What should I do?

AKA the most dangerous question in music.

A few weeks ago, one of our signed artists, Christiana, came into the office to play some new music for the team.

She came strapped with her acoustic guitar, plopped down on the couch and played about 5 songs for me and my colleague, Preston.

After she wrapped up, we discussed our favorites… when Christiana turned to us and said:

“Oh… I do have ONE MORE song that I recorded a while back… ”

Preston handed her the aux cord and she proceeded to play a demo of a song called “Red Lights”.

The moment we heard the first lyrics… Preston and I turned to each other and said “This is the one.”

Preston lifted his arms to show the hair standing up (what he calls his geiger counter for good music)… and immediately we knew that this was the song we needed to release next.

As an artist, it’s easy to question your intuition. Even if I initially think something I made is brilliant, it’s easy to let doubt creep in and erode my conviction.

But, with other peoples’ art… it’s as clear as day. When you hear it, you know.

And in that moment, Preston and I knew.

(You NEVER question Preston’s arm hairs…🤮)

Immediately, Christiana reached out to her producer and started setting up a time to record the official version, and just a few days later, she returned to the office with the final version.

“OH MY GOSH!” Christiana exclaimed… “I spent A WHOLE DAY tracking vocals for this song yesterday… I can’t wait for you guys to hear it.”

Preston handed her the aux cord and Christiana fired up the new version of “Red Lights”.

Instantly the same dreamy and familiar guitar we heard just a few days prior filled the room… but this time, when the vocals came in, something was different.

“Yeah no sh** Michael… it was a new recording, of course it’s different.”

Yes, thank you, mean reader.

But I mean something was different different.

Something about the new vocal performance was missing the magic that the original demo had. They were fantastic…. but different.

I looked at Preston’s arm hairs to see if I was crazy, but they were as flat as a pancake.

(That’s the last I’ll speak of the arm hairs in this article, it’s weirding me out too.)

I kept listening…. the vocals were technically perfect. Every note was on point. Everything sounded perfectly fine.

It just felt different.

When the song concluded, I turned to Christiana…

I sensed that maybe she felt the same, but of course I was hesitant to share my concerns. The last thing I wanted to do was criticize a technically brilliant performance because of something I couldn’t even put my finger on.

But, knowing Christiana is a pro and wants real feedback, I decided to share my feelings.

“I…. have a bit of demo-itis….” I said quietly.

(Demo-itis is a cutesy way of saying that you prefer the demo-version of a song.)

Immediately, Christiana’s face dropped in a way that only happens when someone pokes at something you’re already worried about.

“Yeah…” she said, “that’s what a few people have told me…”

“I don’t know what happened” she continued. “I knew how much you guys liked this song, and I really wanted to nail the vocals….”

Preston and I reassured her, but the reality of the situation was already setting in.

If we wanted to release this on time, Christiana wouldn’t be able to re-record the vocals… but she also didn’t want to commit to the new vocals if they didn’t have the same magical effect as the demo.

“I spent ALL DAY recording those vocals…… I can’t just waste all of that work!” she shouted.

“And I can’t just use the demo vocals….. I recorded them sitting on the couch in the studio….”

Suddenly Christiana turned to me.

………..

And that’s when she asked the most dangerous question in music.

……….

“What should I do?”

---

Now, this may seem like a harmless question…… and in some regards it is.

But as someone who has struggled with horrific existential dread since I was in first grade (see my past articles about my struggles with OCD), I learned long ago that “should” doesn’t actually exist.

“Should” implies there is a universal answer that exists externally…… that somehow if you can just search in the right place, or ask the right person, you might find exactly what you’re looking for.

Many chase the “should” for ages… scanning what everyone else is doing and assuming they “should” do that too.

Or perhaps they’ll make choices not because they believe in them, but because they justify something that we’ve already done (AKA using the new vocals simply because she spent an entire day recording them).

But the reality is… there is no external answer.

There is no should.

But there IS an internal answer.

Knowing what to do is actually pretty easy, if you can ignore all of the noise, self-doubt, and mental shortcuts available to you.

But that can be EXTREMELY uncomfortable to acknowledge, because it means that everything is entirely up to you.

And as scary as that is, it’s what ultimately allows you to actually create something new, rather than copying something else.

---

“All I can tell you is that the demo vocals evoked emotion in me that the new vocals didn’t…. what you choose to do with that information is completely up to you.” I said, annoyingly.

Preston nodded in agreement.

Christiana also preferred the demo vocals, but was convinced that because they were demo vocals, they SHOULD be re-recorded.

“I can’t use the demo vocals…. I just spent hours getting this re-recorded….”

Preston and I shrugged.

“…..can I?” Christiana continued.

We shrugged again.

“I guess maybe I can have my producer blend in a bit of the new vocals with the demo vocals… that might work….”

…...

“Yeah…” she went on, “I’ll do that…. that might work.”

Slowly the frustration started to melt away as Christiana focused on solving the problem instead. Rather than asking what she should do, she started exploring what she could do, and simply weighed out the pros and cons.

Within 10 minutes, her producer (our dear sweet friend Reid Sorel), had a new version with the original demo vocals (and some of the new vocals blended in at certain points).

Preston handed Christiana the aux cord.

Dreamy guitars blanketed the room.

And then….

Well, you tell me.

Here’s the final version of the song:

What do you hear/feel?

(Let us know in the comments, and PLEASE… if you enjoy the track… click that little “+” button that says “Save on Spotify”… it really helps us get traction on new releases.)

🫡⚔️🫡⚔️🫡⚔️

Michael from MAD Records

(No subscribe button this time… use the free time to stream “Red Lights” above 👆)