January 6, 2011
Music Flavor Profile: Sweet through Sweetness
Sweet as Sweetness: An essential ingredient for a full-flavored song.
Boyz II Men is saccharine. The ultimate example of a one-note flavor. And it's a great one. It's arguably the most important. Beauty. It's important enough to carry a lot of bands. And it's also the big reason why some people say they "like all music besides metal." Because it's the one genre that, for the most part, completely lacks it.
Today's song, "Blessed to Be a Witness" by Ben Harper was recommended by reader Dianna, and is a perfect example of "sweet". Ben Harper's voice can carry an album regardless of the quality of the songs. And in my opinion, that's his greatest flaw. He makes bad songs sound "good enough". Because boy, they sure are pretty. But, this is one of his examples of a multi-flavored song, and why it's one of my favorites as well.
So today's tip, make sure your song sounds nice.
Also, let me be clear. I don't have my final theory figured out yet for any of this yet. So feel free to correct, redirect or revise if you think I'm going somewhere wrong. This is a community after all. We're learning together.