-https://www.google.com/search?q=barbie+song+album&sca_esv=572714518&biw=1440&bih=702&sxsrf=AM9HkKnOdeTgGZF8CtQ4hwmtAGy8gTJH5Q%3A1697072248427&ei=eEQnZdjQGZDi5NoPgbKA2Ag&oq=barbie+song+album&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiEWJhcmJpZSBzb25nIGFsYnVtKgIIADIFEAAYgAQyCBAAGBYYHhgKMgYQABgWGB4yCBAAGBYYHhgKMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHki6JFDeAli-FXABeAGQAQCYAaUBoAHTDqoBBDUuMTK4AQHIAQD4AQGoAhTCAgcQIxjqAhgnwgIHEC4Y6gIYJ8ICFhAAGAMYjwEY5QIY6gIYtAIYjAPYAQHCAgQQIxgnwgIHECMYigUYJ8ICBxAuGIoFGEPCAgcQABiKBRhDwgIKEC4YsQMYigUYQ8ICChAAGIoFGLEDGEPCAhkQLhixAxiKBRhDGJcFGNwEGN4EGOAE2AECwgIKEC4YigUYsQMYQ8ICCBAAGIAEGLEDwgIIEC4YsQMYgATCAggQABiABBjJA8ICCBAAGIAEGJIDwgIKEAAYgAQYFBiHAsICBRAuGIAEwgIIEAAYigUYhgPiAwQYACBBiAYBugYGCAEQARgLugYGCAIQARgU&sclient=gws-wiz-serp&clie=1

‘What Was I Made For?’ by Billie Eilish has a very low musical tone along with a soft voice and goes in a slow pace to trigger deep emotions. Most of the lyrics consist rhetorical questions such as the song title, allowing individuals to reflect, think, or question themselves. This song was made for the Barbie movie and is purposely made with deep emotions to match one of the scenes.

This was around the time college started. During this time I was clueless because high school just ended and I was thinking of how to adjust to college life. Change can be hard for me, especially going to a different place with new people. I wondered what and how college life would be after many attempts of imagining the scene. Before that I never knew what I wanted to be nor had a dream of what I wanted to be since I was used to the school cycle.

I see the connection of cluelessness and desperation. At one point in life I feel lost and confused, not knowing what happens after. This song demonstrates a lot of questions for individuals to reflect. Basing it off from the Barbie movie, Barbie had a time of cluelessness and didn’t know what she was made for and that was exactly the purpose of this song. Besides the movie, this specific artist makes a lot of slow paced music and they show low tone.

   It was an experience that is hard to forget. The whole car shaking from the bass as an unfamiliar flow was playing in the background. I would never expect polish rap to gain much attention, yet mine. English rap was always in my zone leaving me thinking that other rap from other countries was irrelevant. But there I was, in the backseat of my car, bopping my head and trying to sing along with the catchy chorus presented to me. 

   We have decided to play some “foreign music” that my friends brought back from their trip to Poland, with no one expecting anything from it. There was this playful skepticism in the air as I saw the smirks on my friends’ mouths as the CD was put in the player. The album was named “czerwony dywan” (red carpet) and was by a well known artist in poland. When the music started playing I heard this dominant voice that took control over the whole atmosphere, which seemed to speak to the youth within us. In that moment music became more than just a beat and lyrics. It gave me a deeper connection to my culture and understanding.

    From that day forward I started to listen to more Polish music and discovered different genres of Polish music. There was pop, old hits, rock, and more. I couldn’t get enough. I spent the next months listening and connecting my thoughts to other Polish people. This is how I made many of my friends. Through music I started to learn more Polish words and improved my vocabulary. I also learned Polish slang which helped me connect to the youth in Poland. To this day i go to polish concerts and meet up with my polish friends. Polish music had a great influence in my life and without that CD that was brought from Poland by my friends my life would have been so much different.

• https://open.spotify.com/album/3yzl43mSDPljVeY4GASLi3?si=BoLmC-6eRlG-qGQ1UOgLcQ

TABLES TURN by Baby Money is a song that exhibits how rags can turn into riches, the struggles, the streets, and relations. In other words, how the tables can turn meaning the reversal of a situation to gain the upper hand. He done experience the odds being against him, people being against him, and losing close friends in the process. However, he persevered through hardships and grind until he became the boss. He is the one on top putting people into position now. This is motivation music, music that makes you want to rise and prosper further.

