Chords for Why OWL CITY Is A MUSICAL GENIUS
Tempo:
133.6 bpm
Chords used:
D
Ab
G
Gb
E
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
Adam Young of Owl City is an absolute musical genius, and I think he is totally underrated.
Sure, one of his albums went platinum, and he's got nearly 9 million monthly Spotify listeners,
but when you compare that to the 50 million that Ed Sheeran has, and around 20 million that Blink
182 have, how does Adam Young not have even [F] more?
I know what some of you are thinking,
isn't that the guy who did the cheesy 2009 hit Fireflies?
Or that song with Carly Rae Jepsen a
few years ago?
Both of which sounded like they were made using just a laptop [Ebm] and a keyboard,
and you know what?
They very well may have been.
But Adam Young is actually one of the most
[Ab] talented, genius, and unique songwriters I've ever come across.
And a lot of people don't
realize his true potential and what's going on [N] behind the scenes.
Here are a few reasons
why Adam Young is an absolute musical genius.
And of course guys, if you enjoy these music
reports and music reviews, please do hit the subscribe button.
It is the most helpful thing
that you can do for my channel.
Adam is a multi-instrumentalist.
When he performs live,
he'll play the guitar, the synthesizers, percussions, drum, xylophone.
He'll switch
between instruments.
During a song, he'll use loop pedals.
Check out this [Ab] video here.
[Db]
[Gb]
[E] He'll walk onto the stage alone, [A] start playing the bass line or the percussion,
then he'll add the rhythm section to it, then he'll add a guitar loop, perhaps the lead section,
then [N] he might even do a vocal loop.
He's an incredible performer and he's extremely competent
at all of the instruments [D] that he plays, but particularly [Eb] the guitar and the piano.
[N] He also records all of his own sound effects.
Not many people know this, but at his home studio,
he'll create all of the sound effects for his songs using random objects.
He'll create the
sound for wind or rain using things like bicycle tires and coats.
And honestly, it's not just the
fact that I think he can write an absolute brilliant song and has a voice which is just
as good as Ed Sheeran's.
And I'm using Ed Sheeran as the reference point here because Ed Sheeran is
huge.
And yes, he's an incredible songwriter.
And yes, he can play many different instruments.
And yes, he performs live very well.
And yes, he has a very, very good voice.
But Adam Young has
all of these things as well.
His collaborations are fantastic.
And they're very clever as well.
Not just people [D] like Carly Rae Jepsen and Hanson.
Adam has also worked with companies such [Gb] as
DreamWorks, Disney, Warner Brothers.
This is a fantastic business move because not only does
his voice and [N] his songwriting appeal to these type of family-friendly films, where they're
looking for cheesy, upbeat, electronic pop music with a soft voice, but the royalties and paychecks
for these kind of projects are immense.
You write a song for Disney, they're going to pay you well.
That film does well, you're going to get a lot of royalty checks.
And considering Wreck-It Ralph did
pretty well at the box office and got itself a sequel, Adam can just do whatever he wants for
the rest of his life.
He can just hang out, make music, do a tour here and there.
He has the most
stress-free musical life, it seems.
He only tours every few years.
In fact, over the last decade,
he's only done about two or three major tours, which is [Eb] pretty cool as a lot of [Ab] bands heavily
rely on touring to get their income.
Kiss especially, like no one really cares about
their albums over the [G] last 20 years.
Instead playing stadiums, this is where their primary
income comes from.
They're a live band.
But it's evident with not only Owl City, but also his other
projects, such as his acoustic guitar project Sky Sailing, [E] and his [G] composing as well.
He composes
[N] music, but he doesn't have to be a touring band.
He can do it all from his home studio.
And that
brings me on to the next point.
The guy has a home studio.
This is a fantastic business [Ab] move if you
want to record other artists for extra income.
But why it's so important for him is he blew up
[G] via things such as [N] Myspace, iTunes, and Myspace.
And we're in the age right now of Spotify,
YouTube, iTunes.
You don't really have to [Abm] rent out a studio, record an album, and then sell that
album at the record store anymore.
