A Description of Our Idea.

Lyrics: I never wanted to be better than my friends
I just wanted to prove wrong the people in my head
The ones who told me I'd be better of dead
The ones who told me that I would never win

When I delivered newspapers they said I was too slow
When I was a barista they said I made lousy foam
When I worked in retail they said I was a slob
Much too dumb for school and much too lazy for a job

So I rode my bike like lightning
And I made cappuccinos that would make the angels sing
Took two showers a day and I dressed up like a princess
Shook my fist in my own face and said I'll show you who's the best

I wrote the kinds of papers teachers hang up on their walls
I was employee of the month at seven different shopping malls
And one time playing football I pulled the tendons in my leg
To prove that I was tough I hopped on one foot
And finished up the game

I thought if I succeeded I'd be happy and they'd go away
But first thing in the morning I'd still wake up and I'd hear them say
"you're fat, ugly, and stupid, you should really be ashamed
No one will ever like you you're not good at anything"

And sometimes I'd rise to the challenge
But other times I'd feel so bad that I could not get out of bed
And on the days I stayed in bed I sang and sang and sang
About how crappy I felt no realizing how many other people would relate

Now people send me emails that say thanks for saying the things they didn't know how to say
And the people in my head still visit me sometimes
And they bring all of their friends but I don't mind
I play my guitar like lightning
When I sing I like it when you sing too loud and clear
Different voices different tones all sayin' "yeah, we're not alone"
I got good at feeling bad and that's why I'm still here
I got good at feeling bad and that's why I'm still here
I got good at feeling bad and that's why I'm still here


The idea of the lyrics is that Kimya Dawson has been told all her life that she is rubbish at everything, however she starts writing music and now suddenly everyone can see she is good at what she does. For our music video, we wanted to incorporate performance into the narrative, like 'Foundations' by Kate Nash. We were keeping the main idea of our video to be a girl (Kimya Dawson) riding a bicycle down a street delivering newspapers. As she cycles, she will be performing into the camera. Also, as she cycles, she goes past all the people who have put her down/insulted her, and instead of delivering the newspapers in the way she should be, she throws them at each person as if to say 'here take that, I am who I am and you can't do anything about it.' To prevent this from becoming boring and repetitive, we are also having bits of narrative every so often to show visuals and lyrics. For example, when she sings about getting dressed up as a princess, we will have her actually getting dressed up. As the song is a few seconds short, at the end we will have the girl cycling her bike into the garage and walking into her house. To keep the generic conventions, we will include an acoustic guitar and gypsy type clothes.