Track by Track- Brain: Cassie

So just like Isabela’s monologue was set on stage, I wanted to give Cassie and Yummy particular settings. I put Cassie in a job interview because she is very often my external representative to the world, especially in professional scenarios. There is a lot more to Cassie than what people may originally see but she is often the first one people meet. I felt like the job interview was a good default setting because it’s environments like school and work where I seeing a lot of Cassie coming through. Cassie really is the one who makes sure I’ve got everything I need to do done. Everything would fall apart without Cassie. Cassie focuses on my long-term goals, gives me the tools I need, and represents the expectations I place on myself. Cassie is the thinking center of PSYCHE, however, I didn’t want to say she was the smart one because even though she oversees the intellectual part of my psyche all of the girls are connected and therefore all intelligent in their own way. For the purposes of the mixtape, they’re separate but in my life it’s rare that there’s an issue I would tackle without using at least 2 of the PSYCHE girls.

While I was recording this particular monologue I had an AWFUL cold. She was the last monologue I recorded and so I just decided to lean into the cold and let Cassie’s voice have a more nasal kind of sound. I tend to be pretty nasal in my voice anyway so I figured it was appropriate. I also tried to keep Cassie’s word choice pretty devoid of slang and in line with standard American English, like how I might speak in an interview. Since code-switching is something I do often I figured I would utilize it when creating each girls’ speech patterns. I decided to have Cassie used primarily standard English because she is the one constantly over-analyzing what is the “correct” way to express myself based on my audience. Cassie is not that concerned with what’s natural only what will help me achieve my goals. Growing up I was directly or indirectly instructed not to use AAVE. In many educational, personal, or professional scenarios I was expected to prioritize one dialect or another. As learned behavior, I felt that it was something that would live most deeply in Cassie. It’s not that Cassie’s personal preference is to prioritize white standard English over black standard English but she would be the side of me most impacted by those social demands, such that it becomes impossible for her not to code switch.

Lyrics

Hi! I’m Liv’s brain.

I’m really the organizing force in the group

I keep everything together so

I make the lists and the spreadsheets

And organize the calendars

And color code the apps

Yes, my apps are really color-coded.

I enjoy structure but I wouldn’t say I’m close-minded

I actually think structure is really important especially when you’re creative. If everything is too open I don’t even know what to do, so even though I often feel annoyed at Cassie for her insistence on structure it really does help me function and be a more flexible person in the long run.

I enjoy free thought and careful analysis and debating interesting ideas

A lot of my job is dedicated towards making sure that when Isabela gets riled up

About something like some boy she just met

I usually think of Isabela as my creative source. She’ll have lots of ideas and become very passionate about them and then abandon whatever else it is that she’d previously been focused on. That tendency becomes even more intense when she’s fixated on a boy so Cassie reigns her in.

Liv is grounded and remembers what’s really important:

Her goals, her accomplishments, her responsibilities, her future

And not him

That being said Isabela might argue that Cassie writes off boys and romance too quickly.

I really try to remain cool, calm, and collected

To offset Isabela’s intensity and Yummy’s fire

I can do it all!

This is usually my mentality. Sometimes it’s helpful and sometimes it’s not.