Her voice is smooth and gentle, and has a very motherly quality to it.Īs for the instrumentation, naturally it is written by Aimee Mann. You can always sing along with Mann, just as the main characters do in one of the film's pivotal sequences. In a world dominated by female pop stars like Beyonce, who sprinkle melodies with flaunty scale runs and vibrato, Mann proves that there are still singers out there who leave the melody to serve its purpose. Perhaps the only thing that surpasses her lyrics talents is her singing. Her use of figurative language is poetic, but still completely genuine.īear in mind that Mann is not just an amazing songwriter. Aimee Mann writes beautiful songs that anyone can relate to songs that are open to interpretation. Don't be mistaken into thinking this album is merely a collection of whiney songs that make you depressed. Throughout the album, Mann conveys non-anecdotal feelings of loneliness, sadness, vulnerability, and confusion.

In the song Wise Up, she sings, 'You got what you want, now you can hardly stand it, by now you know it's not going to stop, it's not going to stop until you wise up.' I could go on, but you get the point. These are only a couple of examples of the ingenious simplicity and realness of her lyrics. Anderson more about her lyrics, in the quote, 'She is the great articulator of the biggest things we think about : How can anyone love me.why the hell would anyone love me?' What is so special about these songs is fairly simple. Obviously, there must be something extra special about the songs for such an excellent movie as Magnolia to come of them. In this case, the songs were the basis of the film. This is quite unusual in most cases, original songs are made to compliment the movie, or already-released songs that fit the vibe of the film are dispersed throughout the picture. Like one would adapt a book for the screen, I had the concept of adapting Aimee's songs into a screenplay.' Director Paul Thomas Anderson explains, 'I sat down to write an adaptation of Aimee Mann songs. This is true of the Magnolia soundtrack, yet the process by which the film and the soundtrack were made is somewhat backwards.

You'll have probably seen the film first and therefore the songs usually remind you of the movie. This is most likely because they are a combination of the two different mediums. As you can see, I like writing motion picture soundtracks.