The final Deep Cuts & Conversations of the semester was held at the Norman Levan Center on April 10. This was hosted by the director of the Levan Center, Reggie Williams, alongside Kyle Burnham and Timothy Heasley. The crux of the Deep Cuts meetings is to delve deeper into music. There are conversations about songs themselves, but also on the different scenes that influenced different genres and gives insight on different artists as well.
The first song was a request from the audience. The student was asked what she listens to, to which she replied, “whatever is popular.” This prompted Ariana Grande’s latest single “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” to be played. Various students shared why they could relate to the song. The 2017 Manchester bombing was also brought up, with students speculating such traumatic instances could be a factor in the songwriting process for Grande.
Next was a song titled “Attack of the Dead Men” by Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton. This song was heavily inspired by World War I. A live performance was shown to the attendees of the meeting. While there was not much said from students, many appreciated the cameo of an elderly woman in the crowd of the rock show.
From that was played “Pride.” by Kendrick Lamar. In the song the pitches switch between low and high to represent Lamar’s struggle of balancing his ideals and actions. “Pride will kill you.”
To end the meeting, K-pop group BLACKPINK’s song “Hope Not” was played. Williams said that it wasn’t what he had expected from a K-pop group. The song is an acoustic soft ballad that highlights the softer “pink” side of BLACKPINK.