Glorious by Adam Friedman - The Review

THE REVIEW: GLORIOUS by ADAM FRIEDMAN

Adam Friedman is a California-based singer, producer, and songwriter. During his high school days, Friedman had taken to producing music for local commercials. He attended the Berklee School of Music, and after graduating, penned the theme song “Glorious” for the 2016 animated comedy film Rock Dog. The track caught the ears of Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Mike Posner, and the two began collaborating.

Background of the song:

The song is considered the hit song in the movie Rock Dog. It was performed by Bodi (the protagonist) and Angus Scattergood. Bodi is the only son of Khampa. As a family of dog, Bodi resides in a small village of Snow Mountain with his loved ones. It was a place of simple life where the people loved music (albeit only one song that they know of). Not too far from Snow Mountain are some ravenous wolves who invaded the village with the aim of enslaving the dwellers. What they did not know was that Khampa, the warrior of the village had a secret weapon inside of him. From within him is a fire which he used to defeat the enemies.

As time went on, Khampa grew older and he knew that the next person who would be saddled with the responsibility of protecting the village was his only son, Bodi. Body however was immersed in learning the song they knew in the village. He was always busy playing the guitar which he inherited. Khampa on the other hand suspected that they were constantly being watched by the enemies who might try again to invade the village. He started training a few of the young dogs in the village with the intention that they would soon be commanded by his son Bodi. Noting that music was causing a distraction for his son, he seized the guitar and forced him to concentrate on protecting the village. That would have been the story had plane not one day flew over the village and dropped a bag with several items. Among those items was a small radio which after being picked up by Bodi, heard another kind of song for the first time.

The song was performed by Angus Scattergood. The artist then advised over the radio that any young artist should never give up singing for whatever reason. This create a spark for Bodi to return to playing, and ultimately, to leave Snow Mountain for the city so he could find who would teach him music. One thing led to another and Bodi found himself standing in Angus Scattergood’s studio, a very rare possibility. As though fate was working for or against both of them, Angus was at the verge of being abandoned by his sponsors except he produced a song that would bring them money. He had tried and tried to come up with something but the inspiration just wasn’t coming. But when Bodi mentioned the word “Glorious”, a strange inspiration just fell on both of them from the blues. Immediately they both started working on the song. Funny, bringing the song into life took only hours.

While we are given the impression that the Characters Bodi and Scattergood wrote and performed the song, it was actually originally written by Adam Friedman, Sam Fischer, Lijie Yang, and Julia Hoffman. And it was performed by Adam Friedman.

As the title connotes, Glorious is upbeat, cheery and joyful. You could even dance to it in a “glorious” fashion. This is in fact a song of positive affirmation. Despite the difficulty and stress of life, it constantly reminds us that we will indeed be glorious. Despite the rigorous process of success, in the end, we’ll be glorious. And as might have been suspected, the writers made effective use of a number of figures of speech, the most obvious being Metaphor.

Delving into the lyrics

INTRO:

After searching, trying to find ya

I thought I’d lost my luck,

But I’d never thought in a million years

That you would just walk right up (huh-huuh)

Now that I found your love

I could never let you down

Even when the times get rough

Nothing’s gonna stop us now…

A lot of us, after struggling and struggling to be relevant, it seems like relevance is meant for a specific set of people and though we tend to give up and accept the futility of fate. Some of us even believe that since we were not born into royalty, we probably will never attain that level of greatness. From the lyrics, it is obvious that the narrator is one of such person. When he had given up, then his luck (good fate, relevance, success, riches, spouse, etc) just walked right up to him – something he had never expected would happen even in a million years.

He professed that now that he has found the love of what he had searched for, never would he disappoint. Not even tough times would stop him. Funny as it may sound, some people aren’t capable of handling success. Stories have been told of people have lost their sanity at the result of the level of success they got. Perhaps they hadn’t really searched for it. However for as many as have been searching, now that – against all odds – we have gotten it, are we ready to hold on to it?

FIRST VERSE:

Now we’re glowing like a fire

Illuminating from within

So we keep on climbing higher to the sky

We’re going where we’ve never been

Now that we set us free (hey!)

Nothing’s going to hold us down (hey!)

Even when the times get rough (hey!)

We’ll never lose the fight in us

With the success, the grace, the relevance, the good fate, the fame, the beautiful spouse, etc, it is without doubt that we’ll indeed glow. It’ll take us to places beyond our wildest imagination, places we never expected that we’ll be. And despite the new aura of grace this good fate brings, trust me, challenges are inevitable (Note the writers’ choice of word ‘“when” and not “if” the times get rough’).  They will come in their multitude. How would we react then? Would we give up the fight or keep striving?

SECOND VERSE

You and I we’re never gonna rest

Keep up the dream like it’s life or death

And you and I we’re never giving in

Never giving in, never giving in

You and I we’re never gonna rest

Keep up the dream like it’s life or death

And you and I we’re never giving in

Never giving in, never giving in

Contrary to what most people would have believed, success is not a destination; rather it is a journey. A journey that must be jealously focused on. And whether the success delays or it arrives on time, we are never supposed to give up on the dream. Like the writer has rightly noted, we’ll keep up the dream like it means life or death. As we begin our year, the goals that we have set to achieve, either we achieve it earlier or it takes time for it to be achieved, we shouldn’t give up, in fact, we’re not going to rest.

This brings to mind Shakira’s song that was reviewed sometime last year, when she painted that “birds don’t just fly, they fall down and get up”. In other words, if we must soar, we’ll definitely fail along the way. The most important thing is that we get up and give it another shot instead of giving in. being relevant and passing on that relevance as a legacy is actually a matter of life and death. Giving up isn’t at all an option.

Chorus:

We’ll grow old and we’ll never be alone

And no matter where we roam

We’ll be Gloooooorious

We’ll be glorious and you know it’s true.

This chorus really strike me. I love it’s beauty and particularly the sound of the strings. As must have known, the word “glorious” has many synonyms among which are renowned, celebrated, honoured, noble, immortal, unforgettable, superb, gorgeous, champion, etc. the list is unending. You can quickly google it to see the unending list of words for yourself. Isn’t it wonderful to see that it is actually immortal? Unforgettable?

And though we’ll grow old, with our numerous level of achievement and success. And though we’ll go places, meet people, and eventually exit this world, we’ll be glorious (immortal among other things). Think of the list of people who, though are dead, are still positively influencing this age. This people have been immortalized. They are glorious.

As it has earlier been mentioned, we are on a journey to become glorious. As we chase our dreams this year and beyond, let us be constantly be reminded of this fact. The end is indeed a glorious one for us. Go and be glorious!

-Review Compiled by Muyiwa Joseph