The acapella technique plays the evolutionary loop of variation and retention in the mind’s ear, ever tweaking the piece, making it more and more catchy.
I want to figure out how to produce hits using memetic algorithms. I rather fancy that massive singalong anthems have a property that makes them highly retentive and playlistable. Moreover, pieces that invite mass singalongs, especially live, tend to be highly popular. I’ve been to enough gigs to have experienced audiences singing their lungs out; in many cases slightly (or very) drunk and quite usually out of tune. A song that can maintain its might in this light is truly a banger indeed – and that is what I am aiming for. Structurally, among other things, a song tends to have verses, choruses, a break, then repeats the chorus a few times. It is the post-break repetition of the chorus that I try to make into an anthem.
Acapella isn’t just in the auditory imagination; I employ the other senses as well. Really, I am recalling what it is like to be at a gig where the audience is going bonkers, and trying to project this atmosphere onto my own creations. I visualise a stadium or venue full of fans chanting and punching the air, the artist on stage, the lighting and so on. In terms of NLP, this visualisation is the lead system which takes me to feeling the excitement of the event. With that, I can project my own tune onto what the fans are singing, and how they are singing it.
Actually, I am using this hybridisation as an internal test to explore how strong the tune is and modify it until it fits the image. Another test that I run in my imagination, is that of a tribute artist or cover band having the tune as part of their set and playing in such as a working men’s club. If I can plausibly imagine the audience singing along, then it’s possible that the piece has longevity, which is an indicator of potential popularity. I conduct these thought experiments as a way of teasing out what might make the track ever stronger.
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