Tag: Behind the Song

Behind the song “Fight for Love”

~ Melissa Bianco ~ Leave a comment

Just in time for Valentines Day! (Which neither my husband or I are particular fans of so we usually celebrate date night on a different day.) I mean it just make sense, doesn’t it?

Anyway, on the dawn of Valentines Day, this is the second of two male vocals for this album. Let’s see if I can explain this. I wrote this song for my husband as if he wrote it for me. (It really makes more sense when you hear the song. Truly.)

Anyway, a few easter eggs in the song:

  • The first day we met he saw my smile and well obviously it was over for him (I swear, he likes my chubby cheeks)
  • North Star is a reference to my coming from Canada
  • The line, “I’ll slay your dragons, one by one” is a reference to a story he wrote me when he proposed to me

Some songs fall out of my brain straight onto the page. This was one of them. I’m not going to say how long it took, it’s a pretty simple song, but it came quickly.

By the way, he liked the song. I know I did it right if I see some tears in his eyes. (I got me some tears.)

I normally design my own covers, but since this one was for him, I let him contribute to the cover.

The ASL (American Sign Language) sign for “I Love You” is front and center. (It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek since it’s a hair band 80s ballad so that’s why you see the long hair. And normally guys are all, “Yeah, man! The horns, baby! The horns!” Since Ron and I are Christian, that was out, so we added our take instead. Actually, I thought it was pretty clever. Again, that was his idea.

The shining star does double duty — one is a reference to the North (it’s north on the album cover), but also since Jesus is our guidepost, it’s a nod to his guidance as well. (That’s why you see “I swear to Heaven above” — we married and made a commitment to each other.)

We’ve been together for over 25 years and, man, time flies! Needless to say, this one is dedicated to my husband, Ron Bianco.

Happy (almost) Valentines Day, everyone!

If you’re all, “Bah humbug. People are horrible.” Uh….then Happy Friday the 13th?

Behind the song “Be Kind, Rewind”

~ Melissa Bianco ~ Leave a comment

This one was a fun one to write. If you remember anything about the 80s it’s the phrase, “Be Kind, Rewind” at the video store on the videotapes. Having worked at a Video Store back in the 90s, I definitely appreciated when people took the time to rewind their videos; otherwise, we’d have to do it. (Otherwise, customers would complain.)

So needless to say, I couldn’t resist using it for not one but THREE reasons:

  1. Very 80s phrase
  2. The THINK acronym (more on that in a bit)
  3. Gee, it sure would be nice if people were nicer (i.e. Kind) AND thought about things before they post on the internets (i.e. Rewind)

Okay, so it’s not super deep, but I really did like the focus of the song, which was: “Hey, before you post that post — do you reeeeeeeally need to?” (Reeeeallly?) I’ve many-a-time been mid-mad-fingertype when I just stopped myself and said, “Will this change anything? You may feel better for the moment, but is there any nutritional value to what you just said? Like….at all?)

And that’s where the song idea came from. Modern problem with an 80’s reference and musical vibe. I was definitely channeling “across the frequency” on this one! Old and new! I thought I was being super clever.

Ok, back to THINK — and I’ve had to use this a few times on myself because I will cop to the fact that I have gotten into ridiculous arguments with strangers that bore zero fruit and just got me so frustrated, I decided social media was just not worth it. Too much vitriol. And, thus, I left for several years. Now I just don’t feed the trolls. And, really, does anyone sleep better knowing how I personally feel about things?

I want to entertain, not debate. So the acronym goes like this: (there are variations I’ve noticed, but this is the one I remember):

Before you speak (post) is it:

T – True
H – Helpful
I – Inspiring
N – Necessary
K – Kind

Actually, that was something I learned when I was working in hospice and in that environment especially, those are words to live by. People have enough on their plate, they don’t need us/me/you adding to it.

So that’s it. The whole kit and caboodle. I went with the 80s catchy pop tune vibe , a nice amuse bouche from Marathon Girl which was pretty hard rock / hard hitting. So this is a nice palate cleanser. But, again, in the vibe of The Go-Go’s — strong message in the lyrics packaged in a fun, catchy pop tune. (See what they did there? That’s using the noggin’!)

Fun Fact:

I have not one but TWO videos going out today for this release. The first is the Official Lyric Video (I do that with all my releases), but the second is the Official Music Video. Through trial and error, and many head bangs on my desk, I conceptualized and executed my own storytelling cinematic video. I think it turned out pretty well for my first stab at it.

Let’s just say, SkyNet? Not today. Still, I discovered many many tools at my disposal and only used one (reversing footage) in the music video. It was soooo fun – until I ran out of free credits. It took a good while to make it happen and I WISH I’d saved some of the AI “imagining” bloopers – some were pretty hysterical.

All the ways you can see the same thing:

https://hyperfollow.com/melissabianco

Ok bye.