Some 6 years ago when I heard that Nelly Furtado song the first time, I tell you it blew my mind. It was so sensual, absolutely nothing like her previous single. Although "I'm like a bird" annoyed me for another reasons aside from my finding it boring.
At the time, "Say it right" only reminded me of this one guy because we were together with a group of people when I heard it the first time. So much that I had to hear it a couple more times online. Even then, when I thought about it, I could picture the most beautiful belly-dancer grooving to this song completely in-synch with the beat.
Over the years, of course, he's become less associated with the song and now I just associate it with the incomplete choreography that springs to mind whenever I listen to it.
Nelly Furtado, I felt, started out as a very homely girl-next-door type. But when I finally found her album for this one song, it became so much more than I imagined it would. I had no idea that it'd be somewhat of a hip-hop influenced record. Then again, her duet with producer Timbaland "Promiscuous" should have been somewhat of a give-away, not that the entire album was like that either.
As a whole, "Loose" is a very urban sounding album that has some Latin roots. She's of Portuguese descent and likely, a couple of the songs were in that language
Once I wrapped my head around it, I always thought of it as a bit of a dance record. Choreography sprung up left and right, but not a whole lot of it stuck every time. If anything, there was a lot of repetition. This coming from someone with two left feet who hasn't danced a day in their life, not professionally by any means.
I didn't make the connection until a few months ago that a whole musical experience could transend in my writing. In addition to the fact it's been getting more risque all the time, it seemed like the perfect fit. I'm also sure that I'll be able to handle it so that things won't be taken the wrong way. My family won't look at the risque content and think I need to be committed because there'll be a great story and message that results out of all this.
I'd been toying with a number of ideas not only for my characters, but for other songs to be included in the mix. It's becoming more vast all the time. I want my female protagonist to be a strong one, so I'd been playing a lot of Lady Gaga because empowerment is one of her biggest musical themes.
The one thing I want to make sure of is that the important key points of the story are inspired by the album that got me started on the idea.
I've got a bunch of songs picked out for inclusion, but not quite the order. Maybe what I should do next to figure out if they're in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd act of the production.
There's also the matter of which songs will go to dance numbers and if so, if they're a normal night or a VIP night where bids are being placed for the girls on stage, or if it's a character's monologue or just mood music for the background of a slow scene.
The first act will be an introduction of our main characters.
Likely, the first song will be the first track on the album and it'll be a regular dance number.
"Maneater" will be a flashback through the eyes of Alejandro Gutierrez. The first time he sees Talia Montes dance on stage.
I've yet to figure out exactly what their relationship is. They work together a lot on stage because he's a singer that backs up her dancing (sometimes vice versa). He's probably the son or nephew of the owner of the place and stands to inherit it. They could be business partners in this whole thing.
It's still a matter of figuring out if there's anything romantic involved. With him, is just about lust? Does she sometimes use him for sex? Being friends with benefits, except they're not quite friends.
She has a camerarderie with the other dancers and of course the people who run the place, but she doesn't have a lot of close friends. She chooses to live her life in that way because she chooses to stand alone. Plus, after the life she's had, there's no reason to really trust people. At the end of the day, it's just business.
I'm believing that Alejandro might believe they have more than what's actually there. I'd hate to write things as if she's stringing him along and leading him to believe she feels the same way when she really doesn't. So the whole jealousy thing would seem ridiculous as it'd be because of something she did rather than something he did.
I have a feeling that the full scope of her situation won't be called into question until the last part of the triangle arrives.
The American (of Latino descent), Juan Paulo "J.P." Esposito
who I believe comes from a proper family because he spends some time trying to talk Talia out of her way of life... when he finds out initially that the first time they danced together was a fluke, that there's no future there, he's devestated that she feels she has to do this, but he continues to pursue her.
The 2nd act is all about this pursuit... something has to happen where she starts to see things as they are with him and she starts to feel the same way...
"Say it Right" closes out that act and the 3rd opens with the following track on the album.
The only thing I've completely established about Alejandro and his stake in the venue is that he sees Talia as the star of the attraction and without her, maybe they'll lose a lot of business... or she starts to believe that's the case and that's what starts her on that thought process that leads her to that epiphany.
I've got the lyrics of this one song in another tab and I still forget a lot of the lyrics.
But in a nutshell, I feel like they fit her romantic situation perfectly.
In the day, in the night
Say it right, say it all
You either got it or you don't
You either stand or you fall
When your will is broken
When it slips from your hands
When there's no time for joking
There's a hole in the plan
Oh, you don't mean nothing at all to me
No, you don't mean nothing at all to me
Oh, you've got what it takes to set me free
Oh, you could mean everything to me
I can't say that I'm not lost and found
I can't say that I don't love the light and the dark
I can't that I don't know that I am alive
And all of what I feel I could show you tonight
From my hands I can give you, something that I made
From my mouth I can sing you another brick that I laid
From my body I can show you a place, God knows
If you know this place is holy, do you really want to go?
which ends with her seducing him to the bedroom... making it the first time she's really living up to the euphenism "making love"... letting down her walls to give in to this one person
Aside from more things about Alejandro, which remain a mystery for some insane reason, the other thing I need to figure out is my perspective...
Will it be 1st person from different POV's... or will I stick with 3rd...
I think I've got to limit things so whoever I decide can read this will be about to make up their own minds about stuff... I don't want to lead them in any particular direction, except that she's a character to admired rather than pitied...
and I certainly wouldn't want someone who knows me well enough to read about her and think some of her thoughts and actions verge on autobiographical...
One person read Jonas's story and said they saw a lot of my insecurities in Jonas... and he was just a guy on Facebook who followed the link to my other site where I had my stories posted... an old Angelfire site I haven't been on in forever...
if there's one thing I hate/dread, it's people reading my writing and making assumptions about me through it...
by the way, most of them are negative assumptions... writing's all I got, so it's kinda depressing that that's something a lot of people get from my work... and they wonder why I don't like to share a whole lot of it :-?
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