Cassiopeia
šµš„Cassiopeia by Sara Bareilles
š§ Listen #1: Thatās a kooky little song. Catchy chorus.
š§ Listen #2: Oh thereās that weird song again. I donāt think much of the ending. But that chorus still gets me. What the hell, Iāll buy it.
š§ Listen #10: OK Iāve worked out why I like this chorus. The choices she has made with the harmony are sublime. Good stuff.
š§ Listen #11: Maybe I should stop listening to the second chorus on repeat. Iāll play it all the way through.
š§ Listen #12: Wait, what the hell are these lyrics anyway?
š§ Listen #15: This is actually quite clever. A lonely star dreaming of love. And thereās some nice little wordplay on constellations and supernovas and whatnot. Cute.
š§ Listen #20: Hold on, those lyrics arenāt just cheap puns about space. āShe dreamed of a way to igniteā; āLightyears alway from the hope of being sun-kissedā; āShe burns with desperationā; āThey both smiled: what a day to explodeā; āBreak me to piecesā; āLetās see what a fire feels likeā. MY HEART ACHES.
š§ Listen #25: Iāve just noticed the extra percussion ācollisionsā in the chorus. How the hell did I miss those until now?!
š§ Listen #26: Oh, the drums are heartbeats. Iāve been a fool.
š§ Listen #30: āA supernova grew up to be stardustā. Holy shit, I finally get the ending. This song is so perfect, Iām gonna puke.
š§ 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.
For the Instagram version, see here.
For the Facebook version, see here.
The Sage Kings of Karaoke
Thereās a reason why karaoke is so popular in China and other East Asian societies with a Confucian heritage: itās an important catalyst for group social harmony.
The Sage Kings of ancient China used the rites of music to help bond their subjects together. Itās 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.
Today's compilation episode from Season 1 of Mosaic of China is all about the podcast guestsā favourite songs to sing at āKTVā, 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.
Itās a shame that group social harmony doesnāt always guarantee group *vocal* harmony. But since no-one really cares about thatā¦ what would be *your* go-to song to sing at karaoke?
For the LinkedIn version, see here.
For the Mosaic of China version, see here.