Key Lyric: “In my head, I did everything right.”
Purpose (Why this song?)
Supercut represents my mind’s constant tendency to replay the events described throughout the album. Through the “Oceanic Outro,” an instrumental section that pays homage to the hours I spent watching the ocean and reservoir following my assault, the song’s “Supercut” is understood to be intrusive memory rather than a past romance. Supercut provides a soft landing to sit in the intensity of For Boston’s aggressive depiction of sexual trauma.
The Creative Process:
Supercut, like Babylon, had its beat sourced from a remix I had made of the original Supercut back in the day. To be fair, though: For Lorde’s track, I was inspired by nostalgic memories of college. So in many ways, it was like as if I had made it for this project all along. This notion is especially true when the Oceanic Outro from this song would go on to inspire much of the album’s sonic narrative and even visual design.
In the creative process of the song in this album, I truthfully didn’t want to change much about the original. All the vocal effects are the same as my original’s, so the recording process was quite simple. Just recording myself over the tracks and plugins I originally had Lorde. Even with this simplicity, though, the song remains instrumental in the concept of this album and its narrative on both a sonic and emotional level. It’s a cool testament to my intuition.
Enjoy the original remix that I created Supercut ‘s beat for!
Sonic Identity
Supercut is all about evoking the water. The song itself serves as reflection on memory & grief’s power over us. For me, I often find myself reflecting on those two things when I’m by myself, next to a body of water. I mediate on the constant motion of waves and streams, changing yet persisting. I try to process the things in my life that I’m reminded of in that meditation, too. With this in mind, I wanted my version of Supercut to fully embody this relationship. Synths throughout the song play with wetness, I have sections of the song that are accompanied by recordings of the ocean, and generally designed my vocals to sit in the song’s production as if they are submersed.
Core Sounds
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The sounds of the Ocean are what make my version of Supercut what it is, in my mind at least. Through the song, I have quiet clips of ocean waves drifting underneath the synths of the track. This idea expands during the song’s outro, where the waves become front and center within the production. Hopefully it feels like you’re sitting by the water. I’ve done a lot of that these last few years.
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The Droplets synth makes its return in Supercut, following its establishment in the production of Babylon. Within the creative process, Supercut was actually the first to use the synth. With this in mind, I think that it fits the most naturally here. I picked the synth because it sounded right, not because I was using it as a motif: If that makes sense.
I think it is showcased best through the initial introduction of the line “In my head, I did everything right.” The splashes are soft, intimate and viable for creating a piece of music that’s shaped by the sounds of nature.
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I have chopped up and pitched my vocals as accents to various lines throughout the track. The chopped vocals are soft enough to not break the flow of the track, but I think they add a cool sort of rhythm that helps balance the mix as it wasn’t a priority for how any of the other instruments were used in the composing & production process.
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The bass in this song, hopefully, blends into the track in a way where it isn’t too distinguished from the various synths used with heavy reverb throughout the track.
Usually, I love a song that uses the bass to keep things pumping and moving. Think JOYRIDE by Kesha. However, in the context of Supercut’s purpose on the album, there nothing pumping or moving about it. With this in mind, I wanted to go in the opposite direction for the bass. I think it makes the song feel more like a large space to sit in, rather than a composition to move through. Hopefully my production skills delivered.
Supercut is the song that I most closely associate with the visuals of the album. After traumatic events, I’ve always returned to the water. I grew up next to a small nature preserve that rested against a river and spent hours there alone throughout my childhood. In high school, I’d go to Sasco Beach (The location of the album cover) and watch the Long Island Sound from my car. When I was in college, a walk around a nearby resevoir offered me reflection in all of my trying times. And in the time since, I’ve had my deepest moments of peace, processing, and acceptance while sitting beside a lake that rests on the northern line of my hometown.
For the album, I dumped all of my experience into the song “For Boston.” Understanding the immense trauma that the song For Boston represents in the story, and understanding that in my life, water always follows trauma; it was important that the next song live in that place of reflection and processing that I’ve come to know well. A water-themed cover of a song about memories that play over and over seemed like it’d fit the bill.
Storyline
Key Moments
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In the original song, Lorde sings a lyric that says “In my head, I do everything right” in reference to her fantasized future where her lover calls to work things out after their fracture. While I sing this line during the main section of the song, in the Ocean Outro, I decided to switch it to “in my head, I did everything right.”
In my version of Supercut, where I sing not of a romantic relationship’s grief but of my own mental health’s, I can’t imagine a future where my old school calls me up to work things out. Where I find healing with my community. Please: They’ll never take me seriously. Even as I write this now, I’ve reached out to some people about this album… to silence. There won’t be a time where I find healing because “I do everything right.” But I can look back and say I did everything right. And I do.
I think it makes the track more effective, for my version. No disrespect to Lorde!
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The Oceanic Outro, as I described to a friend while playing them the song, is the reason for Supercut’s inclusion on the album. After everything I went through, I’ve found two things that truly bring me peace. The first is sitting by the water and focusing on the waves. Ocean, River, Reservoir, Long Island Sound: Doesn’t matter. Just watching the ripples invites peace, reflection, and a feeling of processing grief that has become very important for me.
The other thing that brings me peace is making music. Kinda cool to make a piece of music, then, that evokes the way sitting by the water feels. It’s like a PTSD miracle drug. On this little DIY album about my PTSD, and especially after a song that’s pretty triggering, well, I wanted to offer my PTSD miracle drug. Maybe it just works for me, but hey, doesn’t hurt anyone to share.
