This assignment had me so excited! My friend Ross has a band, Dead on a Sunday, where he often creates gothic/darkwave/industrial covers of popular songs outside of those genres, so I had so many options for this! It was so difficult figuring out which of his covers to pick because I love all of them. However, I wanted to go for what my mind perceived as the biggest dichotomy between genres, which led me to selecting Dead on a Sunday’s cover of Britney Spears’s iconic song, “…Baby One More Time”.
The original version of “…Baby One More Time” was released in 1999 and is one of the most iconic Y2K era pop songs. Musically, the use of wah-wah guitar and EKG machine bass slaps contribute to that classic Y2K sound and Britney’s vocal style gives it a seductive, upbeat pop style. The lyrics are describing the wanted return of a former lover and that combined with the musical styles described above give the song a desirous and covetous tone.
When looking at the Dead on a Sunday version, it is much more synth heavy and turns this pop song into a darkwave song similar to that of Depeche Mode, The Cure (Disintegration era), and Twin Tribes. The bassline is much more prominent and it’s complimented by higher pitched wistful synth. Vocally, rather than being seductive and desirous, Ross’s tone of voice create a new sense of desperation and almost hopelessness. For example, if one lyric from the song were to be selected to sum up Britney’s vibe, I would select, “Oh baby, baby, how was I supposed to know that something wasn’t right here. Oh baby, baby, I shouldn’t have let you go, and now you’re out of sight”, but for the Dead on a Sunday version, I would select, “My loneliness is killing me, I must confess I still believe. When I’m not with you, I lose my mind. Give me a sign”.
Personally, I prefer the Dead on a Sunday version. Part of it is general musical bias as I am more drawn to the sounds of goth/darkwave music (I mean, I was raised in the scene and work in it myself, so it’s personal), but I also feel like that desperate yearning emotion that accompanies Ross’s iteration of the song is much more fitting with the meaning behind the lyrics. I felt like I was able to connect with the song so much more with his version.
I love a good musical and in terms of the soundtrack, I think Dear Evan Hansen is super catchy and musically well done. That being said, the plot has always kind of irked me.
To simply summarize the plot for those who don’t know: Pretentious awkward boy doesn’t have friends, but has a crush on the brooding stoner kid’s artsy sister. When brooding stoner kid k1lls himself, pretentious awkward boy sees an opportunity to get close to the artsy sister by fabricating a friendship with brooding stoner to make himself look good for being his “only friend”. The notion of pretentious awkward boy being such a good guy for being “friends” with brooding stoner kid and “keeping his memory alive” by starting a big campaign around it to stay close with the artsy sister spreads and becomes a really big deal. The facade doesn’t last though. Everyone finds out and is rightfully super pissed. Pretentious awkward boy sings a sob story guilt trip song that’s basically “I’m such a good guy, I didn’t mean it to be bad! I’m just a lil awkward and I don’t know how to behave”, and everyone else is just like “well he didn’t mean it so it’s actually fine” and it ends on that happy note.
That’s what bothers me. This guy really fabricated months of emails and a whole friendship with a dead kid for sympathy points and because he wants the artsy sister and then when people got upset at this, he throws a temper tantrum and tries to excuse his behavior because he “had good intentions” and he’s just weird (Sound familiar? …Elon…) and everyone just goes with it. It reminds me of all the people that excuse abusers because “he’s such a nice guy, he would never do something like that”. So what if Evan Hansen’s scheme didn’t work out? What if everyone else stood their ground on why they were so upset? I decided to use the Reverse It assignment to rearrange the soundtrack to change the order of events in the musical and change the ending which, in turn, changes how the songs could be interpreted which I will discuss below.
A Breakdown of the New Song Order
“Anybody Have a Map”: This song has to remain at the start because it’s the only song with Connor (Brooding Stoner) still alive, so it would make no sense to randomly revive a dead kid with no context or reason
“Sincerely, Me”: I moved this song up to be the second song to make the friendship fabrication start ASAP after Connor dies. I also felt like the email fabrication coming before the storytelling to Connor’s family made it seem a bit more schemed and twisted.
“For Forever”: The plan is in place, the fabricated emails are set, now Evan is all prepped and ready to move in on Connor’s family and get the sympathy and hero points from all of them, especially Zoey, (artsy sister).
