Artist: Jenny Hudson
Track: They Build Us Up To Watch Us Fall
Genre: Indie/acoustic pop
Instruments: Acoustic guitar
Length: 3:56

After the slow start to the album, with the beautifully serene piano melodies of Seize The Day, Jenny Hudson launches the album for real at the second time of asking with a bright and cheery summer track. The track in question, called They Build Us Up, To Watch Us Fall is a very cheery guitar based indie pop song based around the notion of how one can get built up so high as an artist and public figure, and yet have everyone try to tear them down from grace at the same time. The subject matter may seem strange to some, considering how happy the music sounds, but the end of the song is all about overcoming that oppressive attitude from media, controlling label bosses and other people in the industry to just be yourself, so, eventually at least, the happy nature of the music does actually correspond to the message within.
The track begins with an open strum across all six strings of the acoustic guitar, followed by a brief pause, and then Jenny counts "1,2,3,4" softly as she taps out four quiet beats on the hollow body of guitar. She then plays a funky, bright and airy little guitar riff which consists of quickly strummed happy sounding chords and the occasional single picked note, which somehow just manages to sound "summery".
This is replaced eventually by single chords played over the reasonably fast opening verse. The chords are not as major in key as in the intro, but they aren't exactly low in key either, just almost neutral. Jenny's voice in this song is a lot higher than in the album opener, and allows her the chance to really show off a range of vocal ability. The pace at which the track moves and progresses, along with the varying vocal keys really showcases Jenny's skill. The first verse is sung with a quick, punchy vocal, and she launches into the second, with only a slight pause, and no change in style.
As the chorus approaches, Jenny lets out a slight "wooo", and the key change is quite dramatic. The chords are now definitely more upbeat and played very quickly. She strums them with a strength and vigour, which gives a real "ping" to the end of each strum, and adds to the energetic atmosphere. Despite the music speeding up considerably for the chorus, the only real change in the vocal pattern comes from the fact that it is a lot happier sounding. The tone of Jenny's voice is a lot cheerier and gives an image of her smiling to the listener and really enjoying the song.
There is no particularly obscure structure to the song. The simplicity is where it's beauty lies. It mostly continues in this style, as above, with two verses to each chorus, or one, until it reaches the final verse, which begins "They Look At You With Mild Disdain", at which point the guitar is phased out, and Jenny's voice is left standing alone. This mirrors the message of song in some ways, as it suggests a feeling of exposure and loneliness and being the target for everyone, with nowhere to hide. Jenny sings this verse very slowly, and in a minor key. Her voice is soft, and sounds very sad, as she slowly meanders through a continuous vocal (there are no apparent line breaks, which allows it to sound more flowing and sad). This continues until the beginning of the last line, when one hard strum of the acoustic guitar chord heralds Jenny's triumphant final line, "Please Don't Give It Up Without A Fight!" She sings it with a pleading, almost call to arms. It sounds as if she is trying to really say something to people who feel like they are alone, or targeted in this way.
The track ends with a repeated "bridge" section, which is played over slowly strummed chords. Jenny's voice is slow and soft throughout. When the vocals finish, the track is bookended by the same open string strum on the guitar.

Onto track two now. Originally this was supposed to be track three actually. I was going to have another piano track at number two, and in fact I had already submitted the "final tracklist" to the label with it in that order. At the last minute though, I changed my mind. I was listening to the album all the way through on my iPod and I thought, "No...two piano tracks make the album feel really slow." And they did. I love both the piano tracks, but side-by-side at the start of the album made it feel almost lethargic, and I want people to feel who I am from the off. I mean, yes, I can write a good slow track, but my music is supposed to be full of acoustic energy, and I just thought people might get the wrong idea if they heard two really slow ballads before anything else. I'm actually really proud of the fact that I've developed that ability to look subjectively at my own music. Last album, I think it was a case of mer recording all of the tracks and then just chucking them onto the album in any order. I'm really thinking this time, and it makes me feel more mature as an artist, so I'm pleased with that.
Was I thinking of the reviews? Probably haha. People will tell you that it's not all about the critics opinion, but deep down we all want to hear something nice said about our music...it's just that not many people would tell you that. I like to be honest...nice and that, but still honest.
Anyway, this song was written at first because of how I felt at Shooting Stars. I know Malory [Evans, former SSR boss] thinks I was having a go at her personally when I left, but I really wasn't. I just felt that to be at Shooting Star, you had to be on a pedestal all the time. They want to build real bona fide pop stars and divas, the kind that people love to see fall down. As I've said before, I just cannot subscribe to that model. I've never been around it, and so it made me uncomfortable.
So that's partly what the track's about, just feeling like people wanted me to be this...something I could never be. Like some monstrous version of Jenny that I didn't like. The other meaning behind it is more of an observation. At the time I wrote this track, Ellie-Grace Summers was getting a very hard time from the media for supposedly sleeping with Ryan Ross Hernandez...or whatever it was they were accusing her off. When I looked at that, as well as thinking, "Awwww, poor girl", I couldn't help but be amazed at the irony. During the tail end of my break, I kept listening to people talking about this next big country star from the States...and now here she was, the same person, being called the most horrible things. I also thought back to the likes of Katie Coyle's treatment earlier in the year, and I just couldn't get my head around it. I'm not going to pretend that this is a "tribute" to anyone. It's more of an observational song, a social commentary might actually be the best way to put it. But it's also about fighting back. I think the chorus is really quite empowering, and so is the line "Please Don't Give It Up Without A Fight!" It wasn't actually mean to sound so violent actually. I really wasn't calling for some artist coup on the bigwigs of music haha. I just want it to say to people, "No! Don't let people get to you. Just be yourself."
I've fielded a lot of questions, from the label and the guys helping in the studio, about whether such an upbeat melody fitted such a theme. They think it should have been a bit sadder in style, but I really don't see it. In general, I'm a very forward thinking, always "looking at the positives" kind of girl, and the positive in this song is that there is a way to fight against the oppression that can often be felt as a musician.
Even people who aren't musicians, I hope they can relate to it. I mean, it isn't just pop artists who have targets on our chests. People can be run down in any walk of life, and I'd like to think that people can relate to the song. Most of all though, I hope it comes across as a good honest song. It felt great to record as just me and my guitar again, and I'm very pleased with how the song worked out. :)