Two songs I’ve chosen to look at for my podcast are “Brave” by Sara Bareilles and “Quiet” by MILCK. When “Brave” came out, I listened to it all the time, but I never actually listened to the words closely. I would just sing alone because it was catchy. This week was my first time listening to “Quiet.” The song really moved me, it has so many layers of different social justice issues. 

“Brave”:

The music is very happy and upbeat. It starts off peppy with the drums and high piano keys. Bareilles sings “I wonder what would happen if you…” and the music gets quiet before chorus. Then there’s a big drum beat and the music gets significantly louder when he says, “say what you wanna say…”. By the end the music gets super loud and you want to join in and sing and dance. 

The lyrics encourage people to be brave and speak up. Bareilles makes speaking out seems so simple, “Say what you wanna say/And let the words fall out/Honestly I wanna see you be brave”.  It’s like she is talking to the audience. My favorite part is when she holds out the word “brave” at the end. It’s emphasizing the importance of the song!

Bareilles’s delivery makes you want to go out into the world and speak up. She almost sounds like she’s talking to you during the verses. In the chorus she shouting I wanna see you be brave, to get the point across. 

I have always loved this song and I think that it can be interpreted in many ways, which would be interesting to dig into in a podcast. Bareilles wrote the song to encourage a close friend to come out. There is an interview where she talks about it as well as a website that discusses what influenced her to write the song. 

 

“Quiet”:

I really love this song. I was also very shocked to see that it’s the Women’s March Anthem. Singing it aloud at the march with other women in a choir style got more people involved, just like the civil rights movement. In an allure interview, she talks about her meaning behind the song.

It starts off slowly and dark, with the piano. It seems like the story behind the song is going to be deep and serious. When she starts singing about no one knowing or understanding her the music gets louder. There’s a slight pause before the chorus and then the drums and beat pick up when she finally sings out about not  being quiet anymore. The song emulates breaking through the silence. It’s as if when the song progresses she breaks a little more through the silence. 

In the song MILCK is speaking about her experiences with domestic violence and depression but the song has many other layers to it. It talks about being a Chinese-American, putting up a front when someone says something sexual, a feeling of competing with men and so on.

You can hear the pain in her voice and all the suffering she’s gone through. It is not something that someone else just wrote for her. She’s explaining all the experiences she’s lived. This song is my number one. There is so much depth and meaning to it and so many people can relate to those various layers. In a podcast, it would be interesting to unpack those layers.