Song of the Day: Get Your Wish – Porter Robinson
Released in 2020, Porter Robinson’s “Get Your Wish” was the first track released from his Nurture album. There are a few interesting pieces of trivia behind how this track was produced:
- The piano used is Porter’s mother’s childhood piano.
- The vocals are all Porter himself. The higher-pitched voice you hear is still Porter, just artificially made higher. He said that he did this at first to make talking about painful subjects easier, but then kept it when he realized how much he liked how it sounded.
He had this to say about “Get Your Wish”:
“[“Get Your Wish”] is about finding a reason to keep moving forward, even if it’s not for your own sake. I was doing really badly in 2015, 2016, and early 2017. My entire life revolved around making music, but for the first time in my life, I was struggling to make anything at all. I was desperate to make something I was proud of, but the more I struggled, the worse the problem became. I was very seriously depressed and genuinely thought my life as I knew it was over.
It was almost three years of trying to write music, failing, and being crushed by it every single day.
There were times when I wondered if it was pointless for me to keep trying. I didn’t even know what I was hoping for. If I had come this far and I was still dissatisfied and unhappy, then it was impossible not to ask: Even if I do finish new music, what am I hoping is gonna happen? What is it I want that I don’t currently have? Am I gonna be happy then? Why am I not happy now?
I felt like I had no options – because while the prospect of struggling indefinitely was terrifying, the thought of quitting music was much worse.
For a very long time, I didn’t know what the answer was. I knew that no level of achievement was going to make me happy, but I still felt a life-definingly strong urge to keep doing creative work.
But gradually, I came to realize what the point is for me.
You know how every once in a while, when you’re driving or something, the music you’re listening to just moves you in this amazing, transcendent way? It’s this sublime experience that can’t really be described, but for me it’s like this: I feel like the world is beautiful and filled with possibility, and that I want to cherish every second that I have to be alive. That description doesn’t quite capture it, but it’s as close as I can get.
I have this experience every once in a while when I’m listening to my favorite artists. I feel overwhelmed with gratitude that they do what they do. I think being able to give people that experience through sincere songwriting is what makes it worthwhile.
I realized I shouldn’t write music with the expectation that productivity or achievement will fix my problems, but instead with the hope that my honest expression will move people the way music moves me. So when I was really struggling to write and it seemed impossible, instead of thinking, “You’re struggling because you’re a fraud, you’re clearly not cut out for this,” I began to tell myself, “Yeah, this is what you sacrifice.”
“Get Your Wish” is about that breakthrough, which was one of many that helped me through those years. Making music started to make me happy again.
– Porter Robinson
With that, take a listen and check out the lyrics below.
Get Your Wish Lyrics
I’ll make it right again
“But it’s no use,” you said
As my hunger grows and grows
I have to write the meaning of my life
Or else everything’s in vain
When the glory tries to tempt you
It may seem like what you need
But if glory makes you happy
Why are you so broken up?
So tell me how it felt when you walked on water?
Did you get your wish?
Floating to the surface
Quicker than you sank
Idol, idol
So tell me how it felt when you walked on water?
Did you get your wish?
Floating to the surface
Quicker than you sank
Idol, idol
Don’t say you lose just yet
Get up and move ahead
And not only for yourself
‘Cause that’s your role:
The work that stirred your soul
You can make for someone else
One day you choke, your urges overflow
And obsession wears you down
But don’t you waste the suffering you’ve faced
It will serve you in due time
So tell me how it felt when you walked on water?
Did you get your wish?
Floating to the surface
Quicker than you sank
Idol, idol
So tell me how it felt when you walked on water
Did you get your wish?
Floating to the surface
Quicker than you sank
Idol, idol
So tell me…