JC
Avicii was just like you… he’s a reminder that the things you’re doing and the things you’re interested in might just provide you with the fuel you need to build the life that you want to!
This is a tribute made to remember him after he died…
He took chances with his work. When he first played the songs that went on to become the most popular songs in the world, people complained that he had drifted too far from his dance roots. He should inspire you to take your own chances – and not to listen to people who say you’re crazy!
What is the message of this song? What is the message of this track?
I’m not going to be asking you to write a song – but a spoken word project isn’t too different. If you took the lyrics of this song, it would serve as a spoken word project: Avicii writing about the influence of his father and the importance of freedom and doing what you want to do.
Okay, now let’s meet Fred.. again. He mixes drones and words:
This is how that song turned out:
He takes people’s words and puts them over his own music – and you’re now going to try to do the same kind of thing. Apart from anything else, I’m trying to encourage you to realise that your own feelings are important and do count for something. Fred again.. talks about that kind of thing here…
I love the way Fred again.. gets involved in his crowd rather than always sitting up on a stage, looking down on them. I think it emphasises his experience of being like us, bring part of this life, not somehow outside of it. His work brings him closer to people, the way your writing will bring you closer to yourself and others.
And if you want to see the impact of this kind of project, or you’re not convinced about the idea that Fred again..’s music is motivated by inclusivity, watch this….
Your task is to now put together a spoken word piece.
Some potential topics:
- Celebrating someone who has had an important influence on you like Avicii did on me or like Avicii’s father did on him. Or like my father did on me.
- Simply write about a feeling that you have. Fred again talks about how he didn’t think his feelings were valid but started to realise they were. This could be your chance to express how you feel about school, about an experience you’ve been through – about anything you want.
- Write about a message/piece of advice that a family member/friend has given you. You could write a poem about that piece of advice, about the moments in which it’s proved useful and the impact it’s had on you as a person.
I have combined an influence and advice I want to share as a result. So I’m celebrating Avicii and talking about my wider feelings:
when i listen to avicii i feel like i’m taking flight like i’ve swallowed starlight like everything i’ve ever wanted might be around the corner just out of sight that i’ve almost reached it just not quite like life is a dance not a fight like i’m scaling unscaleable heights like i’ve eaten dynamite for breakfast like i’ve been architectured by God like i can feel eve-ry-thing,, so what do I learn from the music of Avicii? What does it teach me? well, It proves that God exists, and that ordinary life can feel transcendent, see? we don’t need to live in a state of suspended disbelief, which is a relief, and so i breathe, more easily, because what avicii teaches me, is that the things i wanted to be real are real that when i peel back the layers and block out the naysayers telling me all the things that will never be i can find god not some kind of bearded entity more an energy that facilitates my understanding even after my millionth crashlanding that nothing will never be and i want you to know what that means that you should chase your dreams that when you feel like you don’t belong, when you feels like you’re not strong, when it feels like the world’s collapsed, that you will find your way back, even when all of the things happening are unfair, and it’s like you’ve fallen down flights and flights of stairs, like you’re paralysed, buried underneath a landslide, and no one knows you’re there, you’ll be okay, you can’t give in; and those dark thoughts, you don’t need those things. The morning will come when you’ll wake, the sky will be blue like paint, and that’s what avicii made me appreciate, that suddenly when we least expect it, when we’re feeling our most cloudy headed, that up and up we’ll rise, caught in the wind like kites, on and on we”ll go, the sun a crayon yellow, the answer to our so/s, the no reshaped into a yes, a promise of more not less, our seemingly non-negotiable context made ephemeral, the incredible evanesnence of the darkness, avicii’s prismatic lasers likes metaphors for opening doors the rules and laws melting in the metamorphic heat of communion, of us all tuning in to avicii’s wavelength, days spent being zapped by stardust
Maybe one day Fred again.. will sample me or you!!
Until then, though, we could find our own drone piece to speak over.
I will could model live and try reading the above speech over a drone (linked below) – or if we are struggling for time, I will do my drone work at home and show you my results later.
You can find a drone to to speak over here, but there are zillions others on YouTube or whatever music platform you use. Or make your own!
Good luck! Your final piece will something you should look after FOREVER!