Naked Songwriting 002: 'This is Home' (My commentary on songwriting and MUSIC VIDEO IS AT THE BOTTOM!!)

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The African Proverb taught us that "it takes an entire village to raise a child".

My experience with this song from brainstorming to penning it down all the way to making of the video, required more than just a songwriter. Instead, it demanded producers, musicians, videographers, instrument carriers, and photographers. That's why I love the idea of Kpop where one single has a theme, a design, a kind of dance, etc... it goes beyond the song itself.

A great song creates a great movement that affects the routine and messes with the mundane. A great song changes history. (Just think about David Hasselhoff's Looking for Freedom linked to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall)

I wanted to write a song that creates a kind of movement, an anthem that people can sing to. A song that people can be reminded that there is a place where they can come as they are and belong.

This basically sums up the idea of my song.

Songs that I looked or referred to for inspiration during the songwriting process:

I was fascinated by guitarists who did the "dotted 8 delays", which was popularized by U2. I wanted to write songs like that. In fact, I would not lie, I looked to Angel and Airwaves' The Adventure as something I would steal a lot from for this song.

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As you can see the delays are just amazing, I strived to steal their style of playing and wanted to put it in my composition.

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Ah... Two Door Cinema Club, their guitar rifts, I got hooked on their songs. I wanted that to be in our instrumental parts. A friend of mine, Sherwin, showed me a rift he created, I told him let's double the speed and add in the high note just like how Two Door Cinema Club play in their songs.

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Finally, this is the end product. Does it create an after effect equivalent to "the fall of Berlin Wall"? I doubt so.

However, this is one of the songs I'm proudest of to have written and composed.

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*Disclaimer: These are just my take on songwriting, I may not be right on music theories, ideas, or band knowledge, but it worked for me in completing the songs that I want to write.

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I must give credit to where credit is due, this music video was filmed, recorded, and edited by a talented young man - Gareleos! You can google him, he is the one and only!

If you can see, yes, I wrote the song with another person, but it took a whole community to make the song work!

And these are the people who have motivated me to keep writing, learning, and daring to try and fail.

Happy Composing!!

From my other previous post on Songwriting:
Naked Songwriting 001: 'Billion Stars' (Commentary on my earlier works)