“134 Days of Silence”
Two, three, four, Hours is what spent spend Never forgetting to remind us in the end Yet, you thought our trust was broken When someone from your past decided to be “outspoken” No need to apologize Your past does not define you, But why did you have the need to fall behind, Incomplete is how you left them, Thinking you were stem of the dilemma We are here, we won’t leave. Don’t think your past is only what you mean. Millions of us still waiting to hear. Lucky number seven We never leave our place Distance and time mean nothing past, present, future We look up to you We learn from your kindness Up on stage, you bring comfort We never like to accept that our time is mere numbers. Hundreds of protests Tens of News articles and more Im sure your company thought we were pests, Constantly emailing, demanding for clarification And begging for ways to end your defamation. 134 days is what it took To hear that you were no longer bait hanging on a hook… "From zero", restart what they have taken. You haven’t lost, Instead, realize what you have is unshaken “more than yesterday, today, no more than tomorrow” We thank you for your hard work, And hope to see you back, All our seven.
What were you trying to think about in your song?
I wrote my song about Monsta X’s former band member “Lee Hoseok” (Wonho); I did my “Shocking Art” project on him as well. I was having a really hard time trying to come up with a topic for the song, I did not want to pick a random topic that I would have no “emotional attachment to.” Then on Friday, my phone notifications were blowing up with the news that Wonho was finally cleared of the accusations put on him and that he will still remain as part of Starship Entertainment. Out of excitement, I decided to make him the topic of my song. In the song, I focused on how he was not heard from in months because he was “kept out of the media’s attention” in order to follow through with the legal issues. Now that I look back on the lyrics, I realized that I wrote the song directly to him. At first it was not my intention to write the song directly to him, I just started writing my thoughts down but I wrote it to him subconsciously. I wanted to express how he should not have to worry about coming back after all the accusations and back lash he received because of the media’s cancel culture. Another reason why I focused on writing about his return was because in one of the interviews released after the news of his return, he shared that he felt sorry about all the trouble he has caused. So, this song is a reflection of how us fans do not want him to come back still feeling like he is a burden to his group. I feel like this is important because even when he left back in October he shared that he felt like a burden, and I do not want him to still have that feeling linger.
What was your process for writing your song?
I first I tried to write the song in chronological order, of course starting with the beginning of the song. However, I though back to when I did creative writing, I would almost never start from the beginning. So, I tried to mimic “thought flow,” and I began just writing what I was thinking. It worked a lot better than forcing myself to work in order, but I still had a really hard time finding the flow of the song. I found myself trying to force rhymes into the song, although some rhymes worked, others sounded off. In the end I realized that the rhymes do not matter as much so a discarded the forced rhymes and kept a few I liked. Once I had my thoughts down, I picked a few of my favorite phrases and arranged them into an order that flowed with the main idea.
Was it easy? Hard? What you expected? Surprising?
I found song writing very difficult. I had already expected that I would have a hard time because I never really liked the idea of writing poetry. Ironically, I really enjoy creative writing (writing my own fictional stories) and writing my thoughts down if I’m having personal issues; however, I find song writing too difficult. I enjoy getting my thoughts down on notes in order to express how I feel, but I do not like having to worry about rhymes or lyric flow. I prefer thought flow over lyric flow, which is why I really respect artists who write music straight from their own emotions and then turn those thoughts/emotions into brilliant songs.
How successful do you think your song is?
I think it was successful in getting my point across; however, I still find my song very cheesy and “cringey”. I believe it is clear what the topic of the song is, but it still lacks any reasonable flow. At some instances, it sounds more like a poem than a song. I will admit that I focused too much on the order of the song and on the rhymes I was trying to fit in. The song could have been a lot better if I did not over think the writing process. However, I am happy that I wrote this song when I was actually feeling the emotions I displayed in the song. I feel that my song would have been even more bland if I had just picked a random topic that I was not emotionally invested in.
Do you think you will ever write another song?
This was definitely an interesting assignment, but no, never again. I find song writing so difficult and cheesy to say the least. I admire artists/singer-songwriters a lot, and one of the reasons is because of their genius song writing. I really admire how someone can take their own thoughts and emotions and turn them into a beautifully composed piece. As much as I love music, I accept that I do not enjoy song writing.
If you did write another song, what do you think it might be about?
I would not write another song, but if I had to write another disastrous piece, it would probably be about missing my childhood. I don’t really have a specific reason as to why I would pick this topic, but lately I have been thinking about “adulthood” and how kids now are so eager to grow up. I think about this a lot now especially since I have younger siblings. However, this is a very common topic to write about in songs so, I might pick another topic that is less cheesy.
Brianna 