On February 6th, 2024, the BSM Red Knotes Acapella group made history in the BSM music and acappella program as they released their first ever single, “All For Us,” to all listening platforms. The single features the 2022-2023 Red Knotes members soloed by 2023 graduate, Bianca Mojica.
While the release was publicly announced a few days after it was set on listening platforms, the process began almost a year prior. The group had practiced and performed Katherine Bodor’s arrangement of artists Labrinth and Zendaya’s single, “All For Us,” from the HBO original series Euphoria on multiple occasions throughout the 2022-2023 school year. The song proved to be a hit among audiences and even helped the group win third place at the International Championship of High School Acapella (ICHSA) quarter final competition. Additionally, the group recorded the song and released it on YouTube as a music video.
When the 2022-2023 season came to an end, 10 of the members retired from BSM acappella as they moved on to college. However, this did not mark the end of the Red Knotes’ “All For Us” journey.
At the beginning of the new season, the group had made it a goal to release some of their music to listening platforms and decided that “All For Us” would be the perfect candidate. Not only would the release honor the success of “All For Us” and the 2023 graduating Red Knotes, but the group hoped it would stimulate more attention to the group and hopefully raise their budget. Already having recorded the song from the previous year made it an even more ideal contender. “It was one of our goals that we made at the very beginning of the year on our summer retreat that we had, we wanted to talk about potentially releasing some sort of music. And since we had already had it recorded from the year before. We figured why not, why not publish it and try to make money off of it or just trying to raise the budget at all or just get more people to hear us in general?” Red Knotes senior Co-Captain Josie Turk said.
The recording process generated a lot of excitement and pride among the group. The members were excited to share their love for the song and each other and found the recording process not only rewarding, but also a fun experience that they got to share with each other. “We all were close friends, and we just genuinely love that song that we did. And so we were proud of it. We put so much work into it, we wanted to record it, and it was honestly fun,” Turk said.
We all were close friends, and we just genuinely love that song that we did. And so we were proud of it. We put so much work into it, we wanted to record it, and it was honestly fun
— Josie Turk
The single proved to be a success and the group is very proud of the response. “The responses have been really good, I’ve been sending it to friends and family, and people are loving it,” Red Knotes member Audrey Taylor said.
Inspired by listeners’ responses to “All For Us,” the Red Knotes hope that their first single will not be their last, aiming to release more music in the future and expand the BSM music program as a whole. “I hope that future groups see what we did and can understand how much further than our homey little choir room you can take this group if you work hard enough,” Taylor said.