Adam has in his [E] house an incredible studio where he can just go
whenever he [N] wants, record what he wants, and instantly put it on his YouTube channel,
on Spotify, or on iTunes.
He doesn't have to rent out a studio.
He doesn't have to do any of the
overhead work.
He's got a studio right there.
He's saving a lot of money in the long run,
no doubt.
But it's also the fact that there's no time constraints.
A lot of people, [D] when they're
recording an album, they have to fly from, say, New York [Eb] to LA, or from Portland to LA, or Portland
[D] to New [N] York.
They have to stay there for a week.
They have to get a hotel, or they have to stay at
the engineer's house, or at the producer's house.
Add to that the cost of flying, and it's not an
easy [Gb] feat.
But Adam's got a studio right there.
He can [D] do it whenever he wants, and he can do
whatever he [N] wants.
The guy can play every instrument.
The guy knows his way around the
soundboard, and the guy knows how to create sound effects.
This is genius-level music making, guys.
And final reason.
When he first signed with Universal Music way back in 2008, 2009, initially
they wanted him to be the next sort of major pop artist slash DJ.
They had [G] this idea that he was
going to be some sort of Skrillex type person, or some major [D]
mainstream [A] pop solo artist.
And [D] if you
listen to Al Citi's album [N] Cinematic, the first track, Fiji Water, he actually briefly mentions
this experience about flying to New York and meeting with the record label executives.
They
had a bit of a disagreement, because I'm sure that Adam wanted to stay integral to his vision.
Adam
doesn't write songs about meaningless things.
He writes songs with a lot of meaning.
He also
doesn't write songs which [Ab] necessarily appeal to everyone, because he has so much integrity.
If you
listen to songs like the 5th of [Db] July, which is about [Dbm] his mother giving birth [N] to him, or My Everything,
which is about Christianity, he writes beautiful songs about things that he really genuinely cares
about.
He'll write a song about going on vacation to a certain part of the United States.
He'll
write a song about his dad.
He'll write a song about suicide.
The guy really puts so much meaning
into his lyrics.
And every song has a unique theme to it.
There are some songs which are piano-heavy.
There are some songs which are upbeat and just fun, such as When Can I See You Again, or Good
Time.
There are stripped-back songs which have lots of acoustic guitar melodies.
And there are ballads
like Vanilla Twilight.
The guy just doesn't seem to care what people think about him.
He just makes
amazing, beautiful music which people can relate to.
He'll write what he wants.
He'll make what he wants.
And I respect that so much, as so many artists over the last 20 years have pandered to their audience.
They've changed their style to get more radio play.
They'll write songs so that their albums chart
better.
They'll make a hit so that they can make it to number one on Billboard.
But then the rest of
the album sounds absolutely nothing like that hit they made.
Fireflies was huge.
Good Time was big.
Vanilla Twilight, of course.
And this is a good lesson for life.
It's always bet on yourself.
Always
bet on yourself and believe in yourself and follow your vision.
Don't always try and please others.
Sure, you can mark it to a niche.
Sure, you can have an audience in mind.
And sure, you can have
something which you think that other people want.
[Bb] But at the same time, he's doing what makes him
happy.
And isn't that just all we want in [G] life?
I respect him so much for
Sure, one of his albums went platinum, and he's got nearly 9 million monthly Spotify listeners,
but when you compare that to the 50 million that Ed Sheeran has, and around 20 million that Blink
182 have, how does Adam Young not have even [F] more?
I know what some of you are thinking,
isn't that the guy who did the cheesy 2009 hit Fireflies?
Or that song with Carly Rae Jepsen a
few years ago?
Both of which sounded like they were made using just a laptop [Ebm] and a keyboard,
and you know what?
They very well may have been.
But Adam Young is actually one of the most
[Ab] talented, genius, and unique songwriters I've ever come across.
And a lot of people don't
realize his true potential and what's going on [N] behind the scenes.
Here are a few reasons
why Adam Young is an absolute musical genius.
And of course guys, if you enjoy these music
reports and music reviews, please do hit the subscribe button.
It is the most helpful thing
that you can do for my channel.
