The first time I listened to Taylor Swift’s new song, Look What You Made Me Do, I thought, because of the windy music of the intro, that I was listening to the beginning of Panic at the Disco’s Death of a Bachelor, then as I listened to more of the song, it was more obvious that Taylor’s new song was, consciously or not, inspired by Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy.
This maze of connections is a more clear example to what Kirby Ferguson explained in his series “Everything is a Remix”. Ferguson’s widely known videos explain and display examples of how media sources itself from other already established things. His argument is that it is virtually impossible to create something 100 percent out of thin air. What we know, what we do, is preceded by previous learnings or experience.
Now, saying that something is based on something else doesn’t exactly take away that new creations’ originality, more so, explains it, gives it context. By being inspired by one thing, it still does not completely define the new thing.
One term used used frequently by Ferguson was “adaptation”. Adaptation, meaning taking something, and then altering it, or using it as a premise (whether loosely or not) for another creation. “Transforming the old into the new is Hollywood’s greatest talent.” To learn that most things mainstream media we consume is similar, or supposed to be similar to something we’ve already consumed is a little mind-boggling, especially considering “Seventy four out of one hundred films are either sequels, or adaptations of earlier works.”
One remix that I still really enjoy and I think is very interesting to analyze is Prince Royce’s bachata remix of the song “Stand by Me”. Royce took the original 1961 King’s version and incorporated modern latin bachata beats along with translating lyrics to Spanish. While not exactly a completely new creation, this new song by Royce “samples”, as Ferguson would explain it, a new song made from an existing source. Sampling, is a very easy concept of taking a small bit of something and incorporating it into a new work. In recent years after more complex copyright laws, artists have had to limit their sampling to comply with these regulations. By even using the same type of melodies or beats for even a fraction of time in a song, many legal actions must be taken to be able to comply with copyright laws.
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