Alt-RnB, Manifestation and Why It Works

Two Alt-RnB songs, two quick manifestation exercises and the science behind why it works, cuz you know your girl loves the science.

Just to be clear, since I didn't explicitly say it in the episode, in no way do I believe that you can just think/wish/manifest something into reality. If that were the case, we'd all be millionaires with private jets or a lifetime supply of cheese (specific? yes. the thing I'd manifest? also, yes). What I am saying is that manifesting can be a way to focus your thoughts, attention and energy into a goal, one that you will need to put in the work to achieve. I am not saying manifesting is some free ride or easy way out; on the contrary, I'm saying if you're ready to put in the work to achieve a goal or change your life, these tools *can* be one way to focus your mind. That's it. Just felt like I needed to clarify :)

Songs in this episode:

Manifest by RUBII,

Self by Cleo Sol



keywords: Manifestation, Visualization, Mental health, Positive mindset, Anxiety relief, Music for mental health, Trauma recovery, Breaking mental patterns, Mindfulness strategies, Coping with social anxiety, Self-doubt solutions, Emotional well-being,

Say hi on Instagram @positively_chill

Transcript

Thank you for joining me. I’m Danielle. If you’re new to Positively Chill, if this is your first episode, each week I pick a few songs with impactful music lyrics and discuss their relationship to mental health challenges. I hope it helps you discover some new music you wouldn’t normally listen to, gain some insights on mental health challenges and maybe soak up some good vibes.

So last week was a recovery week for me. A music recovery week. Meaning, recovering from music. I was at Outside Lands last weekend, wait… the weekend before last. Then I was at the Foo Fighters concert a few days later and then I was back at Golden Gate Park to see System of a Down. I saw more concerts in a 7 day period then I did the first 7 months of the year. So, I needed a bit of a recovery which is why this episode is late. And in honor of Outside Lands, for those who don’t know, is a music festival at Golden Gate Park in San Fran. The highlight of the festival, for me, besides Chappell Roan which, come on, she’s having a moment for sure, but besides her amazing performance, the MVP for me was Teddy Swims. That man didn’t come to play. His performance was the most emotional, moving live-performance I have ever seen. He sang “Some Things I’ll Never Know” and was on the verge of tears, voice cracking, the whole thing. And then I was on the verge of tears. Try to find the clip on Youtube because it’s worth the 4 minutes. Right before him, Chappell Roan played. She’s a goddess. She puts on a damn show. She danced her heart out, gave it her all. She had all 75,000 people singing and dancing. When Hot To Go came on, everyone did the dance. She even called out the people in VIP for not dancing and being “too cool.” That song is definitely this generation’s YMCA. Right before her, Paul Cauthen (caw like paw, caw-thin) had his set and since I was lining up for Chappell, I was there for his whole set. First off, the man has a vibe. He’s like a rockstar cowboy. Cowboy hat, cowboy boots, tattoos - I think he was wearing a silk shirt? Not sure, but it was like country chic? Not sure that’s a thing but he has a look and I loved it. He also has a voice like smooth whiskey. Not similar to Chris Stapleton but instead of the PG version like Chris, he’s the R version. Two of his songs that he sang were “Cocaine Country Dancing” and “Country as F*ck” so, yea, R version. He’s a vibe and I am definitely a fan. So I am going out of order, and I should mention this was the last day, Sunday, of the festival. And then after him, Post Malone came on, who I obviously knew before but I have a new respect for that guy. He did a set on Saturday but then he did another on Sunday with just country music. He has such versatility and like Teddy Swims, he doesn’t look like he sounds. Maybe it’s their face tattoos and gold grill. Not sure, but I love that about both of them. The element of surprise. 

In addition to those on Sunday, here are some other artists that were there that I enjoyed: Sons of the East, Men I Trust (talked about them in a previous episode), Sabrina Carpenter (we all know her now, talked about her in a previous episode), Jungle (talked about them before in a previous episode), Renee Rapp, The Killers, Fletcher, Slowdive (blast from the past), Daniel Caesar, Young the Giant (also sort of a blast from the past), The Postal Service (definite blast from the past), Victoria Monet (uh). Anyway, great festival. Great music, overpriced food and drinks, great crowd. No notes.

As I mentioned, I also saw Foo Fighters, who, for a bunch of dudes in their mid-50s, they came with a sh*t-ton of energy. More energy than I had. They played for about 2.5 hrs and looked like they could keep going. It’s amazing to have that kind of stamina. I think people underestimate how much endurance that takes to play and sing and dance around and keep the intensity high for that long. Mad respect for all of them, especially Dave Grohl. 

