"Coronavirus Song": Self Isolation Jam by the Quaranteens
The Coronavirus Song album art (via the QuaranTeens Youtube Page)
The art of writing a catchy tune in this era of grim news is a special talent. Ryan Bratton shows this talent as a songwriter and producer. Bratton started a virtual rock group named The QuaranTeens™. He wrote and produced a humorous song called "Coronavirus Song" (COVID-19). The QuaranTeens’ song was then uploaded to YouTube as an official video.
To reach a wider audience, "Coronavirus" songwriter and producer Bratton said he "uploaded the two and a half minute wav file through Distrokid, an online distributor.” This internet source, he continued, “placed the QuaranTeens Coronavirus Song onto many platforms— ITunes/Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and TikTok.”
Once the QuaranTeen’s wav file reached TikTok, “over a thousand short videos were spawned around the planet using the Coronavirus Song (Covid-19) as
background music," Bratton said. This small hit caught fire with teenagers from hometown U.S.A. to Europe and Asia with usually funny visuals.
Bratton’s lyrics provide a humorous bright spot on a dim horizon.
Here is the Coronavirus Song chorus:
“Coronavirus, coronavirus
COVID19 put me in quarantine
I am vulnerable but I won't die.
No Starbucks. No gym. No visit to grandma.
No French kissing women. From China to Canada
No TP. No shopping. The panics not stopping.
It's quarantine at my place. Order extra pizza toppings.”
The Coronavirus Song was created within days of the Coronavirus lockdown mid-March. “The quarantine. Stay in place. Stay at home orders. The travel ban did not stop me," he recounted. The QuaranTeens are among a group called “Van Bands," as Mr. Bratton lives in his Chevy van and rents a tiny 8 by 11 foot rehearsal space he turned into a production studio. His studio is equipped with an iMac, ProTools unit and mixing software, keyboard, guitars, myriad of microphones, and black box peripherals.
Bratton creates music in his studio taking a creative collaborator into jamming sessions to lay down tracks, rhythm segments and vocals for later editing. Bratton is a student who juggles his day living in his van, doing a shift at a rehab as a tech, studying for online classes, and devotes time to his musical passion in his small studio space.
On St. Patricks Day, March 17 Bratton isolated into his studio, played around with Protools and produced the music. First, Bratton made a catchy sound loop with a compelling beat. Then, he added words that played off the term quarantine and its funny possibilities. A song was born. And new rock group as well: The QuaranTeens. Bratton moved fast to make a YouTube video using Da Vinci Resolve video editing software. He took images from royalty free websites. By March 22, normal life looked like it ground to a halt in Los Angeles. Bratton wants The QuaranTeens' COVID-19 light-hearted song to spring to life and “spread online like a virus.”
