Why am I telling you this? Well, because for the first time in my five and a half years here, music actually influenced my RP, instead of just enhancing it.
It’s no secret that for the past few months Maddi has been the character I'm investing most of my time and energy into; she’s basically been my main character. She is, at this point, me. I identify with her more than any character right now, even more than Senia, probably because she’s getting closer to my age while Senia gets further away. I scroll right down to her on the choose character page. My normal routine was to start with Senia and work my way down. If I was in a hurry, I'd go to whoever I expect to have new messages (Parker, Senia, or Olivia). But lately, it’s been Maddi first, then messages, and when I’m really in a hurry, she’ll be the only one I check at all. The reason for this is the usual one: she’s become the most interesting. Everyone older is just happy and settled and mostly drama free.
So, while I’ve been focusing on her, I’ve also been getting things organized for her music career. Some of you may have noticed that H&D and AOH have music on their pages now. With Touching Fire, it was a given that we’d use Zendaya and Bella Thorne’s music. Several months back, I started really listening to their songs, to figure out which ones we could use. I knew a few songs already, having been featured on Shake It Up and in those little Radio Disney music videos they air between shows, but I’d never really listened to them, or to Zendaya’s album. I’ve had it since September, but "Replay" was the only song I ever listened to, because my nephew liked it. And let me tell you, nothing cuter than a five-year-old boy singing in straight-up soprano. Anyway, listening to the album, as well as the Shake It Up songs, influenced Maddi a lot.
When I was listening to these songs, I was envisioning them being sung by Maddi. For some of them, there was a vibe of ‘Aww, she’s singing this to Chris,’ but there were also quite a few that felt more like, hmmm, I don’t think Chris is the one she has in mind. So let me give you all a little look into the inner workings of my brain and how she’s evolved, based on the music I've been listening to for the past month or so. This was a unique situation for me where the music already reflected what was happening, and you can see how it influenced me to move things along.
First the Chris-centric songs, because they were really spot-on:
“Love You Forever” – 'We on that first time love high.' The song itself is infinitely more cheery and just fun and youthful, and for me, sounds a lot like a mid-to-late 90s song, just the way music sounded then, so it transports me to a time of young love. I remember walking up to the candy store every day during the summer with my neighbor Mark P, until one day he snuck a kiss. Then he bought me four pixy stix. Why four I have no idea. Anyway, the youthful sound of this song, coupled with me seeing more of myself in her, only reinforced this feeling that Chris is that ‘high school sweetheart.’
“Bottle You Up” – This was perfect, because Maddi was just starting to think about the realities of going on tour, of being apart for the better part of a year. 'You know it kills me, I can't always be right here.' 'Right now you're mine, But we're running out of time.' And the hook says it all: 'Wish I could always have you here with me.'
Then, there’s “Scared” – This one actually didn't jump out at me like the others did, but in hindsight this works so well. ‘Forgive me for the things I did, the things I said, if you understand, Forgive me and I’ll forgive you.’ When she and Chris talked about taking their break/breaking up, it was very sweet, but ugly at the same time. She never meant to hurt him, but honestly, she should have gone to him with all her feelings before they built to a breaking point. And now, with him just gone from her life: 'No you, no me, there's just the shadows I see.' Oh, and this part is like her internal struggle on whether they should break up or not: ‘I just wanna love ya, I just wanna love ya, Scared of what it feels like to be alone,’ The whole hook, really. Not to mention, this is another one where the sound itself impacts everything. This song has the most edge, she’s kind of hard through the whole thing. And with the whole ‘Maddi is dead, Madalynne took her place’ thing… Madalynne is a little harder than Maddi. But Maddi still pops up from time to time – and there’s a part in this song when Zendaya softens up for a second. It all works.
And now we move into the "Someone else" songs.
“Beat of my Drum” – (you’ll see this on the site soon, retitled as Drummer Girl) ‘Looking for a bit of trouble, I wanna have a little fun tonight.’ If I didn’t know any better, I’d call this a bit of a dare, a challenge. Off-limits flirting, maybe? Is this where it all started?
“My Baby” – ‘We should listen to each other’s hearts' Obviously two people who are clearly into each other, and she’s like, go for it, dude. ‘Who’s in our business – everybody.’ Yeah. Yeah. Everyone would be in their business.
“Only When You’re Close” – This whole damn song. ‘All this time, you weren’t even on my mind.’ Someone that she wasn’t even thinking of like that at first, and then, bam. ‘I get so, get so wild, only when you’re close.’ There is someone that brings out a much feistier side of her. Sometimes it makes her more assertive, sometimes she loses her temper…
And lastly, Zendaya’s Coca-cola commercial. It’s Capital Cities’ “Safe and Sound,” and this one’s been messing with my head. By now we all know Maddi’s into someone else, and here’s what’s weird: I can go days without seeing this commercial, or I’ll see the version where she only says ‘safe and sound’ one time (There are four or five different versions). But then… if Maddi is talking to that guy, I see the one where Zendaya has a larger part, and I see it every fifteen minutes. And given the way she like always tries to get this guy to see the positive sides of things, the way she’s constantly trying to get him to see the positive in himself: ‘I could lift you up.’ The very first line speaks for itself.
Honestly. Zendaya herself (with the exception of the Capital Cities song) wrote out this entire storyline for me. It's amazing. Listening to these songs, knowing the nature of her relationships, it seems now like it was inevitable that things ended up the way they did.
Who knows where the game and music will lead me next....