Smith's music relies heavily on digital sampling and crosses many genres, forming a combination of "glitchy hip-hop beats, buzzing synth lines, and vintage funk and soul samples.". Pretty Lights' sound is generated by manipulating samples and organic beats using the Novation X-Station, monome and the Akai MPD32. Smith uses these digital controllers to program the music production software Ableton Live 8. When performing live, Smith uses two Macbook Pros running Ableton Live 8 and two Akai MPD32s. Smith usually considers his music as "Electro Hip-Hop Soul", a mix between elements of electronic based music, and beats from hip-hop and soul music.
Pretty Lights released A Color Map of the Sun on July 2, which is Grammy nominated for the Best Dance/Electronic Album . The two-CD collection contain the 13-song album A Color Map of the Sun plus a second album, Live Studio Sessions From A Color Map of the Sun.
A Color Map of the Sun builds on the original Pretty Lights sound and style that Smith pioneered. He spent a year composing and recording music and vocals that emulated genres and time periods that spanned the last century, then pressed it to vinyl. He used that vinyl along with a custom built analog modular synth to create A Color Map of the Sun. The resulting album is analog electronica – soulful, electro hip-hop that pays respect to music’s immense power to touch listeners emotionally, kinetically and inspirationally.
For more information and to download all Pretty Lights albums at no cost, visit http://www.prettylightsmusic.com.
Flitting between moody downtempo and upbeat, densely layered material geared for club play, Colorado's Pretty Lights was the project of Derek Vincent Smith. Smith spent his high school years making hip-hop and ultimately dropped out of his freshman year at the University of Colorado at Boulder to focus on his music. He made his recorded debut as Pretty Lights in 2006 with the full-length Taking Up Your Precious Time, which he supported with gigs for acts including STS9, the Disco Biscuits, and Widespread Panic. From there, he kept up a busy release schedule for the rest of the 2000s, issuing the double album Filling Up the City Skies in 2008 and another full-length, Passing by Behind Your Eyes, the following year. In 2010, Pretty Lights went on an extensive North American tour, playing that year's Coachella, Ultra, Movement, and Electric Zoo festivals, among other stops. Smith continued touring into 2011 and also developed his Pretty Lights Music imprint, releasing albums by Michal Menert, Gramatik, and Eliot Lipp. In 2012, Smith appeared in the music documentary Re:GENERATION Music Project and began work on Pretty Lights' fourth album. Instead of sampling existing recordings, Smith worked with longtime drummer Adam Deitch, Soulive's Eric Krasno, the Harlem Gospel Choir, and members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Treme Brass Band to create vintage-sounding original music that he then refashioned into the Pretty Lights sound. The results were 2013's A Color Map of the Sun, which became the first Pretty Lights album to be released physically and digitally at the same time. ~ Heather Phares & Andy Kellman, Rovi
More Important Than Michael Jordan
Pretty Lights Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
don't ever go.
I'm lonely baby.
I'm lonely babe.
I'm lonely babe.
I lovvvvvve you, don't ever go.
I lovvvvvve you, don't ever go.
There's something happenin' in here, but it isn't exactly clear.
More important than Michael Jordan.
The lyrics in Pretty Lights's song "More Important Than Michael Jordan" are simple and repetitive, but they convey a complex emotional state. The singer is expressing their love for someone and their fear of losing them. The repetition of "I'm lonely, baby" and "I lovvvvve you, don't ever go" highlights the singer's desperation and longing for companionship. The line "there's something happenin' in here, but it isn't exactly clear" adds an element of confusion and uncertainty to the song, as if the singer is struggling to keep their emotions in check.
The title of the song, "More Important Than Michael Jordan," is an interesting choice. Michael Jordan is a basketball player who is widely considered to be one of the greatest athletes of all time. By comparing their love interest to Michael Jordan, the singer is indicating that their love is more important to them than anything else in the world, even someone as revered as Michael Jordan. This speaks to the intensity of the singer's emotions and the depth of their attachment to the person they're addressing.
Line by Line Meaning
I love you,
I have deep feelings of affection for you,
don't ever go.
Please stay with me and don't leave me alone.
I'm lonely baby.
I am feeling disconnected and in need of companionship, my dear.
I'm lonely babe.
I am feeling isolated and in need of love, my dear.
I'm lonely babe.
I am feeling emotionally detached and in need of affection, my dear.
I lovvvvvve you, don't ever go.
I have a powerful and deep love for you, and I can't bear the thought of you leaving me.
There's something happenin' in here, but it isn't exactly clear.
There is something going on between us, but I am not sure what it is or how to articulate it.
More important than Michael Jordan.
This emotional connection we have is more significant and meaningful than even the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan.
Contributed by Gabriel A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@franciscoxavier7398
There's something happening here
But what it is ain't exactly clear
And it's more important
Than Michael Jordan
I'm from where the phat beats stretch for mad blocks
I'm from where the phat beats stretch for mad blocks
Down on stage
I make it hot
Till the fire marshal come
Shut down the spot
Got the club jam packed
Every time I rock
These other niggas ain't got the style
I got
You want it
It's fire
I got it
That fire
So Hot Might
Ignite ya
It's fire
It's fire
How can you be so good?
I'm not afraid
Cause I'm a rider yeah
How can you be sober?
Ain't nothing wrong
With feeling right
@nuyorican91st
I'm spittin on the next level
Hit or miss
Taking risks like fucking rebel
Try ducking bullets with a shield made of rose petels
You've grown physically
But mentally your blown like tea kettles
Mind boggling depths deep as sea levels
I don't like you like you like me,here's a sneeze coming
For a couple of seconds my heart freezes
Ha chew
Pretty please,on your knees and grab on to somthin,phew
Bring me a napkin phlegm game straight savage,paying dues
Test crews break you down to formula in test tubes
Wreck dudes till the rents due it's a daring rescue featuring four of my nephews
Sorry not sorry for the way I left you
Bruised up broken neck issued
Black and blue
Might as well be dead,it's been said
One final Crack when I attack your life is nothing but bulls red
Your beating heart will be stopped
Death is due,blitzkrieg bop in my manwalk
Grab that chalk
Outlined when I stalk
@CoachBaileyCooper
Saw this live back in 12/2009, Richmond,VA. J5 and Bassnectar opened for him. This song dropped and the whole crowd went bananas. It was epic.
@michaelluciano1980
Nice saw him earlier that year at Bonnaroo. Bass was so bumping you could barely breathe in the front row and people going ham!
@layneyloo14
Ahhh!!! Envy 😮I bet that was the best show ever
@codexmachina1358
Awesome you saw him in the past but the focus is on the Future
@melissahall5997
coming back to this song for the first time in the better half of 10 years and it still feels like the first time ♥️
@codexmachina1358
Jokic is more important than LeBron
@Chris-uq9bb
this shit still lit af
@piersbickerton-jones6231
You’re not wrong
@tekno4blood
Slaps bruh slaps
@wogdiddy4468
This is the very first track i heard by PL. I heard it on pandora when i was working at Jimmy Johns over 10 years ago. I became an instant fan ever since. Saw him live too!