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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Silence

Silence is a bit of an indulgent song. Inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche, it features histrionic vocals, punctilious melodies, and harsh lyrics. Within its radical outfit lies several thematic interrogations. There are two distinct vocal characters in “Silence” - first is a solitary, deep man (most directly influenced by Nietzsche’s writings and legacy); the other is the “crowd” in general.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Playin’

Over the years, I have been honing in my songwriting and production skills and techniques. This production was inspired by the works of Max Martin who is my idol. Recording this song went in stages. I began like any other song (messing around on the piano, hoping something good comes out).

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Armada

Initially inspired by Hans Zimmer's score to 'Dune', Armada started as a one minute piano audio clip that I recorded in a practice room at school after the idea for the piece struck me.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Trickle

“Trickle” is just that — a trickling melody, one that flows between different time signatures, styles, and instruments. The flow of the music is unrelenting, with the long, continuous lines meant to embody a stream of water.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Jack Lantern

As people grow up, they are at risk of becoming mentally trapped, losing the endless imaginations of their childhood selves. Succeeding in school, finding a job, and accumulating other responsibilities in life can sometimes lead to inhibition of creativity and curiosity.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Thunder Waltz

BOOM! The metronome starts ticking, but then you realize it's not a metronome; it's an actual instrument playing a rhythm, albeit a common rhythm, with the time signature 6/8, commonly associated with pirate shanties.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Bonfire

This piece is structured in roughly four sections: 1. The blazing bonfire 2. The bonfire dies away 3. The embers of the fire glow 4. The bonfire roars back to life The entire piece is based on a half-step motif, which is especially pronounced in the voice leading between chords.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Vines of Hope

‘Vines of Hope’ is a musical journey to find fresh water in the jungle for a village hit by a season of drought. The water represents a beacon of hope for life, propelling us towards it. Along the way, we get lost and come to a dead end that seems impassable.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Crown

I wrote this song about a relationship of mine that recently ended. This song is about how spontaneous some relationships can be, and how, in our generation, everyone is so picky about who they make a romantic relationship with.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

High Noon

"High Noon" is one of a series of songs I have written recently as I experiment with alternative storytelling in my songwriting. "High Noon" takes inspiration from Folk, Rock, and Country genres, and was an exciting song to write.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

The Plains

"The Plains" is a chamber piece written for violin, clarinet, cello, and piano. It is inspired by Willa Cather's novel, My Antonia, and by Nebraska where my father is from and where I have spent a lot of time.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Requiem

This piece was performed by 4 friends at our school's candlelit All Saints Day Mass (the recording is of a dress rehearsal), fulfilling my intention that it be sung in ritual settings to better faciilitate listeners’ personal mourning.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Just Before

It’s 6:15 in the morning, 15 minutes before Reveille, 15 minutes before I have to do anything at all. So I just lay in bed, content. This is the blissful moment “Just Before” is attempting to capture - the beauty of beating your alarm.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

The Other Waltz

When I composed this piece, I was listening to a lot of waltzes and Shostakovich. You can hear clear influences from both of those, with the signature waltz rhythm that persists throughout the main theme as well as in some passages with very clear Shostakovich-esque styles.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Spacetime

“Spacetime,” a completely self-written and produced song, explores the feeling of being separated from a loved one and wrestling with both physical and emotional space. The entire song revolves around a central piano arpeggio motif, which I felt perfectly reflected the lyric “I fall head over heels” in both a metaphorical and physical sense—the lack of gravity in space.

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Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin Original Music, 2024 Paulina Vo-Griffin

Girl Named Nova

Girl Named Nova is a song about how it is tough to appreciate the moment when all you want to do is to be with your person. It is a love song that takes you through the mind of a girl who misses her girlfriend, and the name-sake of the song, Nova. This song is meant to highlight the LGBTQ+ community, and bring representation to sapphic people, in the realm of love songs.

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