"White Noise" is a song by American musician Will Wood. It was released through Say-10 on July 8, 2022, as the sixth and final single for his fourth studio album "In case I make it," (2022), where it appears as the last song. The track features a ballad composition centered around ukulele, strings and a choir. Lyrically, it explores modern aesthetics, using bland imagery to convey emptiness. The song's music video includes visuals of Wood pantomiming and various people celebrating nothing.
During writing, Will Wood reminisced of a college experience revolving around feeling empty during an acid trip,[1] taking place in his plain-textured dormitory room near Atlantic City, New Jersey.[2] He then began creating "White Noise" on ukulele, preferring it to the dramaticism of piano and grandiloquence of acoustic guitar.[1] Wood later communicated with a Bulgarian choir via Zoom to create the song's backing vocals.[a] On June 20, 2022, the track was teased as a single and music video to release on July 8,[3] saying about the song that "the beauty of the world is in the silence beneath it".[4] It appeared as the final track of "In case I make it," (2022),[5] following the orchestral themes of the penultimate track "Willard!".[6]
"White Noise" is a ballad,[7] beginning with solo tenor ukulele composed in 4
4 time signature.[1][8] Once Wood enters, he softly sings portamento. The song builds in intensity throughout and climaxes during the second verse and chorus,[1] introducing string instruments and a choir with the grandiosity of arena rock.[8] During production, Wood had the concept of utilizing a key change during this section but scrapped it for its possibility of being over the top.[5] After this, the composition suddenly drops and slows, ending the song with a softened tone backed by ukulele.[9]
The primary lyrical content of "White Noise" was described by Joe Hoeffner of Two Story Melody to be "Wood lamenting the deadening blandness of modern aesthetics before gleefully defying them".[2] It additionally includes references to components of music, such as Dorian mode and file formats.[8] Imagery of fluorescent lamps are used to mimic Wood's feeling of a "hollow, cold, vibe", while "eggshell" is used as a double entendre; both the off-white paint color seen in dormitory rooms and reference to the phrase "walking on eggshells".[10] A sense of meaninglessness is continued throughout the first verse, with some lyrics inspired by the intentional lack of affection derived from elevator music. In the second verse of "White Noise", Wood satirically promotes the qualities of an unspecified object, claiming an ability to cure cancer and being "post-avant-garde" to place importance in a nonexistent thing.[10]
The music video for "White Noise" was released on July 8, 2022, with co-direction by Will Wood and Jacob Feldman. The video begins with white noise, followed by Wood walking into the middle of an open space with a ukulele.[11] He then lip syncs without his mouth, pantomiming to follow along with the song. Footage of Wood playing instruments with their musical components removed accompanies this, later introducing various Indiegogo contributors as partygoers who gift each other empty containers and celebrate conceptually nothing.[2] Halfway through, Wood appears with a shaved head, beginning to sing while a mute un-shaved version of himself plays backing instruments. This precedes more footage of celebrating nothing, including a person receiving an oversized cheque worth $0 USD.[11] The idea of Wood lip syncing without speaking was a previous idea planned for a performance video, which was recycled for "White Noise" as he and Feldman struggled to find other ideas.[2]
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)