For my project, I wrote a lyric poem surrounding issues with gender equality as well as freedom of speech in general. My poem/song started off with describing well known scenes that every boy and girl has faced whether it is the same as what I described or with reversed genders. My chorus is mainly about standing up for the things you believe in, understanding that you cannot change the world if you don't accept yourself first(just the way you are). "People holding signs and we will make it far" is about going out to protests and letting your voice be heard, again standing up for what you believe in. The bridge of the song is addressing disbelievers that either think the world may change by itself, or ones who only pray or think about change but never take action. I had some trouble thinking about the idea of writing a song because most songs that I know are romantic love songs, but I knew that if I were to write my first song I would want it to have some kind of message that will help improve and educate someone's perspective. As I sat down to write a poem at the beginning of the English block, the lyrics just came to me as I jotted down in the silence of others writing while I was starting to hum the melody. In the video, I am singing in front of an audience with my guitar alone for the first time. I was shaking and forgot to put on a capo after introducing myself at the open mic at Fairview Pub, I was blessed with such a friendly audience(by audience I mean 7 people) and staff. I'd like to thank Ms. Kwan for giving us this project as I would have never tried writing a song because I never thought I had the ability to. Going out and asking strangers to hold up the chorus of my song while explaining to them my song and this project really made me go outside of my comfort zone. Below are the lyrics to the project.
For the boy who can't say no,
who thinks that no one understands.
How hard he wants to say no
when they say "be a man"
For the girl who can't say no
even though they all know,
that deep down she knows this isn't right
That she can't put up with this fight
But who can?
Who can help us
You can.
Just the way you are
Just the way you are
Keep your hands high
and we will reach the stars
Just the way you are
Just the way you are
Let's change the world
Just the way you are
Just the way you are
People holding signs
and we will make it far
Just the way you are
Just the way you are
Let's change the world
But some say that things may change
the way they are.
And some pray
that we will have
equality
We will have equality
Just the way you are
Just the way you are
Keep your hands high
and we will reach the stars
Just the way you are
Just the way you are
Let's change the world
Just the way you are
Just the way you are
People holding signs
and we will make it far
Just the way you are
Just the way you are
Let's change the world
One of the biggest challenges I had was sharing it to more than just the English class, it meant more eyes judging to me which made me feel insecure because I wasn't sure about my lyrics and the message I was sending. After posting on facebook, I was shocked and overwhelmed by the amount of positive feedback I was receiving, I had no idea people would appreciate the message in my song and my hard work. I'm very glad that I posted it because if I hadn't I would have never gotten the feedback which gave me a push in confidence.
