I Must Count My Blessings (Because I Feel There’s Been a Miscalculation)

"**I Must Count My Blessings..."** is a song by Negative Øhio. The song is a parody of love songs with creepy, possessive lyrics, where it starts off as a generic pop song before getting weirder and weirder. It is labeled as genres such as EDM, Digital Hardcore, IDM and Avant-Garde Metal.

It was released on August 28th, 2020 digitally to go along with the 2 year anniversary of the band's first single release. It was later also released on the album *Never Mind The Gap*.

## Composition

The beginning of the song sounds like an amateur EDM pop song. Sweeping synths, 808 drums and a bopping 80's synth bass accompanies horrifically auto-tuned clean singing performed by Gigakoops and a digital singer. However, when it builds up to the drop, Nightmare Lyre interjects with the line "time to drop the act" and the song shifts gear into its true colors.

The drop is not a normal EDM drop, but instead a mix of Gabber and Death Metal, with growled vocals chanting "natas" (Satan spelled backwards) over and over again. Accompanying the distorted Hardcore Dance drums, there is heavy bass guitar chugging and detuned synth lines played at 64th intervals, creating a chaotic sonic nightmare.

In the second verse, everything sounds a little bit off. The singing is way more ragged and overdriven, the drums are distorted and there is noise coating the mix. When it gets to the build-up for the second drop, the synths are all dissonating, and the drop keeps delaying its arrival. While waiting for the drop to come, there is a subliminal back-masked message added for atmosphere.

After the second drop, there is a Deathcore-style breakdown, before ending on the same synth chords the song started with, creating a comically mismatched outro.

The song is composed at a constant 110BPM, with the drops having an effective BPM of 220. Most of the song is in a 4/4 time signature, with a random jump to 3/4 during the build-up to the second drop to catch the listener off-guard.

## Lyrical Themes

The song was written as a dark parody of generic love songs with creepy undertones. The members of the band noticed how a lot of pop songs talk about love in ways that are possessive, unhealthy and just plain stalker-y, and that gave them the idea to write a song in that style that is instead about demonic possession.

The first verse starts off deceptively normal with only small hints at the real topic of the song. The second verse gets more openly creepy, and then the demonic possession is confirmed in the breakdown at the end.

## Lyrics

```
[Intro]
 I love it

 [Verse 1]
 And girl
 You know you're the one and you know it's been fun
 You're my world (You're my world)
 Tonight
 You know I can't lie, when I have you right here by my side
 I love it
 Baby, you know I couldn't make it
 Without you
 Believe me, this love is more than maybe
 You know you're not letting me go

 [Chorus 1]
 I love it
 The way that it feels when we lie awake talking about it
 I love you to death and it's time we do something about it
 I already know that you won't let me go
 'Cause I gave you everything

 [Drop]
 Time to drop the act

 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas

 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas

 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas

 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas

 [Verse 2]
 And now
 I never can leave 'cause forever I'll be
 Your vessel (Your vessel)
 And now
 I'm losing my soul and I'm losing control of myself
 I love it
 Baby, you gave me all I wanted, and then some
 And now I would kill in your name, babe
 'Cause now I have no other choice

 [Chorus 2]
 I love it
 The way that the voices inside of my head talk about it
 I love you to death and it's time we do something about it
 I already know that you've taken my soul
 'Cause I gave you everything

 [Drop]
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas

 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas

 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas

 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas
 Natas, natas, natas

 [Breakdown]
 Never let go of me
 I am your property
 You are my power just as long as you're corrupting me
 I am your vessel now
 This is my solemn vow
 I am your sacrifice, my love, my soul I now endow

 Never let go of me
 My flesh your property
 I rot now in decay as long as you're corrupting me
 I am your vessel now
 This is my solemn vow
 I am your sacrifice, my blood, my soul I now endow

 [Outro]
 I love it

```

## Trivia

* The band created a music video for the song. The video parodies music video clichès of the 2010's, such as ugly contrast filters, random 80's references and obnoxious attempts at getting social media attention.

## References

1. ↑ https://negativeohio.bandcamp.com/track/i-must-count-my-blessings-because-i-feel-there-s-been-a-miscalculation
2. ↑ https://soundcloud.com/negativeohio/i-must-count-my-blessings-because-i-feel-theres-been-a-miscalculation