Flatliner Analyse

I chose the song “Flatliner” by the artist Cole Swindell for this analytic essay. It was written in 2013 by Cole Swindell, Jaron Boyer, and Matt Branleewe for the bands album: You should be here. Although the piece has many qualities of bluegrass music, “Flatliner” is a song of the pop country genre. I chose this specific song because of the form it was written in. “Flatliner” was written in the suite form, meaning there are a series of different styles of music forming one set. The sets of music within the song include a ballad, pop country, and have an upbeat tempo section. All these different sections make a very interesting song to listen to.

The first sounds heard in the song are that of instruments: guitar and drums. After the guitar and drums there is a synthesizer of a heart machine flat-lining in the background. This section also includes some sound effects that really give the music character. When the line “she’s a flatliner” is sung, it sounds as though they recorded it in a hospital room with a heart machine flat-lining in the background really giving the song some depth. This happens again later in the next scene with the line, “she’s a flatliner”. A cymbal is stuck to mimic the feeling of someone flat-lining. The end of this section is foretold by the beginning of the chorus and small vocal break, which moves us into the next section the