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Francesca Tamellini
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5/30/2016 9:31:10 AM
curiosity - how are songs picked?
I am curious, as the title suggests. i have 3 songs on IMP,two are doing really well, people say nice things and various channels have picked them up. The third one has done nothing. Now, if people just think it is crap, I can go and cry in a corner and get over it, but for me if you like the other two you should like the third one. Is everything just a lottery about being in the right place at the right time?
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Father Time
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5/30/2016 9:50:16 AM
It's a strange thing about which songs have legs so to speak. Sure some of it is timing, some of it is luck. But it's also true that some songs catch the imagination and others just fall by the wayside. I have songs like Virtual Star and Walmartville that have basically been beloved since I first uploaded them onto the web. Then there are others that the silence is deafening. I even started a station called The Bitter Guy about the songs I feel are being neglected here. heh
It's something you can't control (See my song The Things You Can't Control) :)
I'd also add that some songs are more accessible than others. You might write a pop song that will enthrall people upon first listen, and you might write one that takes 4 or 5 listens to kick in but once it does will reign forever.
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Stoneman
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5/31/2016 10:53:49 AM
Uh, yeah, exactly what Father Time wrote here. He got it exactly the way it seems to be. I never know how a song is going to perform here or anywhere else. I like all of my music so for me it is all good and worthy of attention. However, I conceded a long time ago that my perspective of my music is biased and less reliable in determining which songs will do well. I am often surprised to find songs that I have forgotten about doing well here and on other networks. I compete in lots of international songwriting competitions and I usually don't know which songs to submit. I kind of get a clue by monitoring how songs are received here and other places but most times I just kind of wing it and choose songs that have personal meanings and connotations for me. Quite often I choose the right songs but there are times when I am so wrong. It is very rare for me to have a losing season. But I do have them and it is confusing for me to figure out why. This past year was my best year yet as i won or placed in 5 major competitions including the USA songwriting contest, The John Lennon Songwriting Contest and the Great American songwriting Contest. All in genres I have never even competed in before (World, Reggae, Adult Contemporary) There is no way to truly know how others will be affected by your work. There are clues that you get from the moment you complete a song. I can usually tell that a song is exceptional if it stays on my brain all the time. You know? I can't get the tune off of my mind. Or, if it has a universal theme that most people would support. Like my reggae song "Hunger" which was a finalist in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. It is a song about ending world hunger by sending aid and food to impoverished countries. I felt like it should win something because it is a song about the desperation of starvation in impoverished nations. Food is a necessity of life and it is hard to imagine a place where people do not have anything or enough of anything to eat. It is also hard to imagine that there are countries with enough wealth to solve this problem but fail to even try. I mean, how can you watch your neighbors starve while you have an abundance of food to eat? Wouldn't you bring them some food to eat? Songs like that seem to gain lots of traction. People consider the theme of the song a worthy cause so they support it. When people take a personal interest in your music you have really achieved something special. You have reached the inner ear and gone way past it to the brain and the heart. When your song touches someones heart you can rejoice in the fact that you have truly done your job as a songwriter. Or, if it reaches the brain and causes people to do anything (ie download, share, comment or buy) at all, you have done a great thing. But knowing which songs are going to affect people that way is a gift that most of us just don't have. In the old days the A&R person was the one credited with picking the songs that would cause a sturr amongst the listening public. In this particular music outlet you are the A&R person for your songs. I suppose it gets easier the longer you are at it. But there are no guarantees.
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6/8/2016 11:50:45 AM
Your question of course is one we all ask ourselves all the time I would imagine...
And yes there are many factors to it, and I'll leave it to others to name
what they are... if I knew so much, I'd be a lot more famous.
And could I be a longwinded sunuvabitch and go on like for a week or at least a blurb as long as your leg about the subject? Of course I could.
But I love you all too much to do that.
What I will say to you Francesca is you are Quite Incredibly Scary Good.
I just played the 'Naive' one, and if you're naive you're nonetheless greatly gifted.
I was trying to imagine a larger arrangement to that one,
'cause I can do all manner of arrangement in a record,
you had a piano players tempo going though,
so it was difficult to imagine....
you know what I mean by that? Piano players singing and playing along
can make the tempo surge as like breathing, instead of steady beat...
it can be effective if it's just voice and piano.
