Royals For my first reflection paper I chose to use Lord’s “Royals”. I’ve heard this song numerous times on the radio and on television. Although I heard it so often I never really took the opportunity to really focus and listen to the song. As with most music I come across if its not from an artist or genre I prefer I just don’t pay much mind to it. Since beginning this music class I listen to almost all music differently. Just as I did with this particular song now I pay attention to minute details and focus on the causal elements to help me better understand this type of music.
This song by Lorded In my opinion kind of Invokes a calm, but a steady bull up of expectations. The beat along with the rising pitch of vocals does that for me. As I sat and listened to the song with my eyes closed as to avoid any distractions I paid close attention to the rhythm of the song and found it to be a duple meter with a higher note at the end of the succession of rhythmic pulses.
I found the melody to be conjunct where the frequency of sounds are closer together rather then far apart. I find the song to be without any tonal tension and more consonance sounding.The texture of the song is polyphony with the unique sounds combine to form different lines which simultaneously create the music. I hear what I believe to be a lot of electronically produced sounds.
It isn’t easy to determine Just based of listening as a lot of electronically produced sounds can mimic the actual instruments sounds very well. If I was to assume I would say its not the actual instruments being used to create some of the sounds I hear. There Is clear percussion Instrument sounds. S well as some strange robotic sounds In the background.The drumming seems to be the over all basis of the music, with different levels and pitches of drumming combined to create the overall effect of the song. There is an almost hollow effect used at the beginning of the song. Just a few chords at the beginning with a long space between them which then leads into the song.
I also hear this almost clapping sound which I can determine If Its more of a snapping sound Like the the snap of a finger or the clapping of hands. An Instrument Is being used to runnel this sound throughout the song.I feel this song could be associated with an almost calm emotion, if being calm can be considered an emotion. I don’t feel like the song excites as much as it Just makes u want to vibe to it from your seat. I feel as if the music accomplishes this mostly due to Its slow and mellow nature. Its smooth and soft. If I close my eyes and listen to the song I feel as If I’m almost In a relaxed state.
The song builds little expectations. I do feel that although Its mellow there’s some what of a slow steady build up of expectations which is helped with the build up of pitch from the vocals on he song.As the song progresses those expectations are changed once the break comes into play. That short period uses longer rests between the sounds and again builds another slow but steady expectation Just before the song starts back up again. It isn’t drastic enough of a change to completely break my expectations of what direction the song Is headed but It does keep It Just a bit more Interesting. This particular song. The hip hop influence is apparent with its almost text book use of beats and style.
The vocals are some what soulful and the lyrics show some more f that influence.The way in which song allows to be vibe to it as I would with many of the hip hop songs I listen to with Just the bobbing of my head also shows me that hip hop influence although that’s subjective. It has a much more mainstream, pop feel to it which definitely appeals to the casual music listener someone who Just listens to radio, and enjoys your standard popular music. The easy listening it provides, easy to recite lyrics, the mellowness of the sound and chattiness would make it easily applicable for its target audience.
