Anyone who follows me on Twitter or Facebook (or who knows me in real life) has probably already gotten a dose of my mad love for this first season of GLEE. Glee takes me back to my own high school theater club memories and a point in time when belting out the lyrics of showtunes--whether from the stage, or backstage, or up-and-down the hallways after school, or in a car with my friends, or at home in front of my mirror--seemed like the perfect solution to every moment of high school drama. Thinking about it with just a little emotional distance now, I suppose the best explanation I can give is that musicals are all about highs and lows, about the moments when the intensity of life is so far beyond mere words that one must simply burst into song to come anywhere close to expressing it. In short, they're the perfect match for the utter and ongoing angst of high school/teen life! :)I started thinking about all this over the last few days, not long after I downloaded the Glee soundtrack. With apologies to my neighbors, I've listened to the duet of "Defying Gravity" approximately 67 times and counting since last Thursday, my flimsy excuse for that aural behavior being that I never really had a "Wicked" phase, since it came out a good number of years after my own High School Musical experience had passed. On my walk home from the subway last night, listening to it yet again on my ipod (have I mentioned I have a wee tendency to wear out new songs once I get attached to them?) I started thinking about that high school self of mine. Would Molly-in-high-school have liked "Defying Gravity"? Well, yes, of course--up to a point. It's undeniably a great emotional turning point/defining moment kind of song. It gives a nice bounce to your step, makes you stand up a little straighter, a little stronger, a little bolder, makes you eager to belt out those lyrics whether or not you're actually capable of belting all that very well or not--in short, it's kinda the vocal definition of an anthem. But would Molly-in-high-school have loved the song to the point of inhabiting it, of declaring to the world that it, like, totally defined her? As much as my current iTunes play count might hint otherwise now, I think the truth is no--it's a terribly upbeat song, after all, and, truth be told, at 15 and 16, I liked my anthems far more heartrending and melodramatic and tragic ("On My Own," anyone? Or "Someone Else's Story" ?).
Of course, pondering any topic too deeply tends to eventually lead me back in one direction--to books and writing, and Glee and its soundtrack is no exception. It's not a new trend for writers to talk about the playlists they create as they write their novels--the music they feel captures the moods and world of their story. I'm curious, though--if asked directly, what would your book's main character (ooh! or your book's antagonist!) tell you is the song (and it doesn't have to be musical-theatre inspired, of course) that's his or her anthem, that one song that defines the world as she/he sees it, or defines the very core of him/herself? The song that she or he would put on repeat over and over and over when they're feeling lost or alone, or trying to pump up him or herself or a big moment? What song makes your character feel like the songwriter practically crawled inside his or her brain (or heart) and somehow managed to express everything that was in it?
As ever, I love to peek inside writerly brains, so if you're game, tell us in the comments comments about what your main character's (or other characters') anthems would be. And just for kicks, I'd definitely love to hear what your own anthem was when you were in high school, too.
(P.S. Also? If you're a writer who's got a Glee-like manuscript--for the love of Lerner & Lowe, please have your agent send it my way!)
