Track #4 - Need To Shine

So the fourth track is officially complete, fresh and ripe from the studio. Just the way we like 'em! Its filled with guitar tracks a la BJ Knights and drum fills a la Matt Spitz from the Van Buren Boys band. Lets not forget Derek's "No Doubt-ish" bass line. All together, with my piano as the bottom line, the song came together (with many detours along the way) just fine.

Need To Shine was the first song I ever REALLY wrote. I played the pre-chorus melody that I woke up with in my head on my trusty piano and built the rest of the song around it. I was dreaming about someone who was going through a pretty rough time with a very scary, stubborn disease of the mind. The frustration of trying to help this person and constantly failing came out in melodic ways for me. It was a haunting feeling but with the hope of conclusion around the corner. One day I was playing it again for the millionth time...I started humming words to it...and Need To Shine was born. First, I recorded the music alone, very slow. Then I decided to play around with it on a keyboard, adding some percussion and kind of re-creating the song. Once I wrote the lyrics, I recorded the song with just vocals, piano, generic drum track and string effects. That version remains to be a family favorite, while the new version from the studio is the sound I dreamt about. My producer tells me it's a song that could be the theme for Rent Two, if ever there were a Rent Twp. Personally, I am not a fan of most of Rent's music. Then again, maybe if my song was in it, I would be a fan. Ha.

So now that you know a little background into the song, you will be ready to apply it to the first listen when it goes up on iTunes someday soon. Need To Shine is really my baby that I've probably spent the most time on. I hope someday it's the song that really puts me on the map. But then again, that is up to all of you. 

So onto the next song...track five and its been almost a year since I've been working at this record in the studio. Track five, I can promise you, will be a ballad through and through. Something, I'm told, that would come at the end of the CD. Not sure if I agree with where the track will go in terms of order, but for now it will be Track five. The title is still being decided on. Once I get closer to the final version of it, I will give that info away!

But until then - happy listening, everyone! Thanks for being my fans :)

dreamBIG,
Arlanna