Adam is a multi-instrumentalist.
When he performs live,
he'll play the guitar, the synthesizers, percussions, drum, xylophone.
He'll switch
between instruments.
During a song, he'll use loop pedals.
Check out this [Ab] video here.
[Db]
[Gb]
[E] He'll walk onto the stage alone, [A] start playing the bass line or the percussion,
then he'll add the rhythm section to it, then he'll add a guitar loop, perhaps the lead section,
then [N] he might even do a vocal loop.
He's an incredible performer and he's extremely competent
at all of the instruments [D] that he plays, but particularly [Eb] the guitar and the piano.
[N] He also records all of his own sound effects.
Not many people know this, but at his home studio,
he'll create all of the sound effects for his songs using random objects.
He'll create the
sound for wind or rain using things like bicycle tires and coats.
And honestly, it's not just the
fact that I think he can write an absolute brilliant song and has a voice which is just
as good as Ed Sheeran's.
And I'm using Ed Sheeran as the reference point here because Ed Sheeran is
huge.
And yes, he's an incredible songwriter.
And yes, he can play many different instruments.
And yes, he performs live very well.
And yes, he has a very, very good voice.
But Adam Young has
all of these things as well.
His collaborations are fantastic.
And they're very clever as well.
Not just people [D] like Carly Rae Jepsen and Hanson.
Adam has also worked with companies such [Gb] as
DreamWorks, Disney, Warner Brothers.
This is a fantastic business move because not only does
his voice and [N] his songwriting appeal to these type of family-friendly films, where they're
looking for cheesy, upbeat, electronic pop music with a soft voice, but the royalties and paychecks
for these kind of projects are immense.
You write a song for Disney, they're going to pay you well.
That film does well, you're going to get a lot of royalty checks.
And considering Wreck-It Ralph did
pretty well at the box office and got itself a sequel, Adam can just do whatever he wants for
the rest of his life.
He can just hang out, make music, do a tour here and there.
He has the most
stress-free musical life, it seems.
He only tours every few years.
In fact, over the last decade,
he's only done about two or three major tours, which is [Eb] pretty cool as a lot of [Ab] bands heavily
rely on touring to get their income.
Kiss especially, like no one really cares about
their albums over the [G] last 20 years.
Instead playing stadiums, this is where their primary
income comes from.
They're a live band.
But it's evident with not only Owl City, but also his other
projects, such as his acoustic guitar project Sky Sailing, [E] and his [G] composing as well.
He composes
[N] music, but he doesn't have to be a touring band.
He can do it all from his home studio.
And that
brings me on to the next point.
The guy has a home studio.
This is a fantastic business [Ab] move if you
want to record other artists for extra income.
But why it's so important for him is he blew up
[G] via things such as [N] Myspace, iTunes, and Myspace.
And we're in the age right now of Spotify,
YouTube, iTunes.
You don't really have to [Abm] rent out a studio, record an album, and then sell that
album at the record store anymore.
Adam has in his [E] house an incredible studio where he can just go
whenever he [N] wants, record what he wants, and instantly put it on his YouTube channel,
on Spotify, or on iTunes.
He doesn't have to rent out a studio.
He doesn't have to do any of the
overhead work.
He's got a studio right there.
He's saving a lot of money in the long run,
no doubt.
But it's also the fact that there's no time constraints.
A lot of people, [D] when they're
recording an album, they have to fly from, say, New York [Eb] to LA, or from Portland to LA, or Portland
[D] to New [N] York.
They have to stay there for a week.
They have to get a hotel, or they have to stay at
the engineer's house, or at the producer's house.
Add to that the cost of flying, and it's not an
easy [Gb] feat.
But Adam's got a studio right there.
He can [D] do it whenever he wants, and he can do
whatever he [N] wants.
The guy can play every instrument.
The guy knows his way around the
soundboard, and the guy knows how to create sound effects.
This is genius-level music making, guys.
And final reason.
When he first signed with Universal Music way back in 2008, 2009, initially
they wanted him to be the next sort of major pop artist slash DJ.
