ENGRAVINGS - Ethan Bortnick - INSOMNIAC REACTS 

Yeah he was concert pianist around when he was 7, crazy talented guy.

P.S. You should check out Igorrr if you haven't already. Cheval and Very Noise are my favorites. Odd but good.

Thanks Mallorie! And thank you for the suggestions.

@@InsomniacReacts Ethan is so much better live here is an example and what he does with 'Creep'. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kQ--gHiRDMk.html Ethan Bortnik 'Creep' live at Montruex Jazz Festival.

AGREED!

I notice someone else here has likened Ethan to Michael Jackson. I hope he's not like that. I have become suspicious that MJ was an autistic savant, with fabulous powers of dance and music, but sadly lacking in any ability to function as an adult. When I look at Ethan -- his short fingers, long neck, and unusual facial features -- I wonder if he doesn't have some genetic issue, and I wonder what other symptoms that issue might come with.

@@pmb-pmb they were popular, because they were brilliant. Not only was the music great, but also they had great stage chemistry. These are all things that go into being successful in the entertainment industry. Look at Rogers and Hammerstein. Barlow and Bear have a chance of being in that category. In any case, this reviewer is correct that the music in “Engravings” is beautiful. The staging isn’t bad. The lyrics aren’t up to snuff. Many great songwriters use lyricists. Josh Groban is an example. He’s a good composer/pianist and a great performer, but he’s not as good with lyrics, so he hires someone. Not being able to work in a team is a serious handicap.

@@pmb-pmb I don't know anything about Mexican Pizza, but that's a non sequitur. Lots of creatives have success on one work and then less success on another. Many famous pop & rock singers and bands have only one top 40 hit and then never hit the top 40 again. That doesn't mean that their original hit was fake. Emily Bear has also composed music for at least one movie. She's not exactly new to show business music. It wasn't a fake success. It was being in the right place at the right time. They inspired others to work with them, because what they were doing was brilliant. They used social media in a new and innovative way during the pandemic, which was genius in and of itself. Others didn't figure it out the way they did. You could say Facebook only happened to be in the right place at the right time as the first big social media platform. That doesn't make its success fake. I actually know quite a bit about copyright law. The fact that the unofficial musical used some elements of another's work does not necessarily make it a copyright violation. The fact that Netflix sued them does not mean that they would have won. Barlow & Bear's work was transformative. That's a complex area of copyright law. Moreover, suing fans who are, in fact, promoting the original work, is incredibly stupid from a PR perspective. However, derivative works appear often in copyright law. It's not shameful to make a derivative work. It's not fake. It may require a cross license, but that's just part of the copyright business. They deserved the Grammy. Popularity is a big factor in who gets Grammys. Nor should their success somehow be a piñata that you have to knock down for Ethan

@@pmb-pmb Re-watch. The reactor likes the piano and doesn't like the lyrics. Also read the response of the reactor to comments here. I hope I'm wrong about his features. I hope you're right.

Plus it takes a skilled composer, like Emily, to be able to incorporate donated tracks from all those different musicians. I doubt you would be able to do it.

Thanks for subscribing! I'll take a look.

Only doing Patreon requests for a while, but if anything changes I'll throw it on the list. Thanks!

I disagree fundamentally as a musician / writer in many different genres over the years - a SONG is the sum of its parts, regardless of what the feature instrument is. One instrument doesn't carry an entire song. I also disagree with your comparison of taking the guitar player out of a band like Van Halen - yeah, Eddie added the most in terms of layers, but I'd never listen to most Van Halen stuff even with the guitar tracks taken out, and describe the rest as "boring." There was literally nothing to this song other than a hushed (and repetitive) vocal line with a side of programmed 4otf kick. If you subtract the piano part, you have somebody softly singing a barely-interesting melody over a programmed kick drum. That's boring (to the listener in this case, which happens to be me).

@@InsomniacReacts Eh fair point. I suppose I just view music differently, which is fine. Probably a bit of bias on my part as piano was the first instrument I was trained in and it's been my reference point for learning and applying theory. As I've gotten more into recording music for myself and not others I've begun to really prioritize composition and dynamics as I try to blend all of my favorite genres together. I personally really like the minimal aspect of the song outside of the piano because I'm viewing the song as the execution of a specific idea, the beat is more of an accompanying piece to the atmosphere and presence set by the piano. With the context of some of his other pieces (specifically "Cut my fingers off" that has a bit more to it overall) along with his performances as a concert pianist when he was younger, I overall find it interesting to listen to the way he composes his pop songs. The minimalism in this case seems very intentional to me, especially when I know what else he is capable of and that's what I like about it. Maybe I'm adding layers of depth where there aren't any. *Edit* I should also add that my initial point isn't saying the song *wouldn't* be boring without the piano, more so that I don't think that makes the song as it is bad or boring (seeing as to how it does have the piano). As you said, a song is the sum of its parts and when taking that into consideration, I feel the minimalism was an intentional addition. Take the piano out and the song would've likely been executed fundamentally different. I think the choice itself was interesting bc of the restraint shown

