For the practical aspect of this project, I chose to write a review of the single ‘Bruce’ by a small band known as Paper Mill. For this, I first looked into how to write a professional review. One piece of advice that I found useful was to leave any personal thoughts on the album until the closing paragraph. (Side-Line, 2019) To do this, I avoided any personal pronouns and attempted to keep my opinions to a minimum however, upon reflection, I find that my style of writing can occasionally seem opinionated. In addition, to make this more professional, I got in contact with the band via Instagram and asked if I would be able to conduct a written interview and use any images they could send me, to which the band confirmed. Unfortunately, this didn’t come to fruition as the band’s manager didn’t respond to my email, hence why the planning document only includes an indicator of where an image of the band would go. The next step in making this a professional review was to be published on an appropriate website. For this, I chose a site known as Song of the Day, a site which attempts to “highlight amazing bands, songs, or music videos that are not so often on the tops of the billboard charts”. (Song of the Day, 2020) I felt that this site would be appropriate as their aim is to showcase up-and-coming musicians and reviewers, and as this was my first review as well as a review of a relatively new band, this fit my purpose exactly. Overall, this project helped me to develop critical writing skills which could be fundamental to a career as a professional media critic. In addition, this project also allowed me to enhance my networking skills as I was able to make contact with the band in question and attempted to maintain a professional manner throughout my correspondence. 

References:

Side-Line (2019) The Ultimate Guide on How to Write Perfect Music Review. [online] available from <https://www.side-line.com/the-ultimate-guide-on-how-to-write-perfect-music-review/> [2 April 2020]

Song of the Day (2020) About. [online] available from <https://songoftheday.co/about/> [3 April 2020]