That's how I started believe it or not.
Just voice and piano. By 17 I learned guitar and then did that all the time too.
Tell you what, write to me at musicmanager2001@yahoo.com
if you are interested in trying an experiment,
which is,
an attempt at this particular record,
only this time, I do a whole orchestral and full band arrangement thing to it,
which I then send back over to you, ping 'cross the pond as it were,
and you do vocals to it, and there you are, put it out.
Or not.
It's only an idea.
I will tell you, you are indeed scary good.
It's beyond impressive. It's---wha? she's how old? I'm guessing early 20s
Pure, real, voice like an angel.
Unpretentious, like few singers I've ever heard.
It's remarkable, actually.
I on the one hand can't say enough about it,
and on the other hand intend to shut up now because shut up already.
That's about it.
You're brilliant.
Oh, and I got to tell you this,
see, I'm a teeny weeny bit brilliant too....
at a certain point,
they've acknowledged 'you're brilliant and thank you for being brilliant',
and then it's sort of understood....
now if you've ever played a video game,
and I haven't, but I have seen them played
a bit anyway and understand the concept,
you get to new levels,
so, in a way,
you already---well look, there you are Top 15 of the Kayak thing....
You're a prodigy, Kid.
You walked in and Boom.
If you wanna keep blowing their mind,
believe me it takes a lot of focus, resolve, will, and effort like a bandito.
Mad hot effort.
I think I get it about you.
Some are good and dream of being great.
Occasionally some are great
and dream of being pure light.
That's me.
That's also you oddly enough.
Do feel free to write to me if you wish to collaborate,
'cause you got the right stuff my young friend.
Holy Canoli you certainly do.
We can even talk about collaborating on actual songwriting if you like.
You are deep too.... that Naive one, goodness,
I don't even know what to say about it beyond, ____________________
I'm wordless. That in and of itself is impressive. I always have words.
Ask anyone. ~L
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Francesca Tamellini
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6/9/2016 4:10:48 AM
American Lesley Jane - they say that genius is close to insanity, and so I will go with the idea that you are indeed a genius! I love the idea of a bigger production and will contact you.
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Chandra Moon
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6/9/2016 5:09:00 AM
It's weird! My song Evermore is currently doing best out of all my tracks and it's the one from my second album I'd have least expected to get such a positive reaction. Firstly because it's a very simple love song, simple lyrics and tune. However, I suppose it's touched people as it's a positive love song - no politics and is about a happy outcome!
Another of my popular ones is an very poorly recorded instrumental track of me playing flute with my friend in Gambia - very flakey track!
So who knows? It's a mystery.
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Richard Scotti
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6/9/2016 8:43:21 AM
I'm eager to hear a collab between Francesca and ALJ! They have both displayed their abundant talents here and their different styles will mesh in a really surprising and mind blowing way. Isn't that how John and Paul started? I will certainly put her original version of the song on my Under The Covers station along with the new version they do together. If it's a collaboration on a whole new song I'll include that as well. Good luck!
UNDER THE COVERS
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6/9/2016 8:54:37 AM
Francesca.
Well Thank You Dear. That is perhaps the nicest thing anyone has
said to me in a long while.
I suppose it takes one to know one.
Insanity does not always spawn genius,
but I defy you to find me one genius who does not
have some sort of their own brand of insanity.
None the less, whatever I am, I am humbled by your genius,
and if your insanity and mine are close enough of a wavelength,
then who knows what we might be capable of.
I look forward to hearing from you.
I am very curious to see what we might be able to compose a new,
whatever the extraneous circumstances, and however it may appear
to outsiders, we both have something going. The thought of what we
might be able to create together is very intriguing to me.
At any rate, yes we can definitely talk about doing
a full version of this or any song you like.
You are a unique and remarkable talent.
Like I said, takes one to know one.
Anyway, you made my day Francesca.
Everyone sees me and sees 'crazy'....
You looked and saw the genius part.
For that I cannot thank you enough.
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Two Silo Complex
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6/9/2016 10:16:43 AM
Evermore is a fantastic song Chandra I really enjoyed it. Sometimes the more simple the song is the better it works. For this song simple suited the mood and gave a great focus on your vocal which was outstanding. Its great work don't sell yourself short.
Two Silo Complex,
Ken
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