Key Lyric: “I’d be flying like 1000 Doves”
1000 Doves represents the countless ways I sought support and asked for help while at BC & since, only to be ignored and cast to the side.
Purpose (Why this song?)
The highlight of the creative process of 1000 Doves was actually through the way it made me experience myself in a new way. See, throughout the entire album, it’s been very strange for me to mix and master my own vocals. It has always been something I’ve refused to do, fueled by a massive amount of anxiety. It was something I was interested in overcoming with this project, of which I succeeded. But as I listened to my voice, something I’ve basically never done, I noticed a few new things about myself. In 1000 Doves, I noticed my accent. See, I’m from Connecticut. We don’t really have an accent that stands out in any iconic or notable way, but it is known that we often skip the “T” sound in words. “Kittens” is a good example here: I pronounce it “Kih-ins” when speaking naturally, rather than saying the full “Kit-tins” that you might expect. This came up time and time again in this song, specifically through the word “Start,” and heavily influenced the way the vocals are recorded and layered through the production. It was a surprise to hear the accent in action, as I usually don’t pay mind to how I pronounce the things I say in the moment! Gives me a little bit of CT pride, that’s for sure. I tried as best I could to emphasize the T’s while still sounding like myself… but if you don’t hear it, just pretend I’m Gay Mario looking for my Star ;-)
The Creative Process:
Sonic Identity
Where Supercut represents the deep blues of the ocean below, 1000 Doves aims to embody the bright blues and white sun rays in the sky above. I brought in sounds from across the album to deliver a track that aims to provides a sense of energy and lightness. There’s a fowardness that’s emphasized throughout the main sections of the track that lets go in certain breaks throughout the song. I wanted to create a feeling of being dragged through thick air: Flying in slow motion. All of this is very conceptual, though. It ultimately aims to stay traditionally upbeat, especially after the risk that Froot’s production embodied.
Core Sounds
-
Part of 1000 Dove’s concept was bringing together sounds from different songs across the album. I wanted it to be the air above Supercut’s ocean, in a way, so aimed to emulate that song’s spacial ambiance.
Similarly, I wanted the drive of Dinosaur here. So…. I just grabbed the same drum kit samples from Dinosaur and went to town here. The beauty of electronic music is the ease to copy sounds across projects!
-
As mentioned, this track aims to deliver the same expansive space that Supercut does, just above the water rather than below. To achieve this best, I introduced a synth into the post-chorus that I call the Airplane Synth. It makes you feel like being draaaggggged through the air. Bringing in the water theme again, a humid plane ride.
-
The track also pays homage to the dance songs that originally inspired Gaga’s original; by bringing in electronic & acoustic keyboard sounds soaked in reverb. Creates that feeling of blue softness against the warmth of the keys that I find iconic.
-
Ultimately, the song’s foundation is reverb. The vocals have a ton of it, the synths have a ton of it, and even the master does too. This song explores the fantasy of receiving community support, and I really wanted to sonically explore what flying with the doves (or eagles) might sound like.
Storyline
You may have noticed that this is not only the second Gaga song that I’ve chosen to cover for the project, but the second track from her Chromatica album as well. That album really just meant a lot to me in the context of everything this album is inspired by, and I wanted to be completely shameless about that. I love Lady Gaga!
For me, 1000 Doves made perfect sense for the album. This track has always stood out to me for its… liturgical aspect, if you will. As someone who has sung countless hymns and modern Christian songs in my time in both catholic and non-religious choirs, I’ve come to know the genre pretty well. No matter the context it was actually made in and for, I hold the belief that 1000 Doves by Lady Gaga could be one of those hymns. And for an album that explores my experience of queerness against a Catholic institution, the Lady Gaga song that could be a hymn absolutely needed a place on the track list. Even if it meant two songs from the same Gaga album on my album of 9 tracks!
Key Moments
-
The first chorus of the song brings in the energy to about 80%, but what’s really noticeable is how it pulls back for the post-chorus. In Gaga’s original, this part of the song is a dance break. I’ll get to that, but first, I wanted to really give some ambient flare to my own version. Hope you think it sounds cool. Cuz that’s why I did it haha
-
The bridge of this song, in my opinion, is ugly. My recording of it, I mean. The lyrics speak about feeling trapped, feeling like one’s heart is in a rage. It’s one thing to sing those lyrics, but I really wanted to deliver on the feeling that those lyrics speak to. Knowing that someone is going through hard feelings is uncomfortable. And I want my audience to know that those feelings are hard. I didn’t make this album to be a bitch. I made it because I’m hurting, and have been asking to be lifted up for years to silence.
