p. 32 — Pre-Pro
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Core Concept
"You wanna make God laugh? Just tell him your plans."
There's a still small voice Kris has always known was God pointing her in the right direction. And she has a long history of ignoring it, bulldozing through with her ego in the driver's seat, and then getting hit upside the head with a 2x4 when it all falls apart. This song is the wry, self-aware accounting of that pattern — told with humor because that's the only way to survive it. The harder you hold the reins, the funnier it gets from up above.
Emotional Arc
Opens with the universal truth delivered as a dare: want to make God laugh? Here's how. Verse 2 is the same energy but with a specific example — trying to leave music behind for a stable job, her body saying no while her ego said "I do." The bridge of verse 3 is the confession: ignored the still small voice till it became a roar, then the universe hit with a 2x4. The outro is the communal rowdy release — everyone has done this. Everyone keeps doing it. That's the joke.
Thematic Language
Pushing on a closed pull door
The still small voice ignored until it roars
The 2x4 the universe swings
My ego said "I do" when my body said no
The thing you think you need most is the thing to let go
Oh there I go again making my own plans
Sonic Palette
Overall Vibe
Pop country — the demo sounds like a smash hit. The challenge is pulling it into cohesion with the rest of the record without losing what makes it work.
Demo Status
Demo is excellent. Direction approved. Primary production challenge is cohesion with the album's more vintage Americana feel. Open to co-producer and player input to bridge that gap.
Outro Tag
Record a big genuine belly laugh from Blue Foley to drop at the very end of the song after the gang vocals fade. The perfect punctuation — God laughing back.
Gang Vocals
The outro gang vocals are a defining moment. Think rowdy men in an Irish pub chanting together — not polished background vocals, not a choir. Raw, communal, slightly chaotic energy. The two lyric layers overlapping ("Making God Laugh" and "Oh there I go again") should feel like a bar full of people who all recognize themselves in the song.
Cohesion
This, Shapeshifter, and I Wonder What It's Like are the three songs most at risk of feeling sonically separate from the rest of the record. The solution for all three is the same: layer in organic, Americana-flavored instrumentation that pulls them toward the album's vintage warmth. Co-producer input is especially valuable here.
Key Production Moment
Outro — The Gang Vocal Chant
Two lyric threads overlapping simultaneously: "Making God Laugh" and "Oh there I go again / Making my own plans / Oh there I go again making God laugh." The energy is rowdy, communal, Irish pub chanting. Not polished background vocals. Not a choir. A room full of people who all know this feeling. This moment should feel like the whole bar joined in.
Album Arc Note
Modern/Vintage Cohesion — Same Challenge as Shapeshifter
Make God Laugh, Shapeshifter, and I Wonder What It's Like are the three songs most at risk of feeling sonically separate from the rest of the record. The solution for all three is the same: layer in organic, Americana-flavored instrumentation that pulls them toward the album's vintage warmth without losing what makes each demo work. Co-producer input is especially valuable on all three.
Instrumentation
Drums
Bass
Acoustic Guitars
Electric Guitars
Organ / Keys (opt.)
Fiddle (opt.)
References
Ashley McBryde — Styrofoam
John Prine
Jelly Roll
Walker Hayes
Demo Prompt
Modern country with a raw work-tape spirit. Strong female lead with cool talk-sing verses -- loose, rhythmic, almost spoken swagger. Conversational, honest, lived-in, emotionally sharp. Lead vocal intimate and up front with a gritty answering background vocal that slips in like a second thought. Start sparse: acoustic guitar, light percussion, warm bass, subtle steel. Verses feel personal, wry, slightly tense. Refrains open wider into a sticky hook with lift and release. Country at the core with an earthy, rootsy edge and dry human vocal texture. Build the ending into a layered singalong -- overlapping staggered entrances in the round, gang vocals, emotional melodic stacking. Final choruses feel live, loose, escalating, imperfect, and powerful. Like a room joining in all at once with reckless heart and soul.
Music Video / Visualizer
Music Video Concept — In Development
Core visual: Kris lost — in the woods, at sea, wandering through unfamiliar terrain. The tone is lighthearted and self-aware, not dramatic. She's lost but laughing about it. The humor and pop energy of the song should drive the visual — this isn't a brooding wander, it's a "well, here I am again" kind of lost.
Easter Egg thread: The "lost / finding your way" imagery connects directly to Shaped By My Sin: "this mess made the map." Making God Laugh is the getting lost. Shaped By My Sin is realizing the mess was the directions all along. The visual can lean into maps, compasses, or trail markers that are clearly wrong — played for humor.
Reference: NF — Hope (music video) — love the lost-in-the-woods and lost-at-sea imagery. Our version needs to be lighter and more playful to match the song's tone, but the visual language of being untethered in nature is the right starting point.
Open Questions
What organic instrumentation bridges this into the album's vintage world without killing the pop energy?
Record Blue Foley's belly laugh for the outro tag — capture in session
Music video — develop lost-in-nature visual concept further, scout locations