Live From Rio

In the 11th grade, I sat behind a Brazilian-American girl in almost every class, Natalia. My high school had small classes (45 kids total in my entire class, 15 to a room usually) and it also had "tracks." If you were "smart" then you took, in 11th grade, AP Bio or Chem, English Honors, Spanish Honors, Trig or Calc, and then two specials of which you were encouraged to take AP French as it was the only AP special. If you weren't  "smart" then you took all this just "regular" versions. 

Me sitting behind Natalia was a matter of schedule and also because I majorly crushed on her. I made a point to go to volleyball games after school to just spend more time being her number 1 (secret) fan. Natalia then left at end of junior year to not graduate with us but we both ended up in same college town (on opposite hills and schools) and last time I physically saw her was leaving an Incubus concert at Cornell we had both attended in a sort of low key and very uneventful fake date.

That all said, this is a post about Taylor Swift. 

Natalia posted on her social media "Its Happening" and it wad her hand outstretched and fingers flared to make a perfect high five hand. And then several hemp bracelets on her wrist with beaded lettering saying "be love" The next post is her with glitter on her face "Taylor Swift in Rio!" That is much more evocative then seeing Taylor Swift in say Amway Arena in greater Orlando, Florida.

I like plenty a Taylor Swift song. I have a penchant for "hair brush" female led pop and pretty sure these are  not deep cuts but I like "Shake It Off" and "Anti Hero" and "Blank Space" and "Style" and "Bad Blood" I can't do the rom coms but a song about breakup and/or not needing a man and well, son of a bitch, I'm in!

If you have read this blog (And for that I am both appreciative and apologetic) then you have likely known I associate songs to the scenes I score with them. Most often these are adventure type fantasies with super heroes or everyday folks saving the day. They are sometimes very personal as I score the commute as I race to the office or a denouement type song after a stupid day.i hear a song and think "can someone have a sword fight to this? Or "would this make a good song to cold open a TV episode?"

This all lends to liking much more theatrical and instrumental pieces. I am part of the generation that typed into YouTube and Limewire  "Gundam Wing final episode song" searching for those esoteric sounds.

Sometimes I will use a "normal" song in these scenes. Normal songs are songs with words and/or not from movies/tv/video games. One is "Cruel Summer" which I'll use to cold open an episode with my usual heroine, star of show of former blog posts. In it she sits on the cornices of a tall building. Batman and Daredevi brood but this is more like Spider-Man and its hidden reflection up where the city she swears to protect has some limit. It is late September and just chilly enough she brought hooded zip up sweatshirt up that she has draped over her shoulders. "Cruel summer" is a, no surprise, poppy love song about a forbidden relationship. In this scene we don't get to those lyrics but instead mostly just rely on the modulated drum line and refrain "Crueeeel summah!" Because she is reflecting in what made the summer cruel and in this story its not a bad romance (However lonely it is being a hero) but its something else. Day job going poorly beacuse of all the heroic. Family members targeted beacuse someone found out who she really was. An embarrassing video of her taking a hit and tumbling over into a subway line. She won that fight later, no worries, but it made it online. Just thinking of ways it was a cruel summer and hoping the fall improves, which it will, beacuse these are all made up stories anyway and why would it be anything but triumphant? 

These sound better in my head.