When you sign on to go on a roller coaster and they buckle you in that chair, you’re signing up for a thrilling ride knowing full well you’re going to be returned back in one piece. That’s the contract. You can think of music as being a contract between the performer and the listener.
Like a lot of things, the currency in that exchange is trust. Here’s what I mean. If I brought you to the top of the mountain, threw you in a buggy, and pushed you over the side, that would be terrifying.
Your listener wants to be taken for a journey. In music, that journey is narrative and we use tension and resolution in order to create it. If you take them for a ride, they’re going to suspend disbelief.
We establish a tonic key as the place we buckle up, get on the ride, and that’s where we land the plane. Everything in between is the thrill. As a producer and a songwriter, it’s your job to hold up your part of the bargain.
Establish that trust, take them on that journey, and make sure they know they’re going to get back safely. If you do that, you get buy-in from your listener, and the sky’s the limit. the limit.
