There’s a whole subgenre of inspirational music that runs on the concept of if you think hard enough, the universe will reward you with achievement, bliss and the inevitable epic sunset during the montage sequence. Actual persistence is rarely as cinematically inclined. However, it’s usually waiting; waiting for an email to drop in your inbox, waiting for an opportunity to arise, waiting for any sort of acknowledgement for the thing you have spent years perfecting that you often considered giving up on for an apprenticeship as a plumber instead. Surprisingly, Philmac’s newest track “Live My Life” gets that.
The Philmac born-and-bred concept of this tune is one that captures resilience, selfhood and continued hope, in the aftermath of numerous failures; but instead of indulging in cloyingly optimistic notions often present in greeting cards featuring jagged mountains and extremely Italicized motivational slogans, “Live My Life” sound like a tune conceptualized through the frustrating lens of being a budding creative.
Philmac’s musical DNA pulls from a relatively vast catalogue; you can find the melodic sophistication of Prince, OutKast’s distinctive rhythmic sensibility and a dab of the operatic flair of Michael Jackson woven into the song. Hip-hop beats are seamlessly fused with rock instruments, with added sonic trappings often used in film music, making this a tune rather than suited for solitary headphones and more for a daydream while driving in an unknown place. It’s this aspiration towards greatness that both lifts the song and, sometimes, pulls it down. At moments, “Live My Life” feel like an entire album compressed into a three to four-minute runtime with earworm-infused production, a catchy hook appearing early and often, and no emotional ambiguities whatsoever.
Nevertheless, there’s something charmingly direct and utterly endearing about Philmac’s authenticity. In this era that valorizes irony as a defense, it’s refreshing see an artist boldly dive head first into themes of perseverance.
The track has gained momentum overseas with support in the United Kingdom as well as Brazil, a testament to its universality; given that, after all, many have toiled away with dreams stubbornly refusing to come to fruition. Philmac’s “Live My Life” is hardly going to reinvent the wheel of motivational music but it does manage to deliver a much deeper experience; it shows people persistence is not only something you can sing along to, but something you have endured. Some people do not necessarily need an anthem for ascent, rather an anthem to do it another day.
