Hunter Badamo, a North Allegheny senior, releases his new song, “Life Gets Sick of Us,” today on all streaming services.

Although none of his family members ever ventured into music, Badamo first experienced the importance of music by learning how to play piano in third grade. However, he truly started to realize his love for music after suffering an injury the summer before high school. 

“My left knee was operated on that July, and I was immobilized for a while. It was during this time I found a passion for piano. I had also just started getting into Coldplay and other alternative bands, so that combination compelled me to begin recording little ideas on my phone,” Badamo stated. 

Badamo finds inspiration for his songs by taking his emotions and perspectives of the world and turning them into lyrics and rhythm. His first song, “Turning Upside Down”, captures his view on the grasp that technology has on the world. 

“Watching the world become addicted to and consumed by technology felt kind of sickening, like the world was ‘Turning Upside Down,’” Badamo explained. “It seemed like selfishness was taking over and that it was impossible to focus on anything anymore without returning to the comfort of distraction.”

To truly bring the song to life, Badamo spent hours trying to capture the chaos he wanted the song to elicit. Through the use of samples and chords, Badamo crafted the song to represent how technology is sending the world down in a spiral. 

“I tuned my B string up to a C# so it would ring out in every chord. I’d never heard of that tuning before, so I thought it was kind of cool. It created this sort of odd dissonance and whimsicality that added to the chaotic nature of the song,” he said. “I put a lot of thought into each individual part. I de-tuned the piano just a touch to make it sound imperfect. I also messed around with the pitch sliders on some artificial strings. I banged out the whole recording in one weekend, probably spending about 16 hours on that song.”

“Life Gets Sick of Us” was inspired by an intro piano line that he wrote while recovering from COVID. The beauty of the line inspired him to produce the song as a love ballad. 

“The piano line was too sincere to not be made into a love ballad. The lyrics depict a confession of loving someone until the world ends, even if those feelings aren’t reciprocated. I really wanted a haunting feeling, so I sampled some scratchy strings and church bells. I also added some guitars and an organ with tremolo, which simply put, gives them a wavering or unstable sound,” Badamo said. 

Although the senior has had great success in music, he admits that he couldn’t have done it without the support of his mother. He knew that his new release was something worth sharing because of her excited reaction. 

“As soon as I played it, I fell in love with it and showed the tune to my mom. She’s often my go-to for advice on my songs, and I knew I had something special when I saw her face light up,” Badamo said. 

Not only has he created intricate songs, but Badamo has also found a new sense of identity through his production process and musical creativity. 

“I feel like there are absolutely limitless opportunities for chords and all sorts of magic to be created, so the fun never stops,” he said. “Expressing my own emotions through songs makes me feel something completely new and different. I am so eager to see where life takes me and what I will pursue for my absolute love of music.”