So this episode was originally supposed to be the British rapper episode. As I mentioned before, I love British rappers… but I underestimated how hard it would be to pull meaningful lyrics from their songs. Not that rap lyrics don’t have profound themes. Many of them do, but… I think with rap more so than any other genre, the themes are subtle and inferred. They are not as in-your-face as lyrics from other genres. So, I did a lot of head scratching and listening and re-listening of songs before I waved my white flag and decided to pick a different genre. But I still love British rappers, and if you’re not familiar with any and want some recommendations, my favorites are AJ Tracey, Headie One, Aitch, Sketpa and Stormzy. DM me on Instagram if you want a playlist. 

So then I was back to square one with this episode’s theme. And I looked at some of the music I have been listening to lately to see if there was any pattern and noticed I have been listening to a lot of Alt-RnB or Alt-HipHop. First off, apparently, according to the internet which we know is always 100% accurate and never wrong, the term Alt-RnB and Alt-HipHop can be a bit controversial. Some people hate that term. To me, as I always thought of it, it referred to quirkier, more leftfield hip hop artists with pop tendencies. To me, A Tribe Called Quest would fall into this category. They make hip-hop, yes, but it sounds jazzy or funky or melodic. Anyway, I am not sure how to classify these songs, but 

First song is Manifest by RUBII. I think that’s how you pronounce this artist’s name. I first heard her song on social media and then couldn’t stop listening to it. It played on repeat in both my playlist and in my head for a while. So, RUBII is an English artist, from Birmingham, and her sound is a bit neo-soul, a bit RnB, a bit pop - it’s got the sexy vibes of neo-soul but also the upbeat rhythm of pop or EDM. Her vocals remind me a bit of Lily Allen, another British artist. The lyrics from this song that I like are:

“And I can see what it is like to believe

My eyes are open

So now I see

The wiser words are spoken

So I hang out to speak

Make a wish for once with a secret

And if I manifest, best guess, I’ll keep it”

So, let’s talk about manifesting. It’s a controversial topic. I think because, at some point, it went from positive thinking to vision boards to… crystals. No hate to the people who use crystals in any way. If that’s part of your journey, hell yes. You do you. So there are a lot of ways to do manifestation and many include visualizations. Many people, when they hear visualizations, think of a vision board, which can be a very powerful tool. I think whatever works for you, whatever floats your boat, whatever lights your fire, whatever cranks your tractor. I don’t know. I’m done. Anyway, vision boards can be very helpful, but for me, I feel like I need to put more work into it. Maybe work is not the right word. But I hope you get what I mean. 

Since music is such a big part of my life and very important to me, I use music when doing any visualizations. Find a song that you can listen to while manifesting or, if you cringe when you hear that word, rename it something else. Call it summoning. Go full witch. Instead of brat summer you’re doing witch summer. And for my male or non-binary listeners, you can be a witch too. Wizard summer doesn’t sound as cool. Wizard summer sounds like a lame summer camp that Harry Potter would have to go to when Hogwarts closes. Anyway, I’m off track. So, go into a dark room, call it summoning and wait for your spooky season to start. Imagine a cozy home, elaborate smoke rings, lots of ale, dismantling an evil regime. I clearly have thought about being a modern witch for way too long. And it shows. Anyway for the sake of this episode, let’s stick with calling it manifesting. 

For me, the process looks like this. First, pick a song. For me, it’s “Be a Prelude” by RIOPY. I really hope I’m saying his name correctly. When I have heard him interviewed, he says it with such a heavy french accent and I dare not try it. I cannot. Anyway, he’s a French pianist and composer whose music is so embodying and consuming. And “Be a Prelude” is my favorite song by him, and I used to listen to this song when I was writing. For a while, during the pandemic, I was writing a lot of long-form content (like hundreds of pages), and I would always listen to his music, sometimes the same song the entire time I was writing, which sounds a bit unhinged but it worked for me and my writing process. So now whenever I hear his music, I am brought back to some tranquility and calmness, so it’s perfect for visualizations. There are no lyrics which is helpful because that can be distracting. But use what works for you. So pick a few songs so that you have more than just the length of one song.

First exercise is to imagine a scene in time, in your life, when you accomplish what you want. So, for example, if your goal is to do a career change, visualize the scene of the call you get when they offer you the job. So that includes when you look at your phone and see the phone number of the recruiter, what you say when you answer, what that person says to you when they tell you that you got the job, the details of the compensation package, when they ask you to start. Basically imagine the entire conversation like you’re writing a screenplay. But the most important part is to imagine how you would feel and actually feel it while you’re doing the manifestation. Are you nervous? Are you relieved? Are you anxious? Likely you’ll be elated but maybe there are other emotions in there too. For me, this is something I have always done, not necessarily to manifest something but more to prepare my brain for what’s to come. And I find now, with this ‘scene manifestation’ that if I write it out, it’s even more powerful. Like with meditation, I find it hard to keep my brain on track sometimes so if I am forced to write it, it slows me down and also allows me to edit what I want to include.

