The Importance of Lyricism

This week in A Capella rehearsal we were working on a specific section of the song I solo on for competition. This specific section is unique because they gave me free range to do whatever I want vocally in order to make the song truly my own version. There are no expectations, yet that is what I feel  restricting me? I know that sounds weird but the pressure all now falls on me to make this part shine. I want to make it special and create a really cool buildup leading into what is my favorite section of the song. I was talking to my music director Sean and bouncing off ideas for potential riffs when he asked me what I felt the lyricist was trying to say in this moment. I hadn't approached it from the writers point of view yet. It reminded me of my musical theatre rep class where before we preformed we would have to turn in an annotated analysis about the character's thoughts and feelings throughout the song. This would help us understand the motivations behind why the song was being sung by the character and enhance our performance. I may not be in a musical but Hozier still had motivation for writing this song, and my biggest clue lies in his lyrics.

I then went did my own little analysis of Hozier and this song, highlighting key words that I could focus on when singing this song. The words that stuck out to me were: puppet, pauper,  sick, news, goal, wrong, fire, nobody, bolder, and solider. Hozier is known for his political statements throughout his songs and his performances. I saw him preform live in concert where he made a power political statements through his song Nina Cried Power and his set which displayed things like the national spending of the US military. He talked about oppression tied to his culture in history and oppression/inequality he noticed in todays world. His creative work is a true reflection of how he feels about the state of the world. When looking at the song "Nobody's Soldier" you can see rebellion written all over his lyrics. They paint a picture of a man struggling to find freedom in a power hungry world and who doesn't want to conform to the options he was given. After my analysis I went back to the song with a new perspective approaching it from an angle of how can my voice portray this message rather than howcan it sound the best at this part. I'm still not fully solidified the idea for the riff but I have definitely created something that feels true to the song and message. 

                                                                    

                                                                    (Pic from Hozier's set)