Introducing Mellow Wisdom 1/100

Bohemian Rhapsody

Jan 03, 2021

Hey everyone!

Happy New Year!

We can barely put 2020 into words. The entirety of humanity experienced a once-in-a-lifetime event. There was chaos, uncertainty, and solitude, but I hope you were able to find some moments of joy and happiness too.

Like everyone else, it was a hard year for me. I leaned on writing and music when the going got tough.

I spent a large part of the year job hunting which involved a ton of learning, reading, and writing. A couple of months back I promised myself if we survive 2020, I’d put myself out there and start sharing whatever I’m curious about.

2020 was a year of revelations. I’m grateful I got a chance to read, reflect, and reorient. It helped me change the trajectory of my life.

So here we are!

What should you expect from Mellow Wisdom?

Expect the unexpected.

A lot of people close to me encouraged me to share my learnings. The goal is to be able to think through things, ask bold questions, connect the dots, and unearth insights. Things that are in plain sight but we don’t look beyond the obvious.

Julian Shapiro @Julian

Writing is the most radical thing you can do without money. If you have something important to say and you say it well, you send strangers down paths badly needed. It's a disservice to others to keep thoughts to yourself. As a writer, you can change the world from your couch.

I’ve gone down several different rabbit holes on the Internet and I’m fascinated by the sheer quality of resources out there. I’ve got to the point where it’s hard to consume content without creating it.

For today’s introductory post - I wanted to give you a flavor of what’s to come in the coming weeks. Expect similar analyses, deep dives, and commentary on some of the themes that are listed above along with a dose of my dry humor.

Find of the year: Bohemian Rhapsody

Always have music in your ears. You’re the star of your own movie, please pick your own soundtrack.
- Vir Das

The song has been on my playlist for years. But boy I’m glad I didn’t take the song too seriously back in the day.

Before we begin, for those of you who haven’t heard it. Give it a listen.

When Freddie Mercury said “Nothing really matters”, I felt that.
- Yours truly

If you don’t let the video quality influence you, the song feels fresh, chic, and modern even today in 2021, 45 years after it was first recorded. The song clearly stands the test of time. Like this song, I hope to be able to write articles that stand the test of time, words that are relevant years from now. Hmmm, big talk from someone publishing his first piece.

Anyway, let’s get into it.

So, what makes this song so special and unique?

So epic that people still talk about it 45 years later.

The resurgence of the song and the reignited interest among the masses can be primarily attributed to the Oscar-winning movie in 2018. Rami Malek is an absolute legend for pulling off the character Freddie Mercury, the lead singer the way he did. You can watch it on Prime if you haven’t already, it’ll make for a great weekend watch.

Btw Freddie Mercury deserves a blog post of his own, but that’s for another day. I found him to be honest, vulnerable, unapologetic, and a genius for translating the ideas in his head into music that people still listen to this day. Some of the characteristics I hope to imbibe in my writing.

There was something about the song itself that’s had such an impact on the world.

The song had a very rare effect on people, back in the day when people heard it the first time you heard it, you hadn’t heard anything quite like it. It’s the kind of the song that makes you pull over to the side of the road.
- Irwin Fisch, Emmy nominated composer and Professor at NYU

There was a norm back in the 1970s, most bands and artists followed a set pattern and a structure. Something of this sort:

Bohemian Rhapsody was different for its time and still is today.

The reason why the song sounds so different is because of its structure.

The song is divided into 5 different sections:

Bohemian Rhapsody is 5 different songs packed into one. *Source: Insider*

A Cappella
The introduction where a singer or a group of people sing the initial few sentences without instrumental music. This version of Rolling in the deep is a cappella.
Ballad
A ballad is a poem that tells a story, Historically it portrayed romantic feelings but we’ve corrupted it in the modern-day as it can now portray many different emotions. Can’t help falling in love by Elvis Presley is a famous ballad.
Opera
This is the part of the Bohemian Rhapsody song which makes it spectacular imo.
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (libretto) and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance.
Amir Khan in Dil Chahta Hai has made it really easy to recall what an opera is tbf.
Rock
Rock is a broad genre of music. There is a lot more nuance to rock music, many different forms, details for another day. We will rock you another epic Queen production is as you rightly guessed a rock song.
Coda
A coda is a passage at the end of a piece of music that brings the music to a close.

Each of these music forms is complex to create in its own right. Creating all of them together and infusing them into one single song back in the day when everything was manually recorded with disk tapes instead of doing it digitally is just GENIUS.

It was also highly unusual for a popular song to not have a chorus. It’s amazing how people still remember the lyrics without a chorus. Unheard of.

Besides, all of this, Queen songs just have a lot of heart in them. Something most musicians just can’t replicate.

This wraps up the introductory edition of Mellow Wisdom. This blends in nicely with next week’s theme Netflix. We’ll talk about a lot of interesting things - Netflix algorithm, business model, plans for India, what does the future hold, and maybe some of my recommendations too.

Thanks for reading!

- Vaibhav

I am Vaibhav K Achantani. I work at an Edtech company called Stoa School - helping curious folks learn the language of business. You can connect with me on Twitter or Linkedin.

Weekly Reads

The 100 best inventions of 2020 by Time
Games people play by Neil Kakkar - a riveting read

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Mellow Wisdom