Task 3 Listening.
New English File Pre-intermediate, slide 20. Discussion: What music or song do you like listening to? «What is your favorite song, and why do you like it?» Write about your favorite song in details. Who is the author, singer, and lyricist, and what are its origins?
I’ve always loved music, dancing to it as a kid and listening to my seemingly endless playlist today. There was never one specific genre that i listened to. Sure, there’re some genres or artists that i prefer more or less, but i still like all of them. For example, I listen to rock and heavy metal as much as i listen to pop and hip hop. And even if it seems like these kinds of songs are incompatible, i never have a problem with listening to all of them and enjoy every song in its own way. There’s even a Russian term called «Меломан» which unfortunately doesn’t have a translated word in English. That term basically describes a person who appreciates all kinds of music and its genres and is very passionate about it. It comes from Greek words ‘melos’ (song) and ‘mania’ (passion). I personally think that i’m meloman, because i really can’t imagine my life without music. It makes my day, it motivates and inspires me, and in general just keeps me alive, and it’s all thanks to the artists. I have many many favorite bands and singers, and if i talk about all of them it might make this text way too long, so I’ll talk about only one. It will be Billie Eilish, she’s a 24 year old singer and songwriter, born in Los Angeles, in 2001 18th of December. Her full name is Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell. She has 3 official albums, which are «When we all fall asleep where do we go?», «Happier than ever» and «Hit me hard and soft» And her 2 extended plays (EP’s) are «Don’t smile at me» and «Guitar songs». (Extended play is a musical release that has more songs than a single but less songs than an album, EP’s are also called ‘mini album’). She makes her songs with her brother Finneas, who’s technically both her composer and producer, so they always create the lines and lyrics together. She always puts a lot of effort into her songs, and most of them, if not all, are very deep and meaningful. Because of that, i had a bit of trouble choosing a singular song of hers to write about, cause there’re so many of her songs that i relate to and that i love from the very bottom of my heart. But eventually i did choose one, and it’s called «Watch». The song is sang by Billie and composed and produced by Finneas, it was out in 2017 29th of June, being from her first extended play «Don’t smile at me». The song is about love that felt real but wasn’t, about loving someone who never gave the same effort and emotions back, it’s about someone putting a fire inside of you and never actually caring to put it out.
I’ll sit and watch your car burn
With the fire that you started in me
But you never came back to ask it out
Go ahead and watch my heart burn
With the fire that you started in me
But I’ll never let you back to put it out
These are one of the lyrics, that i think matched with my last sentence. It describes the love towards someone who doesn’t care, but Billie also shows that instead of trying to somehow fix it, she’s letting it go. A bittersweet release of finally walking away from someone who you loved but weren’t loved back from. There are actually lyrics that i love the most in this song, and it goes:
When you call my name
Do you think I’ll come runnin’?
You never did the same
So good at givin’ me nothin’
When you close your eyes, do you picture me?
When you fantasize, am I your fantasy?
Now you know
Now I’m free
These lines describe how Billie embraces that she’s given nothing, and she also says that now she’s free, it’s the symbolism of the same release of walking away from someone who doesn’t care about her and finally choosing herself. And, by the way, i was saying all that from Billie’s perspective because this song isn’t made up but is actually about her real life experience, and in her 2022 interview with Vanity Fair, Billie stated that this song was her least favourite of everything she had released at that very moment, not because of the song itself but because of the reason behind why she wrote it and because of what it’s based on. There was also an alternate version of this song which was called ‘&burn’, with both of the titles spelling out «watch & burn». Yet the song was cut and replaced with her another song ‘bellyache’ due to fans demands, however, it was later released in 2017 15th of December and was included on the re-release of the extended play as the ninth track. And i also want to place the YouTube URL of the song a bit lower so that if anyone’s curious they can listen to it.
The YouTube link to the song «Watch» — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dobJDxPEzM&list=RD9dobJDxPEzM&start_radio=1
Vanity Fair interview with Billie Eilish — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsHx7bMIFC4
Destination B1,
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