments where the artists are having fun together while recording and hyping each other up is not just a lot of fun to listen to — it's the song's thesis manifested.
This is quite a few words to say I like when art does neat stuff. But hey, I do like when art does neat stuff.