Adore You

Honestly, I’m not very familiar with Harry Styles. Sure, I know he’s famous. At a Kacey Musgraves show, she brought him out as a special guest and the crowd confirmed that. If you know me, I tend to swim in the indie scene, but I grew up on top 40 and still selectively adore pop music. Casey Kasem and the weekly top 40, anybody? I remember hearing “Pony” by Ginuwine sitting in the car outside of Casa Mexicana on a Sunday night after church when I was a boy, drooling at the production. Casey described him as the next Michael Jackson. Eh, he was wrong. But, Ginuwine definitely had a career.

“Adore You” snuck its way into my ears a few months back and I can’t get over how much I love it. The melodies, the instrumentation, the vocals, THE VIDEO. It’s one of those flawless guilty pleasures I just can’t get enough of. I really love how it's got the flavorings of a disco track. That funky bassline! Ugh. I love it.

So, there I was mid-August wondering, “What’s this month’s release going to be?” It’s always an anxious journey. At this stage of the Midnight Marty project, 12 songs in, I’m just allowing myself to pull everything together for each release in a single month, whereas in the beginning, I had about 4-5 songs ready to roll. Now, every month represents a dark room with me hunting for the light switch. It keeps me on my toes. I wondered, “Hmm. Maybe there is studio acapella of 'Adore You' I can get my hands on?” And little did I know, but to my great delight, there was!

I dropped the vocal into Ableton and started building up the sound design and struck oil. That’s rare. I typically hate the first ideas I have for tracks, but this was like some kind of proverbial magic. Two-ish hours later I had a strong foundation to polish over the following days. I pored over every little detail – the synths, the arrangement, the mix, sample choices, and even added real guitar. The process of production is where real joy lives.

Anyhoo, I hope you like this remix as much as I do. Love it or hate, tell me. This ain't a one-way street.

Love, Midnight Marty