They had [G] this idea that he was
going to be some sort of Skrillex type person, or some major [D]
mainstream [A] pop solo artist.
And [D] if you
listen to Al Citi's album [N] Cinematic, the first track, Fiji Water, he actually briefly mentions
this experience about flying to New York and meeting with the record label executives.
They
had a bit of a disagreement, because I'm sure that Adam wanted to stay integral to his vision.
Adam
doesn't write songs about meaningless things.
He writes songs with a lot of meaning.
He also
doesn't write songs which [Ab] necessarily appeal to everyone, because he has so much integrity.
If you
listen to songs like the 5th of [Db] July, which is about [Dbm] his mother giving birth [N] to him, or My Everything,
which is about Christianity, he writes beautiful songs about things that he really genuinely cares
about.
He'll write a song about going on vacation to a certain part of the United States.
He'll
write a song about his dad.
He'll write a song about suicide.
The guy really puts so much meaning
into his lyrics.
And every song has a unique theme to it.
There are some songs which are piano-heavy.
There are some songs which are upbeat and just fun, such as When Can I See You Again, or Good
Time.
There are stripped-back songs which have lots of acoustic guitar melodies.
And there are ballads
like Vanilla Twilight.
The guy just doesn't seem to care what people think about him.
He just makes
amazing, beautiful music which people can relate to.
He'll write what he wants.
He'll make what he wants.
And I respect that so much, as so many artists over the last 20 years have pandered to their audience.
They've changed their style to get more radio play.
They'll write songs so that their albums chart
better.
They'll make a hit so that they can make it to number one on Billboard.
But then the rest of
the album sounds absolutely nothing like that hit they made.
Fireflies was huge.
Good Time was big.
Vanilla Twilight, of course.
And this is a good lesson for life.
It's always bet on yourself.
Always
bet on yourself and believe in yourself and follow your vision.
Don't always try and please others.
Sure, you can mark it to a niche.
Sure, you can have an audience in mind.
And sure, you can have
something which you think that other people want.
[Bb] But at the same time, he's doing what makes him
happy.
And isn't that just all we want in [G] life?
I respect him so much for
Key:
D
Ab
G
Gb
E
D
Ab
G
Adam Young of Owl City is an absolute musical genius, and I think he is totally underrated.
Sure, one of his albums went platinum, and he's got nearly 9 million monthly Spotify listeners,
but when you compare that to the 50 million that Ed Sheeran has, and around 20 million that Blink
182 have, how does Adam Young not have even [F] more?
I know what some of you are thinking,
isn't that the guy who did the cheesy 2009 hit Fireflies?
Or that song with Carly Rae Jepsen a
few years ago?
Both of which sounded like they were made using just a laptop [Ebm] and a keyboard,
and you know what?
They very well may have been.
But Adam Young is actually one of the most
[Ab] talented, genius, and unique songwriters I've ever come across.
And a lot of people don't
realize his true potential and what's going on [N] behind the scenes.
Here are a few reasons
why Adam Young is an absolute musical genius.
And of course guys, if you enjoy these music
reports and music reviews, please do hit the subscribe button.
It is the most helpful thing
that you can do for my channel.
Adam is a multi-instrumentalist.
When he performs live,
he'll play the guitar, the synthesizers, percussions, drum, xylophone.
He'll switch
between instruments.
During a song, he'll use loop pedals.
Check out this [Ab] video here.
_ [Db] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Gb] _
_ _ _ [E] He'll walk onto the stage alone, [A] start playing the bass line or the percussion,
then he'll add the rhythm section to it, then he'll add a guitar loop, perhaps the lead section,
then [N] he might even do a vocal loop.
He's an incredible performer and he's extremely competent
at all of the instruments [D] that he plays, but particularly [Eb] the guitar and the piano.
[N] He also records all of his own sound effects.
Not many people know this, but at his home studio,
he'll create all of the sound effects for his songs using random objects.
He'll create the
sound for wind or rain using things like bicycle tires and coats.
And honestly, it's not just the
fact that I think he can write an absolute brilliant song and has a voice which is just
as good as Ed Sheeran's.
And I'm using Ed Sheeran as the reference point here because Ed Sheeran is
huge.
