sam · ple | noun, verb, adjective
sam · ple | noun
1
: a representative part or a single item from a larger whole or group especially when presented for inspection or shown as evidence of quality (Merriam-Webster)
:a small amount of something that shows you what the rest is or should be like (Cambridge)
: a small amount of something that is given to people to try (Britannica)
Example:
This website serves as a sample of my writing.
2
: a finite part of a statistical population whose properties are studied to gain information about the whole (Merriam-Webster)
: The term sample refers to a smaller, manageable version of a larger group. It is a subset containing the characteristics of a larger population. Samples are used in statistical testing when population sizes are too large to include all possible members or observations. A sample should represent the population as a whole and not reflect any bias toward a specific attribute. (Investopedia)
: a group of people or things that are taken from a larger group and studied, tested, or questioned to get information (Britannica)
3
: an excerpt from a recording (such as a popular song by another performer) that is used in a musical composition, recording, or performance (Merriam-Webster)
: a small part of a song that has been recorded and used to make a new piece of music (Cambridge)
: a small part of a recording (such as a song) that is used in another performer’s recording (Britannica)
Examples:
i. Doechii’s “Anxiety” includes a sample from Gotye’s “Somebody I Used to Know.
ii. Gotye’s “Somebody I Used to Know” includes samples from Luiz Bonfá instrumental number, “Seville,” from 1967; “Milla piccolo cagnetto,” an Italian song by Luciano Silighini Garagnani; and the popular English nursery rhyme “Baa Baa Black Sheep.”
sam · ple | verb
1
: to take a sample of or from, especially: to judge the quality of by a sample : synonym: TEST (Merriam-Webster)
2
: to use a segment of (recorded music, sounds, or dialogue from another source) as part of one’s own musical composition or recording (Merriam-Webster)
: to use a small part of (a recording, such as a song) in another recording (Britannica)
Examples:
i. Snap! sampled (stole?) a rap by New Jersey MC Chill Rob G in “Power.”
ii. Snap! also sampled the beat of “Rhythm of a Dancer” from “Automan,” by Newcleus.
iii. Bastille sampled “Rhythm is a Dancer” and Corona’s “Rhythm of the Night” as a mashup in their single “Of the Night.”
3
: to experience a place or an activity, often for the first time. (Cambridge)
sam · ple | adjective
1
: serving as an illustration or example, as in “sample questions.” (Merriam-Webster)
: to use as an example of something (Britannica)
Samples Within A Sample: Listening to Doechii’s New Music Video for “Anxiety” | essay
Doechii recently released her new music video for “Anxiety.” Even if you are sick of hearing the chorus sampled again and again on TikTok and Instagram reels, I encourage you to watch the music video.
In the opening, the artist is shown dancing by herself and typing on a keyboard or synthesizer in her bedroom. We hear a xylophone tune that echoes the song, “Somebody I Used to Know” by Gotye, playing on loop, and the tune leads Doechii to begin her lyrics. At several points within the music video, Doechii walks by two actors who resemble Gotye and Kimbra in body paint standing in front of a painted wall, echoing the original music video.
Justin Curto describes the scene for Vulture, “[Doechii] is in a house filled with chaos in the visual, with strangers busting through her windows and a fire in the kitchen. So the two nearly nude body-painted people against the wall are far from the strangest sight here. No, they’re not actually Gotye and Kimbra, a rep for Doechii confirmed — just two actors honoring the ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ video.”
If you, like me, only heard “Anxiety” through reels, you may be surprised to see that the artist sampled Gotye’s 2011 hit, a beautiful song that also became overplayed and spiraled into a similar popular culture fate of more people hearing before listening to it. In 2012, “Somebody That I Used to Know” became inescapable; when you walked into any commercial establishment, drug store, and grocery store, you heard it playing on the overhead stereo. The song reached Top 10 in more than 30 countries.
“While Gotye sings about the pain of losing a romantic partner in his smash hit, Doechii instead raps about the struggles she faces from constant worrying,” writes Joann Jeffrey for Today. Still I can’t help but ask was the sample made in homage to the 2011 hit or as criticism?
Just as Doechii samples Gotye, Gotye’s song was also derived through samples. Gotye sampled from Luiz Bonfá (Brazilian guitarist, 1922-2001) instrumental number, “Seville,” from 1967 and “Milla piccolo cagnetto,” an Italian song by Luciano Silighini Garagnani. As written on the Wikipedia page, the incendiary opening tune on xylophone included another, more familiar tune: “blended Latin and African rhythms over a xylophone melody based on the popular lullaby tune, ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep.’” That is where things get interesting – and controversial.
If you go way back, you will find that “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep,” an English nursery rhyme, dates back to the 18th Century. Beginning in 1986, culture critics began reporting a controversy over the nursery rhyme’s language, suggesting that “black” was used as a racial term. Does that criticism play into the sampling?
Looking at the history of this song, then turning back to Doechii’s “Anxiety” music video, it brings up more questions. Could the new song by Doechii, the Grammy-winning singer, rapper, and songwriter, and its sampling of “Somebody That I Used to Know” and visual representation in the music video be more criticism than homage? If so, it may serve as a warning to artists to do their research on the history and cultural criticism notions of a work before sampling.
Or it’s simply to honor all of the original works of art that reveal themselves within “Anxiety” like opening Russian nesting dolls.
As in the 4th definition of the verb form of “sample” from Cambridge Dictionary, we learn that to sample can mean “to experience a place or an activity, often for the first time.”
In this definition, artists sampling from other artists allow new audiences to experience the original works that are referenced in their own way.
As a writer, I am constantly looking up the definitions of words that I use. Even when I know what a word means, I will still look up the definitions and usages in the dictionary. It is a best practice. The thought of misusing a word like “sample” that is used in more than three different parts of speech is enough to give me, well, anxiety.
