Be the One — VoicePlay collaborative song composition
VoicePlay doesn't collaborate with other vocal percussionists often, but when Layne was perusing TikTok for potentional duets, he found a cool groove from L.A.-based beatboxer Marcus Perez. It became the foundation for something short but special.
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Duet-ing & duet-able
For their first pass, VoicePlay added some backing harmonies and a couple prompts from Geoff to indicate the direction they thought other singers might want to take a melody line in.
Details:
title: Let's write a song together!
original performer: Marcus Perez
written by: Marcus Perez & Layne Stein
arranged by: Layne Stein
release date: 20 March 2022
My favorite bits:
Marcus's fantastic tonal beatboxing
the swells on Cesar, Eli, and Layne's opening lines
Geoff's bouncy bass slipping into the gaps in the rhythm
their slow ascent and build in volume
the syncopation on ♫ "Be the one." ♫
Trivia:
A few dozen singers took up the challenge and posted their creations over the following weeks, some even layering themselves more than once.
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Full version
After they'd let other folks have some fun for a while, the boys released their own final composition.
Details:
title: Be the One
performers: VoicePlay, feat. Marcus Perez
written by: Marcus Perez & Layne Stein
arranged by: Layne Stein
release date: 1 May 2022
My favorite bits:
the simplicity of the melody line and Cesar's smooth delivery
Eli taking the repeated ♫ "Let me be" ♫ up the octave and climbing even higher…
…to increase the contrast with Geoff's decent
Cesar's sassy little pivot away from the camera
Trivia:
Because it's such a short composition, they didn't bother sending it to Ed Boyer for a final audio mix. Layne took care of it himself as he had in the group's early days.