According to a interview done by Kahn Santori Davison, Baby Money originally wrote this song in jail. One verse he raps: “I done watched the odds change, guess the tables really turned/ I done watched the vibes change, but it’s turned up my earnings/ I’m the teacher and the student, ’cause ain’t nothin’ wrong with learning/ I could smell the opps burning, streets cold with three thermals.“

The word play here is different. Here he displays imagery, figurative language, and voice. He does all this while rhyming, everything goes together. When you dive into his past, you discover what’s under the iceberg. You discover he grew up in a rough area of detroit. His father was murdered when he was 5 years old, leaving him to navigate the streets and adulthood on his own. Baby Money first name was ‘Dollar,’ because he used to always ask people for dollars. He would go around his hood and have a bankroll in his pocket, get a dollar from everybody, and then go shoot dice with the older people. He had a hustling mindset since a kid and eventually turned to music. The road wasn’t smooth but eventually, he got signed to QC and is now making Hundreds of thousands. In the process, he loss some of his close friends to the streets, showing how the streets can get cold. The further you go into his life, you see the authenticity of his lyrics.

For Baby Money to be authentic and relatable causes his music to be 100x better. Just off the hook I can relate to “I‘m the teacher and the student, ’cause ain’t nothin’ wrong with learning,” because it reveals you may be an expert on a particular topic, though you might lack knowledge on something you can learn. Implying hiding your pride and staying open minded indirectly. Overall, Baby Money is a role-model to me. He motivates you to hustle, do what you gotta do, and follow your ambitions. He shows me that a black male from poor community can make it big because I also come from a marginalized neighborhood.

I used Hong’s writing as a model in my first draft. I liked how she used sensory details, metaphors, and imagery through her story. She used a lot dialogue which I incorporated in my draft. Her voice also is present, it’s like as if the story is alive, especially with the use of humor she used. I mimicked this to make my story engaging. Everything from introduction, characters, setting, and conflict is clear so that is something I can make sure my narrative does too.

Modeled after the essay you chose to read from the New York Times Magazine digital collection, write your own “The Song(s) That Got Me Through It Essay.” Think of it like “musical autobiography.”

• Share the song/album on the blog with a link, video, or embedded media
• Write 2-3 paragraphs where you…
  • Describe the song and artist… Look at some of the lyrics and musical choices. Use craft moves! (sensory details, imagery, figurative language, tone, voice, etc.)
  • Describe yourself at the time this music reached you… what was going on with you? Who were you? What was your life like?
  • Describe the connection as you see it now… based on your life, why do you think this song had the effect that it had? What was it about this song/album/artist?

I think I have used Hong’s writing as a model in my first draft. I liked how she started the essay with a very descriptive paragraph and set the tone of the overall essay well. She also made craft moves like imagery, sensory details, and dialogue in this paragraph. I have also used these craft moves in my writing when describing a specific scene that directly relates to my moment of epiphany. This essay also helped me with the conclusion part as I was struggling with how to wrap up my writing. My epiphany came in the form of a question, which I still can’t find an answer to. Her writing gave me a hint that throwing some questions can be one form of a conclusion paragraph.

While writing my first draft I definitely kept reaching for Cathy park hongs “Bad English” because the amount of craft methods she used. Her strategies made me more engaged with the text and made me want to do the same. Even though I didn’t nearly incorporate as much as her in my draft I will continue to look at hers for reference so I can try and incorporate more craft moves and make my writing more interesting for readers. So far I have only incorporated dialogue but I want to try and include more imagery, setting and try and elaborate on the scenario that I am writing about. I also want to use my own voice so its not just me writing and people reading, but more me speaking to an audience.

I used Anzaldua as a model for my writing. I hope to use Hong’s writing style as well. I used ethos like they did to show the experience I had in what I wrote about. It helped me express myself in writing better than I have before. There are times where I couldn’t express myself using the right words but seeing their use of techniques helped me find a way.

I liked how the writer Hong wrote their piece. What I liked about it is that she talked about a lot of people that were around her and her communities. This is also what I would like to try and implement into my writing. I feel like I used characterization and setting the most in my writing so far. Hong’s text helped me by giving me an idea on how I would want to write my story like.

The writer that helped me on my draft would be Cathy Park Hong’s writing. In her writing she uses craft moves like dialogues, characterization and rhetorical questions. That really spark a big idea of what I need to write on my draft. So, it really helps me out because I was confused at first. I used a lot of dialogues to spark a conversation so readers could feel that moment. I also used characterization so readers can almost see how the characters that are used in my draft looks like/act like. Their behavior and appearances.