Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Perfection
charting songs on the axis of perfection
Pursuit of [REDACTED]
John Locke coined the phrase “life, health, liberty, or possessions” to describe the four inalienable rights of man in The Two Treaties of Civil Government. Thomas Jefferson quickly took hold of Locke’s notion and transformed it into something more poetic, stating that men are created equal and have the god given right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
That phrase, “the pursuit of happiness” is as haunting as it is heartwarming. On the one hand, to live in a place where men and women are free to pursue happiness is a blessing. On the other hand, knowing that much of life will be lived “in pursuit” of some end goal is terrible because, well, it just gives off hamster wheel vibes:
Guaranteeing the pursuit of something, anything does not guarantee the culmination of something, anything.
So that phrase haunts me — especially because everyone has a different synonym that, for them, is considered “happiness.”
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of God.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of money.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of family.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of success.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of [insert idol here].
Anyways.
The Pursuit Doesn’t Have to Be Depressing Tho
I won’t stray too far into the depths of “finding the purpose of life” territory. I only bring up the “life, liberty, and the pursuit of” conundrum because it is something that has always, ALWAYS driven my engagement with media.
The idea of a perfect ending to a show, a perfect book, a perfect movie, a perfect… song, is fascinating to me from the perspective of both fan and creator. I’m always looking for perfection.
For me, when consuming culture, I am all about “life, liberty, and the pursuit of perfection.”
Now, as I said before, this can be a depressing concept when viewed through the lens of a personal life. However, when contextualized around media, the “pursuit of perfection” becomes a striking talking point because, well, “perfection” is so hard to define, and is even harder to achieve.
As this week is about music, I thought this would be the perfect time to charterize perfection — specifically musical perfection.
Charterizing Perfection
Charterizing perfection is difficult.
A line chart just doesn’t do well, as it only allows for two different metrics to be compared.
Doing a scoring system is also a no-go, because it’s too hard to quantify media — which is inherently based on opinion.
For example, if we were to break down “Perfect TV Shows” into quantifiable scores, it might look something like this:
While this is a great attempt at quantifying perfection, it is falls short because of the subjectivity. For instance, I gave Friends a 9 on casting simply because Jennifer Aniston is Jennifer Aniston. However, some (normal ppl) might not have a Jennifer Aniston fetish, which would drop the perfection score too low.
The point is that a quantifiable perfection sheet would vary too much from person to person to be useful.
I want something that everyone can sort of, kinda agree on.
I want a venn diagram.
The Venn Diagram of Perfection: Song Edition
To do what I want, I need a four circle venn diagram, wherein the center holds that intangbile tangibility: perfection.
Notably, each circle stands for a single characteristic of a great song:
vibes: does your head nod to the beat? does your foot tap? do your shoulders somewhat shimmy? then the song has vibes
singalongability: can you nail every word to the song? can you belt it in the shower? or in the car?
unskippability: if the song comes on, no matter the time, do you skip it? have you ever stayed in a car to finish a song after getting home with 42 seconds left in a song? that’s what we’re looking for
unforgettable lyrics: do you get goosebumps listening? can you relate?
Here’s how sampling of songs in my Venn Diagram:
And the perfect song?
Drumroll please….
It is a song that…
cannot be skipped
must be easily sung
always vibe
and have lyrics that give goosebumps
And I’m sorry to say… that you will NOT believe your eyes when you see this, but the only perfect song that belongs on my Venn Diagram is…
Fireflies, by Owl City.
Conclusion
Really don’t have anything else to say.
Sidenote: Music Shouldn’t Be In Anyone. That’s Gross
Something about this topic makes think about the most inappropriate lyrics to ever grace the screen of a disney channel movie: “Oh, you are the music in me,” belts T and G, the starbucks lovers (get it Bag?) everyone knows and loves from HSM.
I mean, my god, who approved this?
“Hey, hey, guys, let’s have Troy and Gabriella Eiffel tower the piano girl (whatever her name is) and sing lyrics about penetrating each other with lyrics.”
Anyways. Glad I got that out of my system.
- Kram