Track list Options for my Digipak
- 2. 1. Wonderland – Natalia Kills What I understand of Wonderland (including the video) is that she gave up on finding True Love, but society (the guards), is making her believe, against her will that she NEEDS to find the right guy and settle down to be happy. The line "Will you wake me up If I bite your poison apple" refers to her wondering that, if she believes what they say, will it really come true. The fighting part is what happens when you refuse to "conform" to what society thinks and believes: people start to argue with you and make you feel horrible for believing in something different. And the execution is an homage to everyone who has ever died for "thinking outside the box" In the video, the drugged cupcakes represent all the lies that people feed you to make you believe that this is what you need. And that once you start, you become addicted to believing it. The chorus takes the twisted horror that is wonderland, the land of wonders that are actually turn out to be horrors, and applies it to societies view of "settling down" I may choose this song for my track list because of the clear connection to Mad Hatter, although It can be said the genre of the song may be a bit different in that it is a bit more pop.
- 3. 2. Drink Me – Anna Nalick Given that there are not only other references to Alice in Wonderland, but it is based on a part of East of Eden that specifically has to do with Alice in Wonderland, I'm also quite sure that it is supposed to be "Alice" and not "Ellis". This is why it is clear to me that it should be part of my tracklist, however it is much more slow than the other songs and mad hatter. it's based on Cathy from John Steinbeck's East of Eden, but it completely leaves out the significant evil of her character... It focuses more on when she grows old running her brothel and becomes afraid. Along with this, she becomes arthritic and loses the beauty she has had for her entire life. In the novel Cathy does wear poison about her neck, and actually recalls a time when she was a child and drank water pretending it was the "Eat Me" or "Drink Me" (not sure) from Alice and Wonderland, and that it would make her smaller and smaller and she had fantastic adventures. She always leaves a little bit of her Drink Me water left, because her safety net if she ever wanted was that drinking the entire bottle would make her disappear forever. Near the end of the novel when she drinks the poison that she keeps around her neck, this is what she is remembering and she is drinking all of the "Drink Me" to disappear forever.
- 4. 3. Tea Party – Kerli The video shows Kerli throwing a large tea party for her guests, who are dressed in very lavish outfits. It then shows Kerli before the party, adding a potion to the tea which causes her guests to turn into dolls which she picks up a places in a row on the shelf. Kerli says "triangles symbolize creation, all elements, male and female." The red and white symbolizes the good and evil, like the red and white queens in Alice in Wonderland. This song goes with my genre and she even sounds similar to Melanie Martinez, so this would work very well.
- 5. 4. Alice– Avril Lavigne This song is about Alice from Alice in Wonderland...but I think if you look past that its a song about telling yourself that no matter what happens or how many times life knocks you down that you are strong enough to get back up and keep fighting. That no one can stop you from doing what you want. This song was actually made for the Alice and Wonderland film. This is very relevant to what I want my album to say. Its about self motivation, which means I would probably put this song lower down on the track list.
- 6. 5. My Demons – Starset "Take me high and I'll sing, you make everything okay!" This line is basically saying "Stay with me, you make the stress go away." "We are one in the same, you take all of the pain away!" This line, I believe, is saying he has found someone who understands what he went through before, and this person makes him happy (or possibly inspires him to be so accepting). "Save me if I become my demons." This line is saying he doesn't want to go back to the life he had, and he's basically apologizing for future reference in-case he does something bad. This is what it feels like to have depression or anxiety. You're fighting it, but failing and you need help - "Mayday! Mayday! The ship is slowly sinking". People think you're crazy but they don't feel what your feeling - "They think I'm crazy but they don't know the feeling" people can't understand what you're going through until they feel it too.
- 7. 6. House of Cards– Janet Devlin This song is about love and explains the issues of building up and watching the love and everything you’ve worked for come crashing down. Janet Devlin has a similar voice to Martinez, and she has a delicate tone. It is also very much indie pop so I probably will use this song for my track list.
- 8. 7. Habits – Tove Lo Lyrically, the song is a graphic depiction of Tove Lo's hedonistic attempts to get over her ex. ‘Some people have a problem with me portraying that ugliness, but that's the only way I can write.“ This song is appropriate for the track list because it is similar in the way of how blunt mad hatter is, it is also indie pop. It can be said that her suffering co insides with Alice in Mad Hatter as she is also in torture with herself.
- 9. 8. Not on Drugs – Tove Lo The whole song encases the feeling of being high off of various emotions, especially pertaining to love. This is a metaphorical high. The last line of the Pre-Hook shows that, although, every song is very personal and comes from Tove’s life and experiences; it can be looked at solely from the perspective of a deeply romantic relationship. She is actually not on drugs at all she is completely fine, however the term ‘love is addictive’ is proven here.
- 10. 9. Break The Rules – Charli XCX This song is all about teen rebellion and being disobedient for a living. She deliberately doesn’t conform to these expectations of her, she instead uses her lifestyle to make a statement. She is happy with being different because she wants to be. The element of rebellion and not conforming to the status quo is what is so similar to Mad Hatter, she also has a similar voice and the song is relatively similar in tempo and pitch.
- 11. 10. Cool Kids – Echosmith This song is about how you don’t fit in, and are always longing to be normal. It is rather upbeat, however the meaning of the song ties in perfectly with Mad Hatter. It is much more pop than I would like however, so I may cut this one out if I have to.
- 12. 11. Haunting – Halsey This is a story about Halsey seeing her ex lovers ghost, and to make her better she wants him to haunt her. This may show her signs of depression, she is in a clinical depression over the loss of her boyfriend. The song is showing desperation. Halsey is considered to be very similar to Martinez, and this song is very similar to her voice, this would add continuity. It also could be said that this should come before Mad Hatter to show her haunting actually drives her insane.
- 13. 12. Hold Me Down – Halsey This is a song about demons holding down who she is, they are stopping her from doing what she wants. However she also says she lives for it, which may refer to live for confrontation and to be put down. It can be noted that she needs to be free. That the demons are constantly holding her down, whether they are real or not is another question. It also goes well with Mad Hatter because of Halseys style and the idea that society is pressing against who these people are, they cannot be themselves.
- 14. 13. Rabbit Heart – Florence & the Machine I think the song is about a young woman who is afraid of human closeness because of bad experiences she made in her past while she was vulnerable (when she was a child) and now still feels like she is in danger if she doesn't hide herself. In fact it's her own fear, she that to overcome. The fear is represented by a metaphorical figure she calls "Midas". She is trying to say that she is offering herself, being used is what is the done thing, she is used to sexism, and isn’t used to being treated correctly. Her voice is very high pitched, this may not work the continuity, however the rabbit references and the high pitch tone makes the song sound asif she is in pain and is screaming to be helped and saved by someone
- 15. 14. Roses – The Chainsmokers This song also refers to the Rabbit heart as they both use Midas as a metaphor of turning into gold. This song is about her falling for someone new, this is good because it may be able to come last in the tracklist. These artists are also indie pop, however this song is rather current. (only brought out 9 months ago).