| White Noise | |
| Cover: | Will Wood White Noise.jpg |
| Alt: | The official cover artwork for "White Noise". |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Will Wood |
| Album: | "In case I make it," |
| Studio: |
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| Label: | Say-10 |
| Producer: |
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| Prev Title: | Euthanasia |
| Prev Year: | 2022 |
| Next Title: | Ferryman |
| Next Year: | 2022 |
"White Noise" is a song by American musician Will Wood. It was released through the Say-10 label 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. The song's music video includes visuals of Wood pantomiming and various people celebrating nothing.
Will Wood described writing the song as being inspired by "feeling this really weird heavy yet hollow sort of feeling behind [his] face"[1] in a plain-textured home near Atlantic City, New Jersey while suffering from HPPD.[2] He then began composing a melody on the ukulele, an instrument he was new to at the time, preferring its sound to the nature of the piano and acoustic guitar.[1] Wood later conducted a choir from Bulgaria via Zoom to create the backing vocals for "White Noise". On June 20, 2022, the track was teased as a single and music video for 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]
"White Noise" is a ballad,[6] beginning with solo tenor ukulele composed in time signature.[1] [7] 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.[7] Wood considered adding a key change during this section but thought it might "put it over the top."[5] After this, the composition suddenly drops and slows, ending the song with a softened tone backed by ukulele.[8]
The primary lyrical content of "White Noise" includes references to components of music, such as Dorian mode and audio file formats.[7] 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 "rental-safe"[2] apartments and a reference to the phrase of walking on eggshells. A sense of meaninglessness is continued throughout the first verse, with some lyrics inspired by his thoughts about elevator music. In the second verse of "White Noise", Wood humorously promotes the qualities of white noise, calling it "post-avant-garde",[9] and later using a Bulgarian choir to claim its ability to cure cancer.[5]
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.[10] 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 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 celebrations, including a person receiving an oversized cheque worth $0 USD.[10] The idea of Wood lip syncing without speaking was a previous idea planned for a performance video, but when he and Feldman were struggling to come up with an idea, Wood found it worked better for "White Noise".[2]