And yes, he's an incredible songwriter.
And yes, he can play many different instruments.
And yes, he performs live very well.
And yes, he has a very, very good voice.
But Adam Young has
all of these things as well.
His collaborations are fantastic.
And they're very clever as well.
Not just people [D] like Carly Rae Jepsen and Hanson.
Adam has also worked with companies such [Gb] as
DreamWorks, Disney, Warner Brothers.
This is a fantastic business move because not only does
his voice and [N] his songwriting appeal to these type of family-friendly films, where they're
looking for cheesy, _ upbeat, electronic pop music with a soft voice, but the royalties and paychecks
for these kind of projects are immense.
You write a song for Disney, they're going to pay you well.
That film does well, you're going to get a lot of royalty checks.
And considering Wreck-It Ralph did
pretty well at the box office and got itself a sequel, Adam can just do whatever he wants for
the rest of his life.
He can just hang out, make music, do a tour here and there.
He has the most
stress-free musical life, it seems.
He only tours every few years.
In fact, over the last decade,
he's only done about two or three major tours, which is [Eb] pretty cool as a lot of [Ab] bands heavily
rely on touring to get their income.
Kiss especially, like no one really cares about
their albums over the [G] last 20 years.
Instead playing stadiums, this is where their primary
income comes from.
They're a live band.
But it's evident with not only Owl City, but also his other
projects, such as his acoustic guitar project Sky Sailing, [E] and his [G] composing as well.
He composes
[N] music, but he doesn't have to be a touring band.
He can do it all from his home studio.
And that
brings me on to the next point.
The guy has a home studio.
This is a fantastic business [Ab] move if you
want to record other artists for extra income.
But why it's so important for him is he blew up
[G] via things such as [N] Myspace, iTunes, and Myspace.
And we're in the age right now of Spotify,
YouTube, _ iTunes.
You don't really have to [Abm] rent out a studio, record an album, and then sell that
album at the record store anymore.
Adam has in his [E] house an incredible studio where he can just go
whenever he [N] wants, record what he wants, and instantly put it on his YouTube channel,
_ on Spotify, or on iTunes.
He doesn't have to rent out a studio.
He doesn't have to do any of the
overhead work.
He's got a studio right there.
He's saving a lot of money in the long run,
no doubt.
But it's also the fact that there's no time constraints.
A lot of people, [D] when they're
recording an album, they have to fly from, say, New York [Eb] to LA, or from Portland to LA, or Portland
[D] to New [N] York.
They have to stay there for a week.
They have to get a hotel, or they have to stay at
the engineer's house, or at the producer's house.
Add to that the cost of flying, and it's not an
easy [Gb] feat.
But Adam's got a studio right there.
He can [D] do it whenever he wants, and he can do
whatever he [N] wants.
The guy can play every instrument.
The guy knows his way around the
soundboard, and the guy knows how to create sound effects.
This is genius-level music making, guys.
And final reason.
When he first signed with Universal Music way back in 2008, 2009, initially
they wanted him to be the next sort of major pop artist slash DJ.
They had [G] this idea that he was
going to be some sort of Skrillex type person, or some major [D]
mainstream [A] pop solo artist.
And [D] if you
listen to Al Citi's album [N] Cinematic, the first track, Fiji Water, he actually briefly mentions
this experience about flying to New York and meeting with the record label executives.
They
had a bit of a disagreement, because I'm sure that Adam wanted to stay integral to his vision.
Adam
doesn't write songs about meaningless things.
He writes songs with a lot of meaning.
He also
doesn't write songs which [Ab] necessarily appeal to everyone, because he has so much integrity.
If you
listen to songs like the 5th of [Db] July, which is about [Dbm] his mother giving birth [N] to him, or My Everything,
which is about Christianity, he writes beautiful songs about things that he really genuinely cares
about.
He'll write a song about going on vacation to a certain part of the United States.
He'll
write a song about his dad.
He'll write a song about suicide.
The guy really puts so much meaning
into his lyrics.
And every song has a unique theme to it.
There are some songs which are piano-heavy.
