main character energy
this is a playlist about stepping into the spotlight, either boldly or reluctantly!
since the first playlist (coming of age) was released in November, i have changed my mind about providing the director’s cut (aka audio commentary) this early in the game. sharing audio would be a much smoother process with the help of a team who could assist me with recording and editing a product that matches my vision.1 so for now, i have decided to offer the playlists to my founding members at least two weeks before everyone else gets access.
for coming of age, i will also retroactively add timestamps for the lyrics i featured in the article. these changes will allow me to get back on track with rolling out the playlists on a monthly basis as originally planned. thanks for your patience! now, on to the program.
you can probably gauge that i started making this playlist when the phrase “main character energy” was more prominent in the zeitgeist. in this way, i’m happy to have this playlist serve as a timestamp for that era.
yet and still, there’s a reason i believe in divine timing. when it comes to a project like this, i’m sure that i have yet to hear all of the music that needs to be featured. therefore, there’s always time for revision. it also seems that some part of me has to experience elements of the story that i’m telling before i present it to you all.
the current iteration of this playlist begins with a title track — the oh-so-fly instrumental “Main Character Energy” by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist — and ends with a very recent addition, “Sexed and Sexual” by Italian artist Sans Soucis.
in order to understand these picks, it’s time we learned a little bit more about the characters of a filmless score. the main character energy playlist has been crafted from the perspective of our narrators. are they reliable? that’s up to you to decide. this selection of songs is for the one who sees themselves as the hero, the boss, the lover, the villain, the underdog, or “The Martyr” at any given time. it really just depends on what angle their mirror is facing. ultimately, the protagonists believe they’re as extra as they are ordinary.
all of the characters are more complex than they originally seem on the surface. however, at this stage, any demographic information for these characters is up to interpretation and imagination. they could be any of the following: the “Female Lead,” an “Ordinary Guy,” a “Happy Man,” a “Golden God,” a “[New York] Transit Queen,” “A Beautiful Woman,” the “Universal Child,” or even the “King of the Hill.”
maybe they are prone to being “Misunderstood” or taken advantage of, so they’ve set strong boundaries to assert that they are “Nont For Sale.” it’s possible they are so used to being the talk of the town, they might as well have a “Wikipedia” page about them.
maybe they are seeking refuge from the expectations of others? they could be so concerned about being “In Your Head” that they don’t focus on themselves like they should. it sounds like they need a moment “To Be Still.” once that clarity arrives, all of the life events they’ve encountered make them go “WOW!,” which might hopefully lead to an unbreakable sense of self-determination. from here, they can proudly proclaim “I Will Be” and believe all of the positive attributes that might follow this statement. this character is learning to trust themselves more and more every day.
you see, they previously thought no one cared about their “Precious Feelings.” while that possibly might be the case for the world at large, it’s taken the character until now to understand that finding comfort with one’s place in the world is typically coupled with an unrelenting acceptance of “Self.”
what follows is a preview of notable lyrics from songs on the playlist that highlight aforementioned main character attributes. there are 25 songs total, so i won’t go over them all here. instead, i leave space for you to draw your own conclusions about where certain songs fit within the paradigm(s) i’ve outlined.
keywords: determination, doubt, assertion, confidence, insecurity, trust, belief, faith, popularity, infamy, acceptance.
“Powerball” by Topaz Jones featuring Leven Kali
the main character may be somewhat braggadocious, but it’s a façade. it’s more apparent to everyone around them (and the viewer) that they live a fairly provincial life with really big dreams. they harbor deep insecurities like everyone else. they are still learning when to take a calculated risk and wager the benefits of it paying off.
“Everybody wanna have it all, but how you gonna get it if you're still waiting on the ball? If you don't jump, how you gon' get down?”2
“Golden God” by Dope Lemon
even with these fears, the lead character might want you to think the sun shines just for them. here comes that unrelenting self-determination:
“Can’t afford my gasoline, son. It’s gold, son. It’s gold.” 3
“The Martyr” by IGBO
the protagonist might be slightly jaded because they are tired of being sold lies. they’re currently coming to the understanding that everyone has their version of reality.
“You can say whatever you want, but I know it won’t change my mind. Anything that you wanna see can be true if you close your eyes.”4
“Sky Mind” by Radiant Children
self-acceptance can be a hard pill to swallow when the world would rather you wallow in misery. staying grounded through mindfulness can help the main character recenter themselves in times of crisis.
“I know who I am. I know who I’m not. I know who I am. I think I forgot. I know who I am, it’s beautiful that I don’t wanna change it.”5
“I Will Be” by Brainstory
once the character is determined, their faith in themselves steadily grows.
“I'll be what I need to be. I'll see what I see in me.”6
“WOW!” by Berhana
sometimes, it takes a good look in the mirror to remember who the f**k you are.
“Found myself, then found my meaning. Plant your seeds for fertile seasons. Once was blind, but now I see it. Wow!”7
“Universal Child” by Wet World
that feeling of being apart of something greater than yourself resurfaces quite often for the main character. it’s surreal, even.
“Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one, and then I look out on the setting sun.
Come sing along to the song of life. We're Mother Nature's universal child.”8
in reflection, the playlist is equal parts funky, boastful, introspective, and experimental. it offers a lot to consider in parsing out the rest of this story as it unfolds. the next couple of playlists will dive deeper into more specifics about our lead character archetypes, as well as the muses and themes that inform this project’s evolution.
for instance, one of the muses for a filmless score is British musician Nilüfer Yanya. i’ve featured a track from her debut album on this playlist (“In Your Head”), but her most recent record, My Method Actor, is a conceptual release that fits the ethos of this project. more to come on this in the next installment of the series. for now, here’s the playlist in its entirety.
main character energy: the playlist
(YouTube)
prior sync placements
according to Tunefind, only four songs on the playlist had existing sync placements in film & television. check out each link to see which shows or movies they appeared in:
“Happy Man” — this Jungle song has been featured in quite a few TV show episodes.
i am speaking this into fruition because i really want to sing in this series and make it more interactive. i also think that video will be an even better avenue to explore this than audio alone.