“Fear of Missing Out” by Ben Talmi – A Song Review

      Subtle features distinguish a good song having a short shelf life from a praiseworthy song with staying power in a playlist of frequently played tracks. “Fear of Missing Out” is praiseworthy. Ben Talmi describes the song as “an ode to the modern anxieties brought on by our relationship with technology and its effects on our interactions with each other in the modern world.” As a contrast between those anxieties and the point of the song, the percussion and piano are fast-paced and near-frantic during each visit to the chorus (“We are so scared to unplug..”), while the message-delivery vocals are unhurried and deliberate.

     The video reinforces the point that social media and the cell phone don't need to be all-consuming. The video of “Fear of Missing Out” was filmed in a library (Williamsburg Public Library in Brooklyn). Books play a major role, particularly books written about music (“The Art of Noises,” “NYHC” and “Beatles ‘66”). [Nicely done, Ben!]

     The video also includes a short interruption to answer the cell phone. the caller is told that she/he must wait. The musicians shown in the video are Cale Hawkins, Kate Steinberg, Dan Drohan, and Aaron Liao. It was shot by Niko Kuhn.

     It's brilliant to reduce the “harshness” of dropping the F-bomb by using lush male/female harmonization during the line "Everything is so fucked up." 

     Earlier in the song, the lines “Your audience will hang on every word; So get those numbers high, cause they’re your worth” reminded us of the “Nosedive” episode of the British television series Black Mirror. The episode involves a socioeconomic system in which a person’s status is based on peoples’ ratings of human interactions. It was a good episode, but the feeling was that it left too much on the table in terms of impacting viewers. That isn’t the case with Ben Talmi’s “Fear of Missing Out.”

     “Fear of Missing Out” is the first single from the sophomore album of Ben Talmi. The album will be titled “Distractionism.”  

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Website: http://bentalmi.com/

Lyrics of “Fear of Missing Out” by Ben Talmi

You pull me close and push me out the door

Simultaneously less and more

Satisfy but do not overflow

Half full or half empty, I don’t know

I can feel your tension through the phone

It will be six weeks since you’ve been home

The modern tools that keep us in each other’s lives

Create divide

You think they bring us closer, that’s a lie

We are so scared to unplug
Everyone wants to feel loved

And free of doubt

The fear of the fear of missing out

So, everybody gives into the fraud

Build yourself a shrine that’s a façade

Your audience will hang on every word

So get those numbers high, cause they’re your worth

And leave that phantom vibrate all alone

Anxiety from endless message tones

But if you’re scared of living in the moment, though

Just shut your phone

I promise you the planet won’t explode

We are so scared to unplug

Everyone wants to feel loved

And free of doubt

The fear of the fear of missing out

[Instrumental]

We are so scared to unplug

Everything is so fucked up

And full of doubt

The fear of the fear of missing out

Don’t let it fill your head with doubt

The internet just freaks me out

Do you feel it now?

The fear of the fear of missing out