There are some songs which are upbeat and just fun, such as When Can I See You Again, or Good
Time.
There are stripped-back songs which have lots of acoustic guitar melodies.
And there are ballads
like Vanilla Twilight.
The guy just doesn't seem to care what people think about him.
He just makes
amazing, beautiful music which people can relate to.
He'll write what he wants.
He'll make what he wants.
And I respect that so much, as so many artists over the last 20 years have pandered to their audience.
They've changed their style to get more radio play.
They'll write songs so that their albums chart
better.
They'll make a hit so that they can make it to number one on Billboard.
But then the rest of
the album sounds absolutely nothing like that hit they made.
Fireflies was huge.
Good Time was big.
Vanilla Twilight, of course.
And this is a good lesson for life.
It's always bet on yourself.
Always
bet on yourself and believe in yourself and follow your vision.
Don't always try and please others.
Sure, you can mark it to a niche.
Sure, you can have an audience in mind.
And sure, you can have
something which you think that other people want.
[Bb] But at the same time, he's doing what makes him
happy.
And isn't that just all we want in [G] life?
I respect him so much for
Sure, one of his albums went platinum, and he's got nearly 9 million monthly Spotify listeners,
but when you compare that to the 50 million that Ed Sheeran has, and around 20 million that Blink
182 have, how does Adam Young not have even [F] more?
I know what some of you are thinking,
isn't that the guy who did the cheesy 2009 hit Fireflies?
Or that song with Carly Rae Jepsen a
few years ago?
Both of which sounded like they were made using just a laptop [Ebm] and a keyboard,
and you know what?
They very well may have been.
But Adam Young is actually one of the most
[Ab] talented, genius, and unique songwriters I've ever come across.
And a lot of people don't
realize his true potential and what's going on [N] behind the scenes.
Here are a few reasons
why Adam Young is an absolute musical genius.
And of course guys, if you enjoy these music
reports and music reviews, please do hit the subscribe button.
It is the most helpful thing
that you can do for my channel.
Adam is a multi-instrumentalist.
When he performs live,
he'll play the guitar, the synthesizers, percussions, drum, xylophone.
He'll switch
between instruments.
During a song, he'll use loop pedals.
Check out this [Ab] video here.
_ [Db] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Gb] _
_ _ _ [E] He'll walk onto the stage alone, [A] start playing the bass line or the percussion,
then he'll add the rhythm section to it, then he'll add a guitar loop, perhaps the lead section,
then [N] he might even do a vocal loop.
He's an incredible performer and he's extremely competent
at all of the instruments [D] that he plays, but particularly [Eb] the guitar and the piano.
[N] He also records all of his own sound effects.
Not many people know this, but at his home studio,
he'll create all of the sound effects for his songs using random objects.
He'll create the
sound for wind or rain using things like bicycle tires and coats.
And honestly, it's not just the
fact that I think he can write an absolute brilliant song and has a voice which is just
as good as Ed Sheeran's.
And I'm using Ed Sheeran as the reference point here because Ed Sheeran is
huge.
And yes, he's an incredible songwriter.
And yes, he can play many different instruments.
And yes, he performs live very well.
And yes, he has a very, very good voice.
But Adam Young has
all of these things as well.
His collaborations are fantastic.
And they're very clever as well.
Not just people [D] like Carly Rae Jepsen and Hanson.
Adam has also worked with companies such [Gb] as
DreamWorks, Disney, Warner Brothers.
This is a fantastic business move because not only does
his voice and [N] his songwriting appeal to these type of family-friendly films, where they're
looking for cheesy, _ upbeat, electronic pop music with a soft voice, but the royalties and paychecks
for these kind of projects are immense.
You write a song for Disney, they're going to pay you well.
That film does well, you're going to get a lot of royalty checks.
And considering Wreck-It Ralph did
pretty well at the box office and got itself a sequel, Adam can just do whatever he wants for
the rest of his life.
He can just hang out, make music, do a tour here and there.
He has the most
stress-free musical life, it seems.
He only tours every few years.
