Week 5 - Song Details

Grace Watson
2 March 2021
Media Studies
Week 5 - Song Details

•

As discussed in previous blog posts, we have chosen "What Other People Say" by Demi Lovato and Sam Fischer as the song for our music video.

The original song does actually contain some course language, and so for that reason I am unable to link the official music video of the song and have instead sourced a clean version which has no swear words whatsoever.

This is a clean lyric video of the song:

Although I cannot link the official music/lyric video here, I will discuss it briefly.

The lyric video actually conveys both Demi Lovato and Sam Fischer as cartoon characters from "Guess Who" - the board game - and, according to Wikipedia, these "cartoons reflect the stereotypical labels society imposes on" them. For Demi Lovato, these labels include "Angelic, Naughty, Scary, Aloof". This is a very interesting and unique way of portraying their message and thoughts throughout the music video.

A few song details:

- The song was written by Sam Fischer - an Australian singer-songwriter, and Demi Lovato - an American singer, with the added help of Ryan Williamson and Geoff Warburton.

- Produced by Mitch Allan and Rykeyz. 

- The song was released on streaming formats and digital download very recently on the 4th of February 2021 by RCA and Island Records.

- The song was first announced on social media by Demi Lovato on the 2nd of February 2021 where she expressed how "these lyrics are so special to my heart".

- Sam Fischer posted a section of the music track onto TikTok where it was used in 15 000+ videos before the song was even released two days later.

- Sam Fischer actually wrote the song a few years ago but always knew deep down that it was meant to be a duet, which is why he was so elated when Demi Lovato agreed to sing it with him.

- For Fischer, this song is "a confession, realizing how far away you can get from who you are in an effort to be liked". This statement is exactly what we plan on playing around with as one of our themes in various shots throughout (such as the shot we plan on getting of Phoebe - our main female talent - looking out at the audience from the stage - this shot signifying how she allowed the opinions of others to have a great effect on her and her self esteem).

- To Demi Lovato, this song is "about two humans coming together to connect and find solutions to their problems."

- Sam Fischer was also quoted describing the song as being "about the pressures of society and how getting caught up with the wrong things can change you".

- It's for this reason that one could say that the song's target audience would actually be teenagers. It's in the teenage years that some individuals struggle with where they belong, how they should be, what they should be able to do or not to do or how to be 'cool' etc., and so for them they may really be able to resonate with this song, and find a sense of inspiration from the fact that the artists seem to wish that they had listened to their parents' guidance, perhaps even encouraging teens nowadays to do just that. To talk to their parents and appreciate their guidance. Because actually, it's a blessing.

- The song received compliments from Jennifer Drysdale from Entertainment Tonight who described this duet as being a "moving song".

Kayla Lockington, one of our group members, will be emailing the production company of our song to request permission for us to use their song for educational purposes. Below is a copy of that email.