Man! Where did the time go? This is the last song on the Across the Frequency album (well, mostly, I have one more but it’s a dance mix version of Masquerade, not a new song, so it doesn’t really count does it?) and this wraps up my SECOND album.
I feel like I’ve been drinking from the firehose on this whole songwriting / AI / YouTube / Social Media journey, but it’s been sooooo informative and super fun. I’m going to miss this 80s’inspired style for a bit. Don’t worry, the 80s will never die! As I move into my next three albums (yes, I’m actually working on my 5th album right now!) the tone will change between them. Why? I like cohesive album wrappers. Is it a decade? Is it a style? Is it a personal journey? Stay tuned to find out!
Now onto the song:
This song is two-fold fun. It’s an anthem rock song in the – oh so surprising – style of the 1980s so high energy and lots of guitars and drums. The other part is the attitude behind it.
As a Gen Xer (or “forgotten generation” – that’s just mean!), I wanted to capture this feeling: I’m not 25 or 30 anymore, but I’m still here, showing up and giving it my all every day. This particular Gen Xer doesn’t obsess (tooo much, let’s be real, we all think about it a bit) over others’ opinions over aging.
Sure, I want to look good, but I don’t fixate on getting older. This came to mind when my mom told me she sometimes felt invisible as she aged. That struck me. I wanted this final rock song on the album to be a rock anthem to say: we refuse to be invisible. We’ll do our thing and make our presence known. If society expects us to fade away, we’re saying loud and clear: that’s not happening.
So basically the song is about doing your own thing and refusing to go quietly. (Maybe it resonates with other generations, but the only one I’m in is this one.)
After I got into the groove with my Chance of a Lifetime album (BTW, all those songs have Lyric Videos on YouTube now!) , I got it in my head that I really like doing this writing thing! I can just write a song to tell a story! Bite-sized, just like me!
So after some thought I decided, “I’m gonna write me an 80s-inspired album!”
I wanted a good cross-section of songs from 80s ballads to new wave to — duhhhh — rock. And so I plotted it out. After a few weeks of writing, I had my ten songs.
I’ve been doling out the songs, one per week, for the last three weeks. And, it’s been FUN! I have learned so much about writing (the first few singles I did – don’t listen, they’re terrible – were kind of random and meandery), licensing, distribution, and how to format YouTube videos and why it’s good to have consistency, etc. etc. etc.. But that’s a topic for another day once I’ve learned more. For me, it’s about getting what’s in my head into a song. So that’s what I’ll focus on.
I don’t want to bore my Facebook friends with details they maybe don’t care about so I thought to myself, “Well, uh, you dolt, that’s what you have your own website for! Sheesh!”
So here we are!
The Album is called Across the Frequency (comes out April 10th! But I’m releasing singles under separate covers because making covers for each song is kinda fun) and like I said, it’s 80s inspired. Mostly I wrote about time back then, but I have a modern song or two but with an 80s sound. So it kind of crosses the timeline a bit. I felt the title worked nicely.
Here’s the album cover that I’m really excited about.
I wanted to go for the 1980s vibe, but not the crazy colors and pop kind of covers like Queen’s Hot Space or Talking Heads’ Remain in Light or Elvis Costello and the Attractions’ Imperial Bedroom. No, I wanted more simple like The Cars’ Candy-O (some of my single covers will give that vibe, I hope.)
But the image above was born of me wanting a Frank Frazetta style cover without the girl in the metal bikini riding a tiger. So I thought, ok, lose the girl, keep the cat. Panthers are cool. So if you look, his musculature is exaggerated in style. And I wanted old world meets new. Which Frank also did. So you see the Barbarian kind of style and his futuristic style. I wanted to combine the two in a very subtle way.
Note the hanging vines and foliage around the sides and ground (old) and then the cosmos in the background (future) — hence, across the frequency. And, if you’re paying attention, there’s a little easter egg with the frequency symbol near the panther.
I’m fairly positive that I’m the only one who cared about all these details, but at the end of the day it looked just plain COOL and — to me — very 80s.
So far a few singles have been released — I release one per week on Fridays:
This super silly fun (assume 80s in everything I write about style) pop song is about growing up as a kid in the 80s with the iconic games and toys and just hanging out with friends. It’s really not meant to be deep. There’s also a reference to Generation X, which I am apparently a member. Forgotten Generation? I guess. Remember this song. This album has a purpose in each song. 🙂
Now this one is a wonderfully classic anthem rock song. Simple message, hard rocking beats, and lots of heart. I wrote this for my husband who struggles with MS and never ever gives up, no matter what he does. So I wrote this in maybe five minutes. There are some fun battle / sports references. It all counts, I’m sure. Look, I kept it simple, ok? Sometimes I’m really not that deep. Anywho, along with this hard rock anthem song – I went with a male vocal. It’s only one of two times I went with a male vocal on this album. The second one will make sense, too, when you hear it.
This is another rock song, hard-hitting, great beat. It’s about running. Sometimes we think if we keep moving enough, those things we don’t want to deal with will go away, but they don’t. While I didn’t write this about me, I do feel that way back then, I’ve done a little running in my day. Emotionally. Situationally. You name it. This one probably will ring a bit true for all of us.
….and that’s where we leave it, as of today.
Next week, I think I’ll do a post for the next song on the list. It gives me an opportunity to go a bit deeper. (And I don’t spam my Facebook friends.)
(All my links are down below via this one DistroKid one if you want to support me on this crazy journey I’m on.)
MelissaBianco.com 
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