“If I Could Tell Her”– Evan is literally making up things Connor has said about Zoey to further his story, except this is basically like a weird stalker song because all the things that “Connor” has said about Zoey “to Evan” is actually just all the tiny details that Evan has noticed because he’s hyper-obsessed with her and has been wanting to say to her. He can’t even admit that those are his feelings about her and instead brings her false hope that her she and her late brother actually had a different kind of relationship.
“To Break in a Glove”– Next on the manipulation list is Connor’s father who is mourning the fact that he never had that traditional father-son bond, but Evan continues his game and steps in to act as the son and give Connor’s father the chance to have that relationship. Connor’s father is overjoyed about this, but little does he know, none of this is real.
“Disappear”– Evan is so deep into his own plot that he’s almost believing it himself and has a “conversation” with Connor that inspires him to start “The Connor Project” in his supposed memory which is really just to give him more hero points with everyone because his story has spread throughout the community. He’s basking in this newfound love and attention and it only makes the story spiral deeper taking everyone he’s twisted and manipulated with him.
“You Will Be Found”– Evan’s story has reached the masses and this is his big inspirational message to everyone for more sympathy and hero points, but again, all of this is still one big lie. A complete fabrication of the life of a dead kid. His real story, his real struggles were all completely erased and no one knows it. They think this is his story. Everyone is made the fool by Evan while he stands on the pedestal.
“So Big/So Small”– Evan’s mom reminisces on past struggles and she connects with him. The original meaning of this song was to show unconditional love that she has towards Evan after she finds out everything is fake, but in this rearrangement, it’s her feeling for Connor’s mom who has lost her son and connecting with Evan to show him that she is proud of him and will always love him and protect him. She doesn’t want to lose him like Connor’s mom lost Connor.
“Waving Through a Window”– Originally, this song served as an introduction to Evan being the awkward outcast who didn’t really have friends and no one noticed him, but for the purposes of this version, I feel like this song acts as a bit of breakdown for Evan. Worrying his story will fall through, doing everything he can to not garner suspicion. He has to keep the facade alive, but subconsciously, he knows he’s a fraud. He knows he doesn’t deserve any of this. I see this song as his external presentation battling his subconscious where the verses are his external and the chorus is his internal.
“Only Us”– Zoey comforts Evan as she can see he’s doubting himself, but she still doesn’t know the truth, so she thinks he’s doubting that she likes him. She still believes that his story is the real him and reassures him that she wants *him* and they can be there to help each other.
“Good For You”– Uh oh, the secret is out. His best friend Jared helped with the initial fabrication, but never expected nor wanted this to blow up into a big deal and feels like Evan has left him in the wreckage, his mom is heartbroken and upset as Evan has treated Connor’s family as his own and neglected her in the process, and his friend Alana who worked on the Connor Project feels betrayed and strung along.
“Requiem”– This song was initially Connor’s family singing about him, but I think this can easily be twisted to make it the family’s reactions to learning that Evan blinded them to the truth and that everything has been a lie. Zoey mourns the relationship and feels that Evan is a monster who completely toyed with her heart and her vulnerability from her brother’s death. Connor’s dad feels betrayed as he tried to give Evan the life and relationship that Connor didn’t get to have only for none of it to be right. Connor’s mom is in denial. She is in such shock and grief that she is hoping that the truth is actually the lie and that Evan’s story is what’s real when it isn’t.
“Words Fail”– Evan is facing the consequences of his own actions, but is almost giving a non-apology. It’s a sob story of “I didn’t mean it, I thought I was doing you all a solid, I didn’t know that I was out of line because poor me doesn’t have any friends, so actually you shouldn’t be mad at me, you should feel sorry for me”.
If you want to listen to this version of Dear Evan Hansen, here is the playlist!
I used Spotify to pull up the soundtrack and from the soundtrack, I put all the songs in a playlist in the order of my new version, so I could play around with different possibilities. As shown in many of my past blog posts, I love to analyse the tiniest little details and I love to find varying ways to interpret things; it’s a big reason why I’m a psych major. I’ve known this musical since it came out, so I was already really familiar with the songs and the plot, but this gave me the perfect chance to essentially personify my thoughts on Evan’s character. I have never pitied him, I’ve never been able to justify him and I hate that the other characters could and did do that.
