Name: "Insane"Album: "Immortal"Recorded: October 2012
Writer/Composer: Stephanie Fierce, Johnny Johnson
Producer: Stephanie Fierce, Johnny Johnson
Length: 4:50
Genres: Pop, R&B, Electronic Rock
Instruments: Keyboard, synthesizer, guitar, drums and percussion
Photographer/Artwork: Ellen Von Unwerth
Record Label: Hot Eye Records
Formats: MP3 Download; iTunes, Amazon (Digital Only)
Release Date: February 17, 2013 (Airplay) February 24, 2013 (Digital Download)
Song Description & Background: "Insane" is a song by American artist Stephanie Fierce taken from her eight studio album "Immortal". Stephanie Fierce and lead singer rock artist Johnny Johnson wrote and produced the track together which marks the first reunion since the release of "Life's Good". The song is now being distributed worldwide as the lead single from the album "Immortal" through Hot Eye Records. A music video for the song was filmed in a private studio on January 17th and 19th. The song was made available for digital download and radio airplay on February 17, 2013. The music video for Insane is set to premiere February 24, 2013.
In an interview with GQ magazine, Fierce opened up about "Insane" and how the song inspired the album title:
"Part of the reason I named the album "Immortal" is because I feel like I'm capable of doing what I love for the rest of my life. No matter what you do, you shouldn't feel limited or like you have some sort expiration date. With that being said, I could honestly open up and say that I do feel insecure sometimes because of what people have said about me, getting old, being washed up and having a child as if that were a bad thing. I am willing to admit that I have even felt hurt by certain things people have said about me. Even though I pretend like I’m this strong person all of the time, I’m not. I am cocky. Very cocky! But at the same time, I know I'm not perfect. People think that I am always this outspoken person. But there are things that I do hold back, there are things that I am afraid to speak about. I'm not just this strong person that people make me out to be, I have weaknesses and like any human, I can make mistakes. I have flaws. I could feel hurt by them. I think part of the reason I’m so defensive of myself, is because It reflects my insecurities as a person. I do cry at times, because it’s hard with all the pressure that is put against me. People have raised the bar and expectations and when you live your life trying to please everyone all the damn time, it gets to you. Immortal just represents the strength I've built throughout my career both as a person and as an artist. It's about embracing how youthful and powerful I feel inside. I feel like I could live forever recording this album. No matter how much success I see, no matter how much I sell, I've built a pretty strong empire and I will always strive for my best. I've gone into genres of music that many pop stars are afraid to go and I've fully embraced them live on tour. But like I said, I don’t think I’m perfect but I do feel like I do not have an expiration date and there’s much more to come. I have to live my life and I have to be happy." -
Stephanie Fierce Song Composition & Lyrical Meaning:Insane is primarily based as a lashing out moment Fierce is having towards the industry. In the song she talks about how she fights through unfair, biased and double standard industry politics that most pop stars have to go through in the realm of fame. Aside from anger, the song showcases a sense of strength and self worth that most listeners can relate to in their own life struggles. Fierce also talks directly to her haters in her meanest and most grumpiest vocals with empowering lyrics such as
"You tried to break me with your stupid bitter lies" and even shouts out the name of the album with "I'm gonna be stronger, this time I'm Immortal baby". The song's catchy chorus serves as a plea or message Fierce sends out to everyone, saying "stop hating on me, you're making me go insane", purposely giving the songs a melodramatic feel. While not intended, the song also contains cussing during one of the choruses in the song, which will be edited with an industrial sound for radio airplay purposes.
While the song contains a 90's inspired choppy beat, the song incorporates real live instrumentation as well that can be categorized in the genres of pop, electronic rock, new jack swing and funk; most which are more noticeable showcased in the breakdown solo that is played by The Rockers. The song itself begins with industrial like ambient sounds that lead on to a static shock. This portion of the song serves as an intro to the actual song and serves as electronic rock element. Immediately the song's hook kicks in, which is served throughout the song with the exception of the guitar solo breakdown. Throughout the song and it's beat, people will also hear industrial and wavering sounds that portray a futuristic like setting. Once the song reaches the bridge, the song comes to a complete pause. During so, people are able to hear a media news like feed, along with Fierce's voice which is minimally chipmunked serving as a "make fun of" or diss effect to the media. Shortly after this, The Rockers begin the guitar solo which contains sounds that are more than likely not expected to be orchestrated in the song. The breakdown contains element of hard rock, alternative new jack swing composition and funky guitar. The song then catapults back to it's original composition, only this time with louder, faster vocal production and bass. As the song comes to a finish, a more rigid industrial sound is hear and the song finishes.
Production and The Recording Process: (1st person Narrative)
Taking on the production for Insane was difficult because I wanted to take on the role of a singer, producer and sound engineer all in the same time. Obviously, as artists we want to make sure that we are credited for everything, but this time I was a little bit out of my head. I wanted to do it all because only I knew what the song was going to sound like. No one else had this song but me. In other words this wasn't an experimentation of someone else because the song was already dying to come out of me and it was up to me to make sure it was put into sound. Keeping all of that in mind, it didn't take me long to realize that it was going to be nearly impossible for me to "do it all", so I had to call on to my closest friend, Johnny Johnson, so I can gather my thoughts fairly and wisely to make sure I didn't lose the song because the anger I was experiencing during the writing process stood with me, all the way up until I reached out to a mic. As I waited for Johnny to arrive, I began to lay down some acapella vocals on the track, which had nothing but a basic beat at the time, something I created in the past as a default beat for most of the songs I record. Surprisingly, the song matched with the beat, so I began to layer in some really cool sounds I was experimenting with earlier. These sounds were very choppy and served nothing but attitude for the track, which I liked. How did I create them? I had no idea, but the anger I was feeling that day probably had a lot to do with it.