Second exercise is to imagine a day in your life, from start to finish, in a year from now when you accomplish what you want. Include small details like what you eat for breakfast, who you wake up to, where you wake up, what you’re wearing, the weather, any small detail will help add to this story. And then think about what your day would be like from start to finish. And similar to the previous exercise, you’re going to focus in on the feelings that you experience during that day. One of the things that I find helpful is having actual video footage in my mind of the things that I am manifesting. So let’s say that you want to travel more in your life. Watch videos of the places you want to visit so they are clear in your mind. Go to a few hotels’ websites and use their virtual tour option and look around. Go to Tripadvisor and look at tourist photos of the places you want to go so you can almost map it out in your mind. Similarly to the ‘scene manifestation’ the ‘day in the life manifestation’ can be written out too, basically a written format of a vision board. And you can include visual queues as well, if that’s helpful for you to combine them.

The interesting thing about manifesting - and I should have probably included this before I started talking about the exercises - is that it’s proven to work. 

There’s a study from 2021 called “Influence of Imagery Training on Adjusting the Pressure of Fin Swimmers, Improving Sports Performance and Stabilizing Psychological Quality” (as well as others that I am not citing but were similar studies) where scientists had swimmers do imagery or visualization exercises and then hooked them up to fMRI machines to see what was happening to their brains. And they could see that motor imagery activated the same regions of the brain, particularly the motor cortex, that are involved in executing real movements. So basically a swimmer could imagine swimming 100m in a race and have the same exact effect on the brain as when she or he actually swam 100m in a pool. Isn’t that wild? They found that visualization exercises improved the swimmers self-confidence and better adapted them to high-stress situations. So I bring up this study, because 1) I’m a nerd and love this type of stuff and 2) to make the point that visualization can be very powerful. We are basically tricking our brains into thinking what is happening is real. 

Next song is Self by Cleo Sol, another British artist. It’s got this interesting opening beat with a piano and upright bass - I think it’s a bass, I’m not a musical expert. But it’s a nice beat, almost like that song from that art heist movie… oh what is it called? With Pierce Bronson (Bronson, why does that not sound right?). Caller, please hold. Fire up Google. Ok, so it’s called The Thomas Crown Affair. I would have never gotten that without Google. My brain was never, in no way going to pull that from the archive. Great movie. Anyway, it’s got a great beat, and while the song is 3-½ minutes, it doesn’t have that many lyrics. But the lyrics pack a punch. The lyrics are:

“Save me from myself

Be gentle

Gentle with myself

God knows this time

I’ll never lose myself

Now I know I can change the world

Without changing myself

God protect me

You shield me with your light

Heal those 

Who are conflicted with the inside

I’m growing every day

Release me from this pride

Turn anger into peace

And lead with my inner child”

That’s the entire song. Love the message, especially “be gentle with myself” which is something that I have to remind myself every day. Like I say at the end of every episode, show yourself the same grace you show the people you love. If you wouldn’t talk to someone else a certain way, don’t talk to yourself that way. 

So that’s the episode. Only 2 songs this week since I spent a lot of time talking about manifesting, I ran out of time. I am really trying to keep each episode to around 20 minutes because, well, I don't know about you but I simply don't have the mental capacity. Like, in general but also specifically for podcasts over 20 minutes.

Like in the previous episodes, I’d like to end with an affirmation. If it feels good to repeat the affirmation aloud - if that’s part of your journey - then do so, otherwise please just listen. The affirmation will be at the end.

You are worthy and capable of accomplishing your dreams. You have the skills, passion, and resilience to turn your dreams into reality. Challenges and setbacks are not signs of failure but opportunities to grow and learn. Believe in yourself and your ability to overcome any obstacles that come your way. You are deserving of all the success and happiness that come to you.

The affirmation is: I am deserving of all the success and happiness that comes to me. 

That’s it. That’s the episode. If you liked this episode or any episode, please subscribe, rate and/or review. Please and thank you. If you’d like to connect with me, send me a note on IG at @positively_chill. I’d love to hear from you.

Remember, be kind to yourself. Show yourself the same grace you show the people you love. And remember, you can do hard things. And, of course, please stay chill.