In fact, over the last decade,
he's only done about two or three major tours, which is [Eb] pretty cool as a lot of [Ab] bands heavily
rely on touring to get their income.
Kiss especially, like no one really cares about
their albums over the [G] last 20 years.
Instead playing stadiums, this is where their primary
income comes from.
They're a live band.
But it's evident with not only Owl City, but also his other
projects, such as his acoustic guitar project Sky Sailing, [E] and his [G] composing as well.
He composes
[N] music, but he doesn't have to be a touring band.
He can do it all from his home studio.
And that
brings me on to the next point.
The guy has a home studio.
This is a fantastic business [Ab] move if you
want to record other artists for extra income.
But why it's so important for him is he blew up
[G] via things such as [N] Myspace, iTunes, and Myspace.
And we're in the age right now of Spotify,
YouTube, _ iTunes.
You don't really have to [Abm] rent out a studio, record an album, and then sell that
album at the record store anymore.
Adam has in his [E] house an incredible studio where he can just go
whenever he [N] wants, record what he wants, and instantly put it on his YouTube channel,
_ on Spotify, or on iTunes.
He doesn't have to rent out a studio.
He doesn't have to do any of the
overhead work.
He's got a studio right there.
He's saving a lot of money in the long run,
no doubt.
But it's also the fact that there's no time constraints.
A lot of people, [D] when they're
recording an album, they have to fly from, say, New York [Eb] to LA, or from Portland to LA, or Portland
[D] to New [N] York.
They have to stay there for a week.
They have to get a hotel, or they have to stay at
the engineer's house, or at the producer's house.
Add to that the cost of flying, and it's not an
easy [Gb] feat.
But Adam's got a studio right there.
He can [D] do it whenever he wants, and he can do
whatever he [N] wants.
The guy can play every instrument.
The guy knows his way around the
soundboard, and the guy knows how to create sound effects.
This is genius-level music making, guys.
And final reason.
When he first signed with Universal Music way back in 2008, 2009, initially
they wanted him to be the next sort of major pop artist slash DJ.
They had [G] this idea that he was
going to be some sort of Skrillex type person, or some major [D]
mainstream [A] pop solo artist.
And [D] if you
listen to Al Citi's album [N] Cinematic, the first track, Fiji Water, he actually briefly mentions
this experience about flying to New York and meeting with the record label executives.
They
had a bit of a disagreement, because I'm sure that Adam wanted to stay integral to his vision.
Adam
doesn't write songs about meaningless things.
He writes songs with a lot of meaning.
He also
doesn't write songs which [Ab] necessarily appeal to everyone, because he has so much integrity.
If you
listen to songs like the 5th of [Db] July, which is about [Dbm] his mother giving birth [N] to him, or My Everything,
which is about Christianity, he writes beautiful songs about things that he really genuinely cares
about.
He'll write a song about going on vacation to a certain part of the United States.
He'll
write a song about his dad.
He'll write a song about suicide.
The guy really puts so much meaning
into his lyrics.
And every song has a unique theme to it.
There are some songs which are piano-heavy.
There are some songs which are upbeat and just fun, such as When Can I See You Again, or Good
Time.
There are stripped-back songs which have lots of acoustic guitar melodies.
And there are ballads
like Vanilla Twilight.
The guy just doesn't seem to care what people think about him.
He just makes
amazing, beautiful music which people can relate to.
He'll write what he wants.
He'll make what he wants.
And I respect that so much, as so many artists over the last 20 years have pandered to their audience.
They've changed their style to get more radio play.
They'll write songs so that their albums chart
better.
They'll make a hit so that they can make it to number one on Billboard.
But then the rest of
the album sounds absolutely nothing like that hit they made.
Fireflies was huge.
Good Time was big.
Vanilla Twilight, of course.
And this is a good lesson for life.
It's always bet on yourself.
Always
bet on yourself and believe in yourself and follow your vision.
Don't always try and please others.
Sure, you can mark it to a niche.
Sure, you can have an audience in mind.
And sure, you can have
something which you think that other people want.
[Bb] But at the same time, he's doing what makes him
happy.
And isn't that just all we want in [G] life?
I respect him so much for