Right, but as a fellow composer. The whole point in this song is the contrast between the busy-ness of the piano part and the sparseness. It creates musical contrast. In this case I’d argue you that less is more absolutely. Doesn’t need to be balls to the wall wank fest. The lyrics, melody, and their contrast and darkness with the virtuosic piano is what gives it personality. Otherwise it’s just classical piano arpeggios. Those dissonant piano stabs combined with the distorted door slam percussion are absolutely *chefs kiss and do amazing work in setting the tone of a toxic abusive relationship, which is the theme of the song.

@@ModestMouseTrap But herein lies the beauty of music: you're not right, and neither am I. This is MY reaction, so it's how I perceived the song. Also keep in mind that I'm NOT a pianist, but I too have been writing / creating music (both analog and digital) for years - so I'm not speaking from the POV of somebody that's just a spectator. I understand (and acknowledged) the significance of the piano parts. The song as a whole, FOR ME, was boring.

@@InsomniacReacts I know that wasn't a response to me, but I'd like to add that you're viewpoint is valid, I hope I didn't come across as self important or whatever. I was mainly making note of how I found it weird/interesting the way we interpreted the song in completely different ways based off the same principles. If anything, I'm arguing that saying the song is "boring" and that it's missing something are 2 different things. But from your perspective, what it's missing may be what makes it boring

Yes we do. Thank you for having the decency to at least acknowledge that.

It's a face, done by a well-known artist that I know personally. Sounds like somebody here is projecting what they're thinking about though..

Check out tide ,the cliff,perfect day jasmine star can shred

THANK YOU. Wow - FINALLY one person who understands my reaction.

Oh I understand as well I believe it is because he is first and foremost a classical player... and experienced at that, and a world top end prodigy to boot... But him singing seems to be a new thing he's opened up to. He broke free from the classical scene and I think his work is more to express himself rather than to impress others. That's the feeling I get, like look at his tour videos, like the one he turned a ringtone to a song... that was 3 years ago. It just seemed he was bored, tied down and wanted to break free. Another song is called cut off my fingers or something like that... a deeply expressive and emotional term for a piano player... also the hair and style, I feel it is a massive f u to the classical music style. That said, I also believe in time he will train his voice better and actually branch out his songs more when his voice reaches a good enough level to sing more dynamically and not produce almost monotone repetitive but meaningful lyrics. Definitely potential, most perfect pitch prodigies can sing quite well, but I think he hasn't been training his voice till only recently and well... the other question is... would he even want to go through that classical training again??? If he does... WOW... but I've a feeling it will take a long time before he gets more confident with his voice without a proper voice coach and training. I just feel he won't do that though 😕

Agreed. It's not an endless repeat track but it is great to listen to from time to time.

I appreciate that. Tons more coming!

I'm only taking Patreon requests through November.

tf you talking about? Where was I "hating on his voice?"

Um, no.. I literally chopped out the part where I googled him ON CAMERA because I didn't know who he was before this reaction.

That's some ignorant BS right there. I never even HEARD of Ethan before someone suggested this, and I'm one of the only reaction channels that actually watches the video for the first time on camera. Not sure what you were watching, but if you think I'm faking content, move along.

You'd have to tell me since that was a statement and not a question.

1. that's YOUR opinion - this video is mine. 2. what "dog" do I have in this fight? I react to everything, listen to everything (off cam) and it does me 0 good to not "love" everything I react to because it produces people like yourself who can't accept a different opinion than your own. So if I wasn't being truthful, explain what I stand to gain by being "sour" about this song.

@@InsomniacReacts I mean you gain in engagement, the only measurable means of success and the key to leveraging the the algorithm. I can take a different opinion but come on man you say the same thing about the song being boring without the piano, everything aside from the piano adds nothing, the vocals are yadda yadda lol you couldn’t come up with a positive aside from the piano which most of were backhanded. Then bravely at the end rush through the same reparative talking points and with stuff like “oh I get the meaning of the song…” no elaboration next topic lol bro why so defensive and who asked? Just felt off man, the song is a pretty catchy tune that was doing something different I just don’t see how a artist can genuinely hate so much.

@@3thhackz531 1. Giving your own comments thumbs ups is corny as hell "bro." 2. I didn't "hate" on anything here - you're just another absolute fanboy who's being pissy because I didn't think this was THE GREATEST THING I've ever heard. Move on.

@@InsomniacReacts lol I’ll thumbs up myself now so you can see that wasn’t me lmao you are petty af brother 😂💀

Geez... Both of you are really petty