Inspired by a podcast with the same name, which has around 200 chapters and has been active since 2014, Netflix decides to produce a series in which host Hrishikesh Hirway interviews world-renowned artists and composers, to find out what it was like to create some of his most successful songs. Song Exploder began in September with guests such as singer Alicia Keys and the band REM and now, in its volume two or second season it brings us from the famous pop artist Dua Lipa, to the Mexican Natalia Lafourcade.
Of course, the main motive of the series is to teach how to write songs that can transcend times, as is the case of Hurt, by the band Nine Inch Nails, which was released more than twenty-five years ago, or also When You Were Young, from The Killers, published in 2006, however, for almost half an hour per chapter, much of the interviews also tries to show the composers’ simplicity, as they approach a story that they consider deserves to be told and goes through the different stages of production of a song; the instruments, the lyrics, among other things that are displayed in a way that even people who do not know about them can understand without getting bored.
Within the episodes you can see not only famous or iconic artists, but also those who helped write the songs, as in the case of the British Dua Lipa, who for Love Again worked with Chelcee Grimes and Bernard Coffee, among others studio colleagues, The Killers who showed the whole band or Natalia Lafourcade, who showed her friend Leonel García, musician and composer remembered for being part of the duo Sin Bandera. Also, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor having composed only his song, showed co-producers Flood and Alan Moulder.
It is also interesting to listen to completely successful artists talking about the development of creative processes, their musical or literary influences and how they achieve that all this merges for a song, without fear of being accused of copying others, on the contrary, paying tribute to who supported them only by releasing albums or singles.
In this time of pandemic, music is one of the things that has allowed us to disconnect from the worrying or reckless reality in which we currently live; Music, cinema, art in general have opened small doors of escape that were not available, but now could be considered more than necessary, so I think that investigating them will always be
welcome. Finding out stories, learning curious facts, receiving information that perhaps you only imagined before, can be used for a tiny moment of joy.
The songs, beyond their stories or original motives, take on strength and color depending on how they land on each person who listens to them; anecdotes, disappointments, there will always be at least one among many that ultimately lead listeners to remember the verses with emotion no matter how long ago they were written. The music always remains. (OR)
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