A Brief Interlude: A Slow Head Bang Hits Harder
The drop in Title Fight's "Safe In Your Skin," analyzed by someone who will never be quiet about it.
Welcome to A Brief Interlude — a little subsection of Liner Notes where I’ll pour out my thoughts on a random thing or two. They’ll focus on things that are usually too short for a full in-depth post, but are a bit too long for a quick note or anything. Happy rant-reading!
Before I dive in, I highly suggest a listen first. Here, in its glory, is “Safe In Your Skin.”
Title Fight wasn’t a name I knew until I saw Billie Eilish repost a TikTok of two guys waiting for the drop in their most popular song on Spotify titled “Safe In Your Skin.” The drop came and they both commenced a slow head bang. The slow head bang (it’s decidedly more than a nod) is a motion I believe to be more mighty than the traditionally-known hard rock head bang. It’s a sign of reverence for a song that shows beauty in the slowness, in the quiet. I’m a big fan of the slow head bang, as you can tell. This drop deserves it.
The so-called drop in “Safe In Your Skin” arrives at the 1:03 timestamp. I think a drop is subjective, especially when you’re not in the electronic music scene. It tends to be defined by drums, but sometimes guitars signal one too. The point is, we all know it when we hear it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but a drop is only as good as the things that surround it. The lead-up and build. No vocals precede the drop in this song. Just overblown static-sounding guitar, and a subtle click leading into a near-clean guitar riff. The overblown guitar part echoes a bit in the background, then blends together when the drums come in. I think the whole of this song is absolute perfection. It feels like it should be in a “Rocky” movie (I’ve never seen “Rocky”), fist raised in the air in quiet triumph.
Spotify seems to categorize the song as “midwest emo,” which to me, just seems like a label to tell you how it’s supposed to feel. The lyrics sound “sad” I guess, but there’s a kind of exhausted hope present in the song too. Anyway, if you’re not really a midwest emo listener (I wouldn't really consider myself to be), don’t feel like that’s all it can be. There are many country-leaning songs that I really like because they sound a little tropical too (Faye Webster for one). You might not even like the song, and that’s fine too.
I could describe it forever, but it kind of defeats the purpose of a song and doesn’t do it nearly enough justice. In general, at least now we know that I will never run out of music things to write about.