My friends have an ongoing season of Music League — a game of sorts where a pre-decided theme dictates the kind of song each participant should submit from their personal collection to contribute to a playlist, which we all then listen through and vote for our favorite songs by doling out points to each.

Around 4:00 in the afternoon on the 25th of November, 2024, I thought of a fun little idea — 'what if I made songs that fit the rounds of the music league as we went along?' And I was so intrigued by the idea that I quickly sat down with a keyboard and messed around until this track existed...

The lyric and title take inspiration from this round's theme (which was songs that are exact minute durations, or ending in :00) — I've called it "Exactly" and it's a 3:00:000 long song that was almost entirely improvised (I took several takes on the vocals, but the melodies and rhythms were improvised first) and everything but my voice is done using the keyboard one of my best friends kindly gifted me earlier this year (thank you Sam!) And, ironically to the title, the song is very loosely timed — I had a metronome for the initial strings track but nothing is programmed or edited to a grid or any of that jazz.

All in all, it took me about three hours to create. For the first time ever I'm pleased with the first version of the mix (which is what you hear). That being said, I still think it sounds best if you are able to listen using headphones or some nice stereo speakers!