Some students spend their senior year doing extensive research. Some may even coast along for the final semesters of their college career. But senior Sean Magee is doing something a little bit different.
Last week, the music technology major released a music video for his song "A Little Bit Different," which he wrote several years ago and rerecorded this past fall.
“It’s a very simple song, and basically, it’s just about a guy -- me -- seeing a girl with a different guy,” Magee said. “And it’s just a little bit different, it’s just a little bit something more and the frustration of that, the not really jealousy, but the sadness and the anger in that. The song is really simple and straightforward so hopefully it’s something people can identify with."
It seems many people have been able to identify with it. After five days on YouTube, the video has had more than 5,500 hits. Although the video’s director, junior Derek Scully, has not been able to see the video’s reception firsthand because he is spending the semester in Los Angeles, he said he is happy the video has gotten so many views in such a short time.
“More people have seen this than anything else I’ve ever done,” Scully said. “It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever done that’s gotten the most exposure, and I’m thrilled that so many people are enjoying it and seeing it.”
Scully and Magee, who lived together during Scully’s sophomore year, began work on the video during Winter Term. They filmed and edited much of the video during Fake Break. The two had been talking about collaborating for much of fall semester and were glad to finally make a video showcasing Magee’s talent.
“He’s an amazing musician,” Scully said. “I’m constantly amazed by his ability on the piano and I felt like a lot of people haven’t seen his music, so I was happy to feature that in any way I could.”
Magee is currently working on a five-song EP as part of his senior seminar to be released in late April. He hopes to do another video this semester for one of the songs on the album, but he hasn’t chosen which song yet.
“The challenge is that 'A Little Bit Different' was a pretty big production with a lot of extras and stuff, so following that up in a way that’s -- pardon my pun -- a little bit different because I don’t want to do the same thing,” Magee said. “I want to keep it fresh, and I don’t want a video that comes out after that and it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s not very good.’ I think that’ll affect my song choice as well.”
Magee and Scully both said they couldn’t have done this video without the help of the video’s producer Mei Bess, actress Christianna Carter from North Carolina State University, music tech major Ben Soldate and many other Elon students who worked on the video both in the spotlight and behind the scenes.
Magee, who is graduating either this spring or next fall, plans to spend the summer touring and building a fanbase in the Raleigh area, where he’s from. He said he plans to come back in the fall, either as a full-time or part-time student, to add on to the EP to make it a full album. Scully said no matter what, fans can expect to see a lot more of Magee.
“I really think Sean’s gonna be big one day,” Scully said. “He has the potential to be huge and I’m really happy to be there for the start of his career.”