Essay, Music Oscar Fuchs Essay, Music Oscar Fuchs

Cassiopeia

šŸŽµšŸ’„Cassiopeia by Sara Bareilles

Cassiopeia.jpeg
  • šŸŽ§ Listen #1: Thatā€™s a kooky little song. Catchy chorus.

  • šŸŽ§ Listen #2: Oh thereā€™s that weird song again. I donā€™t think much of the ending. But that chorus still gets me. What the hell, Iā€™ll buy it.

  • šŸŽ§ Listen #10: OK Iā€˜ve worked out why I like this chorus. The choices she has made with the harmony are sublime. Good stuff.

  • šŸŽ§ Listen #11: Maybe I should stop listening to the second chorus on repeat. Iā€™ll play it all the way through.

  • šŸŽ§ Listen #12: Wait, what the hell are these lyrics anyway?

  • šŸŽ§ Listen #15: This is actually quite clever. A lonely star dreaming of love. And thereā€™s some nice little wordplay on constellations and supernovas and whatnot. Cute.

  • šŸŽ§ Listen #20: Hold on, those lyrics arenā€™t just cheap puns about space. ā€œShe dreamed of a way to igniteā€; ā€œLightyears alway from the hope of being sun-kissedā€; ā€œShe burns with desperationā€; ā€œThey both smiled: what a day to explodeā€; ā€œBreak me to piecesā€; ā€œLetā€™s see what a fire feels likeā€. MY HEART ACHES.

  • šŸŽ§ Listen #25: Iā€™ve just noticed the extra percussion ā€˜collisionsā€™ in the chorus. How the hell did I miss those until now?!

  • šŸŽ§ Listen #26: Oh, the drums are heartbeats. Iā€™ve been a fool.

  • šŸŽ§ Listen #30: ā€œA supernova grew up to be stardustā€. Holy shit, I finally get the ending. This song is so perfect, Iā€™m gonna puke.

  • šŸŽ§ Listen #Gajilion: How can someone create an entire world out of a 4-minute song? I need to write a public love-letter to Sara Bareilles, and herald her genius and humanity to the galaxy.


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Essay, Mosaic of China, Music Oscar Fuchs Essay, Mosaic of China, Music Oscar Fuchs

The Sage Kings of Karaoke

Thereā€™s a reason why karaoke is so popular in China and other East Asian societies with a Confucian heritage: itā€™s an important catalyst for group social harmony.

The Sage Kings of ancient China used the rites of music to help bond their subjects together. Itā€™s no coincidence that the Chinese Communist Party emphasised the use of patriotic songs to instill doctrinal fervour. And today, many Chinese corporations still use company songs, alongside collective exercise routines, to inspire loyalty.

The Sage Kings of Karaoke.jpg

Today's compilation episode from Season 1 of Mosaic of China is all about the podcast guestsā€™ favourite songs to sing at ā€œKTVā€, the Chinese version of karaoke. Out of all the questions asked to guests on the show, this one elicited the biggest array of emotions: from joy and pride, to embarrassment andā€¦ sheer terror.

Itā€™s a shame that group social harmony doesnā€™t always guarantee group *vocal* harmony. But since no-one really cares about thatā€¦ what would be *your* go-to song to sing at karaoke?

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Some Sunday Afternoon Grieg

Sunday Afternoon Grieg.png

Stuck indoors with the 'flu. But some Sunday afternoon Grieg is cheering me up. (Op. 71 No. 2 in B-flat Minor).

I dare not record any more than this, because I can only ever go 15 seconds before fluffing up a note.

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