Once Johnny Arrived, I began to remind him about my experience as a sound engineer and how all of that tied in to why I wanted him with me during the recording the process. In the past I’ve always been involved with production, but I never got involved with the engineering process as much. Like pretty much everyone else in the industry, I guess you can say that I was once spoiled with top engineers who had the ability to pull out my creative ideas and bring them to life. Even thought with my third and fourth album, I was a bit more involved but it was never anything complex. It seemed then, but that’s now changing. Since I began work on my fifth studio album I've began to take more control of my music. Now going on into my 8th studio album, I feel like it's ok to a little bit of both, because I've managed to have hands on experience on both ends. In overall terms, to me there’s always a difference between the sound engineer and the producer though.
Once I explained the basics of sounds I was trying to create in my head to Johnny. It was up to me to keep evolving the knowledge I had for the record because once again only I knew what the song was going to sound like.
I sang the song in full for about 256 times before I could get the first draft properly engineered. That's when then all of the sudden my voice became really raspy. Now, many people describe my voice to be strong and raspy in the past, but it never sounded anything like this.
"Does it have anything to do with you getting old" Johnny threw in a harmless joke that knew would tick me off. I hit him in the shoulder and laughed it off. I continued to sing in my now "raspy" voice. I got scared because I thought I was going to eventually just lose my voice. But I decided that the style of my voice was pretty cool and Johnny agreed with that as well, so we kept that in. Eventually, I began taking breaks to make sure my voice wasn't harmed by all the hard singing I was doing.
We tried to look at things from the organic sense. If you’re running, your heart beat grows faster. If you’re angry, you’re heart beat grows faster. If you’re lyrics are angry, there has to be a lot more going on in that sound board. That sort of thing created the sound of “Insane”. Finally, I was able to lay down the whole song with my raspy voice added a whole new touch to it, which inspire Johnny to bring guitar players from the Rockers to do a guitar solo composition in the break down. It’s pretty much a hands-on type of thing that you can't really shy away from. I'm totally fine with the idea others have in addition to what I create as long as they were there with me the whole time in the recording process. Also, If you’re a musician you sort of have to make room for this sort of thing, and once it was finished, I was pleased with what he had created.
But once we finished the breakdown section, I pretty much just experimented with the concept of the song and applied it to sound board for the rest of the song. This tends to be the easy part for a lot of artists, and it sure was for me. I simply just looked for the tone that I had previously created and added what type of instrumentation would be cohesive and make sense with the song, and that pretty much brings the song to life.
As I began to add instrumentation of my own with the percussion, keyboards and synthesizers I started to realize how epic the song was turning out to be. So much, that I had to stop, almost as if I had a writer's block, but in reality I was just in amazement of what we had just created. Once I returned to the studio, this time without Johnny Johnson, to finish the song, I was nearly close to finishing the song. Obviously, every song I create needs to have a climatic ending, so I added volume to the instruments and to the beat and bass. While that takes time because you have to sit and look at every bit and re-arrange it until it's right, It seemed to be the easiest part because I already had most of the song finished. Once the song was finished, I gave Johnny a call to come into the studio for one last time to hear the final product. He bopped his head and grinned the whole time.
"Insane" Lyrics"I'm tired of the injustice
I'm tired of the lies
your hearts are disgusting
look what I've been through DAMN IT!
You bringing me down
I keep getting up
as dramatic as it sounds
Don't you know what I've been through DAMN IT!
You live in my shadow
you ain't taking my light
You tell me I'm wrong
I'm gonna prove I'm right
You're sellin' out souls but I
I care about mine
I'm gonna be STRONGER
this time I'm Immortal baby
With these delusions don't it make you go insane
make you go insane
You bash, abuse, double standard within the same
You try to break me with your stupid bitter lies
Somebody please have mercy
'Cause I just can't take this SH........
Stop hatin' on me
Just stop hatin' me
Stop hatinng me
Making me go insane
Stop hatin' me
Just stop hating' on me
Stop hatin' me
you just, you just
making me go INSANE
I'm dogging ya venom
Sick of ya bitching (sick of ya bitch)
you keep trying to break me
Don't you know what I've been through DAMN IT!
I'm changing the rules, I am
I'm changing this game
I'm gonna be stronger
this time I will go insane
With these delusions don't it make you go insane
make you go insane
You bash, abuse, double standard within the same
don't you see it baby
You try to break me with your stupid bitter lies
Somebody please have mercy
'Cause I just can't take this SH.......
Stop hatin' on me
Just stop hatin' me
Stop hatinng me
Making me go insane
Stop hatin' me
Just stop hating' on me
Stop FUCKING with me
making me go INSANE
Oh my god can't believe what I saw on the TV
STEPHANIE FIERCE
Look what she's doing!
Look what she's wearing!
Look who she's with!
[The Rockers Breakdown Solo]
Get up now, yeah yeah, baby
With these delusions don't it make you wanna go insane
make me go insane, make me go insane
You bash, abuse, double standard within the same
YOU TRIED TO BREAK ME WITH YOUR FUCKING BITTER LIES
Somebody please have mercy
'Cause I just can't take this SH........
I just can't it take it
WOOH
WOOH
WOOH
WOOH
Stop hatin' on me
STOP IT DAMN IT
Just stop hatin' me
STOP YOUR HATE
Stop hating me
You know you
Making me go insane
Stop hatin' on me
Stop your hate
Just stop hatin' me
Stop your hate
Stop hating me
You lied
you did it
YOU DID IT baby
Stop hatin' on me
stop doing it
Just stop hatin' me
Stop hatinng me
Making me go insane
Stop hatin on me
Just stop hating' on me
Stop hating on me
Stop hating on me
making me go INSANE"
Stop your HATE!!!! Sounds Like:
