by Noah Hammond
The song on the Hamilton Mixtape “Dear Theodosia” really stood out to me, since I’m a fan of Chance the Rapper. He is very versatile in his music talents, since he can rap as well as sing. In “Dear Theodosia,” Chance is singing a mellow song about a girl he loves and how committed he’s willing to be. Compared to the original song in the soundtrack, there is much more harmonization, since technology in the recording studio allows him to record and go back to layer his voice on top of itself, while in the musical they have to sing everything live.
You can feel the emotion of the song clearly when it is sung by Chance, since he is a professional and does this for a living. Not that the actors in the Hamilton musical are not good singers, it’s just that they have to be able to act, sing and dance for an audience so they don’t need to convey all the meaning of the song in the music. Chance’s style showed through in this song as well. You get the feeling that he has gone through something similar to the character in the musical, so he can really relate and put himself into the song. That makes for even better quality music.
Aaron Burr wants to dedicate himself to Theodosia, but he ends up being taken over by his political career and even goes so far as to kill one of his rivals; Hamilton. In the song, you can tell that he really cares for her and he wishes he could be there for her, but the events in the musical prevent him from doing that. The song takes place before Hamilton’s death, so the audience may know that Burr’s words end up being hollow, making it even sadder.