Nearly 20 episodes in, the making-of video series is popular with viewers and artists alike, thanks to a collaborative team’s approach to breaking down a hit.
Nearly three years ago, Joe Coscarelli, a pop music reporter for The New York Times, created the video series “Diary of a Song” with a team of video and graphics journalists as a way to find out what shapes an artist’s work. So it was revealing recently when Mr. Coscarelli interviewed Olivia Rodrigo to talk about her No. 1 single “Drivers License,” and she said she was a fan of the series herself.
“I watch these religiously,” she told him in a FaceTime call in January, when they discussed the single.
Such is the impact of “Diary of a Song.” Now 19 episodes in, the collection of making-of stories featuring artists including Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift has been viewed more than 12 million times on YouTube. The latest installment, with Ms. Rodrigo, debuts Friday.
“I’m gratified that whatever we do, people seem to be into it,” Mr. Coscarelli, the host, said.
The series offers viewers a behind-the-scenes look at how some of the year’s top hits go from shower thoughts to chart toppers, with emoji-filled episodes that feel more like conversations among friends than interviews. Which was the intention from the beginning.
“Not every artist’s story can be told perfectly in a profile,” Caryn Ganz, The Times’s pop music editor, said. “But a ‘Diary’ may be the way to bring them to our audience and break down what they’re doing.”
Before “Diary of a Song” became an actual series in 2018, Alicia DeSantis, a deputy editor for visuals and multimedia, worked with the Culture and video teams to produce two videos that elaborately analyzed a track’s creation: “Where Are Ü Now,” by Diplo, Skrillex and Justin Bieber, and Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You.” Together, they drew millions of views, but the production requirements in time, cameras and lighting were not sustainable.
As team members sought to find a way to make more regular episodes, they came up with a novel idea: What if they conducted the interviews via FaceTime? The low-tech, familiar platform would be relatable for viewers — and low-stakes enough for artists that it would encourage them to open up in a way they would not normally.
“Because these were ‘simple’ FaceTime calls, most artists let their guard down,” Antonio De Luca, the art director and a senior producer for the series, said. Today, artists dial in from backstage, their bed, even the beach.
Using FaceTime also eliminated travel costs, opening up new possibilities for interviews. “We could expand beyond the marquee stars and showcase the fuller constellation of creative talent that helps shape these songs — the vocal coaches, producers and other figures who provided crucial elements to the track, and thus our story,” said Alexandra Eaton, who has been the series showrunner and was instrumental in its development.
The core team of Mr. Coscarelli, Ms. Eaton, Ms. DeSantis and Mr. De Luca also includes Mike Schmidt, an executive producer who directs video features at The Times, with assists from Ms. Ganz.
The heaviest lifting, Mr. De Luca said, is editing the interview footage and supplementary material, which includes everything from voice memos with melodies or guitar riffs to text messages with bits of lyrics, and then creating the graphics. “Only after all the interviews are conducted does the real work begin,” he said.
But that is not to discount Mr. Coscarelli’s skill. Ms. DeSantis said he’s a “fabulous” interviewer. “When you’re watching, it just seems like anyone can ask these questions and get these answers,” she said. “But Joe gets people to say things in this that you don’t hear in regular radio interviews, and that comes out of a space of deep knowledge and experience.”
One of the inspirations for the series, Mr. Coscarelli said, was Ms. Swift’s meticulous documentation of her songwriting process — she has included demos, voice memos and studio videos as extras with her albums. That spirit of sharing was on display when the artist herself was eventually featured in 2019, in an episode devoted to “Lover.” “When an artist realizes you just want to talk about the details of what they’re best at — like, why they chose this chord and not that one — they’re into it,” Mr. Coscarelli said. “It’s not hard to get them to open up.”
Still, he said, over the years he has honed his interviews to spur more revelations. Some of his favorite questions: What was the first part of the song that came to you? What were the crucial moments and decisions? How did you know the song was done?
“The things they consider inconsequential to the narrative are gold for us,” he said.
Ms. DeSantis said the series aimed to persuade viewers that chart-topping pop songs are masterpieces of craft as worthy of being dissected and analyzed as a symphonic composition. “We take what seem to be throwaway pieces of culture that you hear at the bodega,” she said. “And we show you the accomplishment it takes to create them.”
Mr. Coscarelli said that, now that FaceTime “is everyone’s thing,” the team is eager to continue experimenting with the format.
But fans can expect one constant: Mr. Coscarelli’s familiar black crew neck sweater — the exact same one every episode — which he wears in front of a roll of red background paper. “It’s been demanded of me by the video team to never switch outfits, so we maintain a consistent character,” he said.
Static wardrobe aside, the show’s identity will remain all about trial and error, not unlike songwriting. “One reason I think the series has been successful is that we don’t do the same thing over and over again,” Mr. Coscarelli said. “People get antsy, and it’s so easy to click away, so we always try to be ambitious and make it a little more difficult.”
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