Hamilton's "Satisfied" remains a technical, lyrical masterpiece
The Act 1 centerpiece is a storytelling spectacle, and an absolute bop.
Hello friends!
It’s Friday, aka Hamilton Day on Disney Plus. In celebration, I took a look at my favorite song from Hamilton, and why it showcases everything the show does best.
Let’s get into it ⬇️
“Satisfied” was the first song I ever heard from Hamilton way back in the day. At the time, I knew of the show, but my first real encounter with any of the music came in the form of an 8tracks playlist I was falling asleep to one night.
While the context of the song flew over my head on that first isolated listen, I was hooked by it almost instantly. For starters, “Satisfied” is an absolute banger of a track. It’s fast paced, sung and rapped brilliantly by the talented Renée Elise Goldsberry in the original soundtrack, and changes direction from a longing, piano-based melody to a passionate, drum-led plea and back again by song’s end.
At first blush, “Satisfied” is Hamilton’s “On My Own”, with Angelica Schuyler taking on the Eponine role, but with less melancholy and more fire. While “Satisfied” strikes the same emotional vein as “On My Own” does, the two songs could not be more different in what they accomplish for their respective musicals.
Lyrically, rhythmically and thematically, “Satisfied” is Hamilton at its peak. Let’s dig into why.
The melody
Stripping away the lyrics, the heart of “Satisfied” is the eight note arpeggio that makes up the main melody of the piece. It’s the first notes the audience hears when the song begins, and it is repeated throughout the nearly six minute set as the song’s driving force. It changes note patterns and is sometimes used only partially or it repeats itself, but its presence gives the audience something to latch onto while giving the song its constant sense of momentum.
Listening to a vocal-less version of the song, it’s easy to hear just how often this melody is used in its full and incomplete forms, sometimes in places you might not expect.
That eight-note melody is so memorable that the first trailer Disney released for Hamilton featured “Satisfied” as the backing track to its highlight reel. Arguably, more popular songs such as “My Shot” and “Wait For It” could have made for good trailer music too, but Disney went with “Satisfied” for maximum gut-punch feels.
In the book Hamilton: The Revolution, released in 2016, composer Lin-Manuel Miranda detailed the process upon which this eight-note melody came about. For that, we have actress Karen Olivo — who originated the role of Vanessa in Miranda’s other musical In The Heights — to thank:
About two years prior, I’d written some music for Karen Olivo for a project that' never saw the light of day. She’d written some beautiful unrequited-love lyrics, which I’d adapted into a pretty, haunting, and cool dance tune. It popped up in my shuffle and I, like Angelica upon meeting Hamilton, realized it was everything I ever wanted in that moment.
I frantically called Karen and said “Hey, remember that tune I wrote you? I kind of need it back. I won’t use any of your lyrics, but I need that music, and you’re not using it anyway, soooooooo please?”
There was a pause, and she said, “Yeah, dude. It’s your music.” So Angelica’s haunting arpeggio in “Satisfied” owes a debt to Karen Olivo — she helped bring it into the world.
Much appreciated, Karen Olivo.
The lyrics
You can’t talk about “Satisfied” without mentioning the song’s intricate and intelligent lyrics. While “The Schuyler Sisters” hinted at Angelica’s intellect, this song dives deep into her psyche upon meeting — and falling in love with — Alexander Hamilton for the first time. And boy, does she have a lot to say.
Over the course of the song, the audience learns a whole lot about Angelica as a character. First off, she’s one of the smartest — if not the outright smartest — characters in the show. She pegs Hamilton’s personality (“he’s a bit of a flirt, but I’m ‘a give it a chance”) and status (“he’s penniless, he’s flying by the seat of his pants”) from a few minute conversation, showcasing her high emotional intelligence.
Not only that, her song is incredibly fast, highlighting just how quick her mind functions as she literally runs the audience through her thought process:
So this is what it feels like to match wits
With someone at your level! What the hell is the catch?
However, even though Angelica’s finally found someone who’s her intellectual match (looking for a mind at work, indeed), she also notices how absolutely enamored her sister Eliza is with Hamilton as well. And from there, she makes the heartbreaking choice to give him up so her sister can be happy, because above all else, Angelica is loyal to her sister and loves her, as she says in her own words later in the show, “more than anything in this life.”
There’s a lot more that can be said about the lyrics of “Satisfied,” from how it foreshadows Hamilton’s downfall that stems from his inability to be satisfied with his life, to how Angelica too never feels true intellectual satisfaction with her wealthy, but dull, husband. “Satisfied” does top notch work being an exemplary character piece, alongside setting the stage for emotional payoffs that hit hard by the show’s end.
The blocking
Anyone who has yet to see the show itself has missed out on one of the best — and most integral — parts of “Satisfied,” the blocking. For those unaware, blocking in a musical, television show, or movie refers to an actor’s movements and positioning in a given scene.
With “Satisfied,” the blocking for the song reverses back to “A Winter’s Ball” during the “rewind” sequence, then runs through the entirety of “Helpless” yet only this time, the song is from Angelica’s perspective.
It’s an incredibly simple, yet powerful technique. What were once background motions by Angelica, Eliza, Hamilton and the rest of the cast during “A Winter’s Ball” and “Helpless” now take center stage in “Satisfied” to immediate effect. Compound that with the fact that the show takes the turntable at the heart of the stage and rewinds it during the “rewind” sequence, and you have yourself a visual marvel of a song.
It’s really something to watch the events of “A Winter’s Ball” and “Helpless” unfold knowing this twist is coming. Tracking the movements of Angelica during those sequences, then seeing them played back with her as the center of attention — and allowing pauses in the action for her to sing her inner monologues — is masterful direction for an already clever song.
And if you’re viewing “Satisfied” for the first time without knowing this is coming, like I did when I first saw it on Broadway in 2017? You’ll no doubt be blown away by how simple, but ingenious, of a visualization this is.
Why “Satisfied” is Hamilton at its best
There’s no real weak point in Hamilton’s ensemble of songs. Sure, some songs are better than others, but really none of them are bad by any stretch of the imagination.
“Satisfied,” however, is everything Hamilton does right, condensed into a five and a half minute showstopper. Its staging is simple, but impactful. Its melody is haunting and filled with an inexplicable longing that goes hand in hand with heartbreak. Its lyrics create a smart, sophisticated, and snappy character piece for one of the show’s best characters.
“Satisfied” is the song I always come back to when I get in a Hamilton mood, and every listen gives me that same rush of emotion I first felt when I stumbled upon it in a playlist all those years ago.
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