"Friendship in a Love Song"

Proposal

            In most romantic movies or books, there is a set structure for the progress of romantic relationships. Typically, the relationship starts with a “meet-cute”, a scenario where the two individuals are brought together in some zany and unlikely type of way. Examples of “The Wedding Planner” and “Serendipity” cement this meeting as a large stepping stone in any romantic relationship. The steps after the “meet-cute” include falling in love, the misunderstanding that leads to the breakup and the reconciliation. For my project, I will be taking this romantic structure and set it to a different type of relationship: friendship. My experiment #1 covered the “meet-cute” of a friendship in the medium of a short story. My second experiment will be expressing the falling in love portion of the relationship structure.

            However, I will focus more on falling in “like” with a friend and focusing on the qualities that you appreciate in their friendship. My second experiment will take a romantic, falling in love type of song, and parody the lyrics to a song about friendship. The girls that I spoke about in the proposal section of in my first experiment did a parody of the song “All Summer Long” by Kid Rock for our last year at camp. We were able to permanently capture all of our feelings and emotions about our blossoming friendship and our memories from camp. When brainstorming ideas for this experiment, parodying a romantic song brought me back to that summer with my friends. I hope the finished version of this song will do the same for my audience.

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Genre Analysis

Standard Song Conventions

            For my genre analysis, I wanted to first look at the standard song structure. The typical song format is the introduction, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus, and outro[1]. The introduction typically just contains music and sets the tone and atmosphere of the song. Verses are similar to stanzas in poems as they typically having a rhyming scheme of AABB or ABAB[2]. The chorus contains the main idea, message, and hook of the song. The bridge is the section that contrasts with the verse and transitions the song towards the chorus and outro. Lastly, the outro signals to the audience that the song is coming to a close. This can be marked by a fade-out or repetition of a previous verse or the chorus. This structure culminates to about 3 and a half to four minutes in length.

As my song will fall under the pop genre, I further researched what constituted a pop song[3]. The genre originated in the United States and the UK during the 1950s and can be defined interchangeably with “popular music.” Much of the music that appears on the record charts falls under the pop genre. The genre itself appropriates elements from other genres like urban, dance, and rock, even country. The identifying characteristics are the shorter length of the songs and the repeated choruses and hooks.

Models

            As I will be taking a popular romantic song and changing the lyrics for this experiment, I first wanted to look at a few examples of popular amorous ballads. I wanted to choose songs that would evoke an emotional and happy response from their audience. I have listed a few songs from my research that capture the essence of appreciating the one that you are with and treating them well. Also, each of these songs also falls into the pop genre because of their shorter length and repeated choruses.

• Can’t Help Falling in Love with You – Elvis (and many other covers)

• First Day of My Life – Bright Eyes

• Love Story – Taylor Swift

• Just The Way You Are – Bruno Mars

• Still Into You – Paramore

• 1,2,3,4 – Plain White T’s

To address the overarching theme of my project, I also looked at well-known songs about friendship and its importance. I wanted to choose songs from all different eras and ages, especially ones that have stood the test of time. While unorthodox, I choose one of my models because I had recently heard it on the last season of “Parks and Recreation”. The song is titled “Buddy” by Willie Nelson. The ballad captures the nostalgia and importance of this “buddy” within Nelson’s life. A few other notable songs about friendship are “I’ll Be There for You” by the Rembrandts, which is the “Friends” theme song, and “With a Little Help from My Friends” by the Beatles. As soon as these songs end, you want to call your best friend and tell them how important they are in your life. I want to evoke that emotional reaction from my audience through my lyrics. 

            Furthermore, I viewed a few parodies of popular songs hoping to get some inspiration and guidelines for what they changed and what stayed the same. One of the most popular examples that I found was a parody of “Somebody That I Used to Know” originally by. However, a few fans of the Star Wars saga wrote and produced a parody song and music video titled “The Star Wars That I Used to Know.[4]” The song’s purpose was to express the fans’ dismay of the new Star Wars movies using look-alikes of Anakin Skywalker and George Lucas. This rendition did not change the lyrics but the cast and the meaning behind the song. I am considering a similar idea for my capstone project for my senior year.

            Lastly, I want to further explain why I am choosing “Little Things” by One Direction as my model for my new song. Primarily, I enjoy the message that this song contained by loving and appreciating those around you for their perfections and their flaws. I want a similar message for my audience and present the message that friendship is important and should be appreciated. When choosing a song, I also had to look at the length and variety of the lyrics. I needed a song that had the full song structure labeled above, which would allow me multiple verses for my sample.

Sketch / Outline

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