Alejandro Explains The Process Of "Boycing" A Song

So, today, I went and listened to Coldplay's version of "Every Teardrop" and I have to say, I do NOT like it....it's just so.....busy and noisy. Not my type of music at all. It made me appreciate the "boyced" version even more!! I'm so fascinated by Boyce Avenue's ability to take a song and make it their own while still showing respect for the original that inspired them. "Every Teardrop" is a really good example of that....it's like a completely new song, but at the same time, I can still I hear the influence of the original song. Different, yet the same, if that makes any sense.

I decided to ask Alejandro on his Facebook Wall about the process of "Boycing" a song, and to my delight, he gave a very detailed answer. :)

After flailing around the living room like the crazy fangirl that I am, I thought it would be fun to blog about it, so that I can read it whenever I want to (what? I'm not obesessed...) but also so that others who may not be on Facebook can see what Alejandro had to say. So here it is, my question, and his answer.

MELENIE:
What is the "boycing" process like? What I mean is, does it start with something as simple as hearing a song like this one, and liking it, and in your mind you hear how it would sound "boyced"? And who does the majority of the "boycing"? Is it something where you guys sit down and work together? Or do you lay the foundation and then get input from Daniel and Fabian? Or, does the process vary from song to song?

ALEJANDRO:
I usually just sit down with an acoustic and figure out how the song is played originally and all the details. What key is it in? What is the range of the vocals? what is the bpm (tempo)? What are the instruments doing? Is there a lot of iconic melodies happening? And that usually lets me know what instrument would capture ALL that the best, acoustic/electric/piano, those are the 3 main instruments and all have strengths and weaknesses, so choosing the right one is key. Plus you rarely want to compete with the original, so like Superman, I KNOW my strengths and weaknesses, I know Jon from Five For Fighting is a MUCH better pianist than me, so how could I possibly add to this piano song? Well, I've NEVER seen him play an electric so that would make ours unique and that way it becomes more difficult to compare and we will find our own audience that like the sadness the electric brings over the piano. Knowing what is too much...I could've added cajon and percussion and acoustic and made Superman a big production but it was too emotional lyrically so I kept it just one voice and one electric to really bring the listener in.

Similar decisions go into the filming [of the video]...it needed to be dark and serious, no frivolous smiling, no fast cuts and bright lights, and little panned out shots because that goes against the vulnerability of the lyrics! So it needed to be a lot of close ups to capture every little emotion, and the candles were to add some peace to the whole thing and some depth cause an image in the foreground looks more up close and personal when there is something blurry in the background, like it pulls the audience's focus on the person performing :)

Anyway, that's what goes into the audio and a little of what goes into the video. And sometimes we will do things for nostalgic reasons. Like, 3 years ago, June 2008, we covered Viva la Vida by Coldplay (their big lead single) and now, June 2011, we covered their lead single off their CURRENT album, so for nostalgic reasons we thought it would be cool for me to play acoustic and kick the pedal like I did 3 years ago...I even decided to wear the same shoes and a black shirt and jeans ;) And to film it in the same location. We thought it would be cool to make it as similar as possible to show both how far we've come (or tried to come) and how we are still doing what got us started and what has made us who we are today ;)

p.s. I wonder how many truly picked up on all that ;) Even if nobody did, it was partially for our own sentimental reasons :)

GREAT question! Hopefully a decent answer!

More than a decent answer, Alejandro, thank you so much for explaining the process to us in such great detail. ♥

Click here to hear Coldplay's version of "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall"



And, just for fun, here are both videos...even though "Every Teardrop" is in my previous post. :)



EVERY TEARDROP IS A WATERFALL



VIVA LA VIDA