All these Changes - nick Hakim
sooo, what about it?
All these changes is a song about the destruction we as humans are causing to the earth. The song melodically and lyrically conveys how human desecration and exploitation is hurting mother nature. This synth-soiled, deep detuned piano conveys the hurt, tension and tire mother nature has been experiencing whilst humans overexploit what she has been freely providing. The ghostly vocals echoes the non-existent future we may be near, our Earths demise. Nicki Hakim uses techniques such as onomatopoeia to emphasis words, modulation to take us to different themes, ascending and descending arpeggios to convey drifting and floating and panning to represent chaos. Concisely, this song instrumentally conveys such a strong image of damage and weariness which leaves a daunting message to listeners.
My advice when reading this JOURNALISTIC analysis, is to simultaneously listen to the song to get the full experience!
“she’ll flood us out, her heart is flaming..pretty soon we’ll be underwater”
WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD, NICK HAKIM
Technical/ melodic/ lyrical features
Mixing tech..and other tech
Mixing techniques are also used to represent the theme of global warming. Muffled vocals represent the theme of the world going under water. Muffled vocals can be achieved by cutting the highs and lows on the EQ, compressor or altering the frequency.
The monophonic melody towards the end of the song may symbolise how hope is fading, we will destroy the earth until we exist no more. The song ends quiet and eery. The use of echo displays lack of life. The last few seconds of the song, you can hear how Mother Nature has given up after its last and final call; the candle flickers out.
what about Chords and ummm… modulations?
Modulating from different chords and keys is sooooo important in music. It creates excitement but also takes us on a journey from theme to theme. In this song, the use of modulation creates a perfect bridge that swims into the different segments of the song. The modulations in the song help to drift the song into various sections comparable to the way an ocean moves. For example, the modulation from the first verse into the bridge before the chorus is comparable to the ocean as it conveys how gets ahead of itself. The song in this section nearly feels like it is losing itself, until it goes back to tonic key. The percussion is also more faint here to convey drifting. Instrumentally wise, strings come in a soft swing like manner. The strings move in arpeggios and the dynamics get louder as they ascend, and lower as they descend. This rising and falling movement embodies a drifting tide.
After the chorus, the song instrumentally modulates back down to its tonic chord, compressing itself back under water.
The lyrics, the feeling.. tell me more
Oh I will…
We’re pulling out some Junior Cert English/GCSE technical words here so brace yourselves.. ever heard of onomatopoeia ? Well, this technique made great use in this song! Onomatopoeia here is used to emphasise the lyrics about the worlds demise and how it is fading out of existence. Listen to the lyrics specifically when Nick Hakim sings the words "fading” or “hurting.” The emphasis of the lyrics perfectly encapsulates the feeling of pain and erosion.
The lyrics towards the end of this song describe detachment in contrast to the floating or chaotic melody that is previously heard in the song. Mother nature has reached its limit, so the song emits its last hopeful cry knowing that it’s the end.
Really and truly, this song sings about hurting, in a way of raising the point that it makes us weaker, more vulnerable, detachable. Much like the human experience, it is difficult to acknowledge your pain when you are suffering as it feels as though you are not fully there, normal or complete – its almost as if a part of you has slipped away, leaving you disjointed and adrift. Accordingly, the emphasis of detachment conveys this feeling of how mother nature is truly hurting.
This song may just be a warning of what may happen…what better way to convey a message than to feel it, hear it and experience it.
NICK HAKIM - ALL THESE CHANGES (OFFICIAL AUDIO)
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Thanks for reading.. more song analysis’ soon!!
