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Here’s the first, overall impression (and this is important because in most cases a song’s fate depends on just that -- the first impression.) Interesting start; nice melodies; too many things going on; not enough dynamics; hard to tell difference between verse and chorus, and finally: was this a Reggae, Pop, Rock, or House mix? First impression about “Confident” is “unconvincing”. Good thing is the highs can be improved and the lows can be fixed.
Overall song structure
Intro: The low-quality start (is that a guitar?) is a good idea and the dynamic effect when all instruments follow is positive – keep it that way. However, you should continue with the same melody as from the “low-quality guitar”. You introduce two different melodic elements in a short time and this doesn’t help. And definitely keep the intro half of its current length.
Next you have Verse 1 and 2 followed by an instrumental part (bridge?) and finally thre Chorus. Generally speaking, there’s nothing wrong with this structure – we could say it is a classic. But in this case you need to make it stronger. Remember, a song is as much memorable as its Chorus. And the Chorus of “Confident” comes only after a relatively long intro, two Verses, and an instrumental Bridge, or when we are almost a minute and a half into the song – that is just too late!
The rest of the structure is OK (with some comments on the solo part, I’ll get to it later), but let me elaborate up until the first Chorus. My suggestion is that you offer the Chorus, the most important part, earlier in the song. You don’t need to give the entire Chorus. Just take the last four measures of it, and incorporate them into the intro, as an end to the intro. That would be – two measures with text (and make sure the song title is part of it here) and two measures with the vocal only part (as the one after your second Verse.) By doing this you assure that 1) the listener hears part of your song’s strongest part early into the track; and 2) you “gave away” only partially your best element and the listener will be compelled to listen more of the song. Also, you don’t need the instrumental part after the first Chorus. Or at least make it only four or even two measures long.
And since I mentioned the vocal part after the second Verse – it is a very nice and strong piece, but make it a bit shorter – let the vocal stop at least two beats before the Chorus, otherwise it is too busy.
Solo: it actually looks like you are having two solos. You should either keep the instrumental part before the guitar or the one with the guitar only. Either one could work, but consider that the guitar sound is a new instrument brought into the song at 3:30 min. This new sound could be a nice attention re-grabber, or a distraction. It is a risky element that could work well or not, depending on how well it is used – how it is performed, type of guitar sound, or how it connects with the preceding and succeeding parts and sounds. In any way, use only the guitar part without the preceding it instrumental, starting the solo immediately after the Chorus. This will also make the dynamic effect of the new tonality more effective.
End: I love it; A nice touch – simple and effective! Keep it the way it is.
Arrangement
There are nice instrument parts, but there are too many of them. Simplify! I got the impression of distortion-like synthesizers, Reggae accompaniments, disco-like motifs, and instrument sounds with different flavors from the last 30 years. Too much stuff is going on. For a start you can get rid of either, the Reggae-like accompaniment (sorry if it’s not Reggae but that’s what it reminds me) that comes on every 2nd quaver/eight note, or the disco-like motif during the Verse. Actually, for the first Verse, you should use only drum, bass, and the underlying harmony chords. Introduce one instrument to the second Verse, and then play the whole set during the Chorus.
In addition to the above, make sure you add some pauses/breaks. They add tremendous dynamic effects when used before the Chorus. In “Confident”, the Chorus comes after an intro, two verses, and a Bridge. A two beat break right before the Chorus will make it much more noticeable.
I’d suggest reducing the use of distortion-like synthesizers. From the first chord of the intro the expectation was for a Rock track because of these sounds. They add some slight confusion; I wouldn’t play with it.
Nice musicianship and performance. However, I find the Verse and Chorus too similar melodically. Some similarity is OK. But after the first listening it was not easy to say which one was the Chorus. And again, the Chorus is important and should be obvious. You should work on increasing effectiveness of both. I cannot say that you should make the Verse worse in order for the Chorus to stand out more. But you could modify both in a way that the Verse prepares the listener for the Chorus, and the Chorus has its distinct melodic character.
In its current state the song doesn’t have a strong commercial appeal. For that to happen you should make sure that: 1) genre is easily identifiable; 2) Chorus is memorable; 3) instrument sounds are current. Without these three improvements, commercial, mainstream radios won’t be friendly to the track. But still, some independent stations or college radios could give it air time – and why not? The melodies are pleasant and the vocal parts offer some musically intriguing moments.
Again, nice material and ides with thouches of uniqueness and originality – refine them.
Oscar Petti for MSSVision
March, 2010 |
