On songs and birthdays

When I work at Target, my main responsibilities are helping unload the truck and taking care of all the cardboard we go through each truck day. Since getting my smartphone, I've taken to listening to music while I bale. I've listened to Hey Ocean (Ashleigh Ball's band), Willa (the artist name that Dragon Lord Ember's VA Ali Milner goes by), and lately all the songs from seasons 1-5 of MLP and all the Equestria Girls films.

Sometimes you notice that a musical episode is mostly variations on a single theme. Not saying that it's lazy writing or that it's a bad thing to do (in fact, I'd consider it an indication of musical intelligence), but it's noticeable when you listen to every song in a row. For example, "Canterlot Boutique" and "Crusaders of the Lost Mark". In "CLM", there are two main themes - "Make Our Mark" and "The Pony I Want to Be" - and the last song is a combination of the two. And literally all of the songs in "Canterlot Boutique" can be considered variations/alternate verses of "Rules of Rarity".

Sometimes meta happens, and I think about the singing voice actress singing parts for a role not hers. I'm referring, of course, to Rebecca Shoichet singing for Tara Strong. In "At the Gala," Twilight sings

At the Gala,
With the Princess,
Is where I'm going to be.
We will talk all about magic, and what I've learned and seen.
It is going to be so special,
As she takes time just for me!

And I thought to myself: what if that was Sunset's dream once too? To talk with her mentor about magic at the Grand Galloping Gala, the Princess taking time away from the crowds just for her?

Sometimes songs ironically foreshadow what'll happen in the next song. This happens most obviously at the beginning of "Magical Mystery Cure" when Twilight sings, but it also happens at the end of the same episode. As she flies around Canterlot, Twilight says "Everything is going to be just fine! " but what happens next in the canon timeline? Sunset Shimmer steals her crown.

And sometimes songs subtly but purposely foreshadow things. Like in "Party of One" when Pinkie sings a singing telegram to her friends, inviting them to Gummy's birthday party:

No need to bring a gift,
Being there will be enough.
Birthdays mean having fun with friends,
Not getting lots of stuff.

This is one reason Pinkie feels so betrayed when her friends come up with excuses not to come to Gummy's after-birthday party: birthdays, after all, mean having fun with friends, and what points is having a birthday if there are no friends to have fun with? This ties into the Pinkie Promise she made for Rainbow's birth-iversary in "Pinkie Pride": that Rainbow would have the best birthday party ever. Because it's her friends, and all of Ponyville who admires Rainbow, that would make her birthday the best party ever.

This isn't a random idea I had that I decided to blog about. Well, it is, but it's not the only reason I wrote this. It just so happened that I was thinking about birthdays in MLP this morning while baling cardboard, and today is my birthday. I'm 26 today.

And no, I'm not having the best birthday party ever. That'll happen in four years on my golden birthday.