Music and the Fictive Dream - Wicked!

 Of course with this assignment I had to take the opportunity to write about the hit broadway musical: Wicked. As my favorite musical by far, it was difficult to choose a song to analyze as I believe the music does an amazing job of using musical elements to portray the story. I encourage you to find the album from this show and pick another song at random to listen to.

Wicked is based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which is a retelling of the 1900 L. Frank Baum novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It tells the story of two witches in Oz who are unlikely friends. There is Elphaba, also known as the Wicked Witch of the West, who is intelligent, ambitious, and green-skinned. In contrast to her there is Galinda, who is later known as Glinda the Good Witch. Glinda is a beautiful, self-centered, and popular girl. The two girls see each other as competition in the school they go to along with the attention of Fiyero, a love-interest that they share. Elphaba and Glinda later see past their differences and become friends. Glinda even tries to help Elphaba fit in more as she sings "Popular", which is the song I will analyze. Elphaba soon discovers the corrupt government that the Wizard of Oz is truly running, and sets out to stop him. In doing so, she became a public enemy of the city. She fakes her death, runs away with Fiyero, and Glinda remains in the city telling the story of her past friend. Though Wicked received mixed reviews at first, it is now the fifth longest running broadway show and the second-highest grossing musical.

"Popular" is the first solo sung by Glinda. She sings this to Elphaba as an act of friendship after Elphaba helps her get accepted into their school's witch studies. This song displays Glinda's bubbly, materialistic, and spoiled way of life. She sings about how a person's value is determined by how others view you in society. Glinda uses her experience to tell Elphaba how she can change the way she looks and acts to make other's become more attracted to her. Rather than being nice and helping a friend out because it would be the right thing to do, she sees herself as more "fortunate" than others because of her looks and popularity. 

             "Whenever I see someone less fortunate than I

               And let's face it-- who isn't-- less fortunate than I"

Glinda has never experienced any true hardships throughout her years at the school like Elphaba has, so she believes that the attributes that she herself carries (being popular) is what Elphaba needs to have rather than the traits she already carries, such as her intelligence.

             "When I see depressing creatures

               With unprepossessing features

               I remind them on their own behalf to think of

               Celebrated heads of state or

               Especially great communicators.

               Did they have brains or knowledge?

               Don't make me laugh!

               They were popular! Please. 

               It's all about popular!"

Clearly this song does not teach the best lesson. Though it is a funny, playful, and overall extremely fun song to sing along to (trust me), it is basically telling the audience that nothing matters besides how people view you and how much people like you. The only thing that matters is your popularity. The message behind "Popular" serves its purpose in the musical to really exaggerate the traits of Glinda's character. 

There are many adlibs throughout the song that showcase the bubbly personality of Glinda. Along with this are many pauses and pace changes. There is also a lot of contrast with the parts that she sings and the lines that she talks through. When listening to the song, the beginning is slower and more staccato. As the song plays an upbeat and playful tempo develops. Near the end the pace and tone slow down once again. But then finally, to compliment Glinda's personality, the song ends with a face pace and long note. It is no doubt a very dramatic song!

"Popular" has been my favorite song from a broadway show for the longest time, but there was never a moment in my life where I completely agreed with the message Glinda is trying to get across. There is no doubt that how people see me and how I view others can impact my lifestyle, but the way Glinda obsesses over how people view her is not something I agree with. I am a believer of living life for myself and not others, and if people like who I am and what I am doing that's awesome, and if they do not like it (without good reason, of course) then it is not my problem. But I will gladly sing this song at the top of my lungs. 

This is a live performance of "Popular" from Wicked. As I had stated in my previous blog, Kristin Chenoweth does an amazing job portraying Glinda. Her performance is amazing given she is acting and singing live.

Music is a creative way to tell stories. I personally love broadway musicals, so music that portrays a fictive dream is something that I really like. It is interesting to see how composers and artists use musical elements to truly match a feeling and theme of a song and story.

Sources:

Friends 'for Good' - Wicked: A New Musical and the ... https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1072&context=ctamj. 

“What Is Wicked Truly about?” Show Score, 1 Oct. 2021, https://www.show-score.com/blog/what-is-wicked-truly-about. 

“Wicked (Musical).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Nov. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_%28musical%29#:~:text=Wicked%20%28musical%29%20The%20musical%20is%20told%20from%20the,friends%2C%20Elphaba%20%28the%20Wicked%20Witch%20of%20the%20West%29.