GreenTeaHarbor1297
Senior Member
Made a thread about this topic a few years ago on Personality Cafe and inthe00s and generated some interesting feedback, so thought I might as well ask this topic here.
In your mind, do you associate the hour of 4am as "late" or "early"? Do you associate it more as a night owl hour, or an early bird hour?
In real life, I've met both folks that wake up at 4am, generally those that work early jobs starting around 6am, as well as folks that stay up past 4am, generally night shift workers. I myself used to wake up at 4:30am when I was working a shift that started at 6:00am a few years ago, but I've also stayed up past 4am on several occasions, like about ten years ago when I was in my early teens and found staying up late to be "cool", as well as during the pandemic back in 2020 when I was off work for a couple months.
Being awake at 4am, either from staying up late or waking up early, will mean sacrificing vital time in either the morning or the evening.
Even a night owl that stays up until 2am can get 7 hours of sleep and wake up at 9am, where they can still catch breakfast at places that stop serving it by 11am, can still work a normal dayshift (not a 9-5, but an 11-7 definitely), and in the winter time they can still get a half-days worth of daylight.
Likewise, an early bird that wakes up at 6am can get 7 hours of sleep by going to bed at 11pm, where they can still enjoy some nightly recreation for either the bar, for Netflix or gaming, or for creative pursuits that come more naturally during the night such as reading, writing, or drawing.
Being awake at 4am either way and getting a full 7 hours of sleep would mean either waking up past 11am, missing out on breakfast hours and just coming awake when the day is already in full swing, as well as getting severely daylight-deprived during the winter, or going to bed by 9pm and missing out on nightly recreation. Oh, and if you sleep 8 hours, that would mean either sleeping past noon, or being in bed by 8pm....
Not to shame anyone by saying this, especially those that have to be up by 4am for a job or other important ventures, but it does go without saying that being awake at 4am on a normal basis does require sacrificing either the morning or the evening, and there are mental health risks involved with either.
From an Animal Crossing perspective, one thing I've noticed regarding the 4am tracks from all five games is that they all have a "flat" vibe to them, they don't have a "winding-up" vibe that the morning tracks have, nor a "winding-down" vibe that the earlier overnight tracks have.
In Wild World/City Folk, the 11pm-3am tracks all have a cohesive soothing lofi theme to them, it's music to wind down to, but then the 4am track breaks this cohesion by sounding more silent and monotone. In New Leaf, though there's less cohesion with the overnight tracks, the 4am track in that game also sounds more monotone than the previous overnight tracks, albeit also with a more haunting vibe to it.
In Population Growing (GameCube), there is no cohesion with the overnight tracks, and the 4am theme doesn't sound too different from the 3am theme, but even in that game, the 4am theme is also more neutral-sounding than the previous tracks. New Horizons 4am is less "neutral" than the other three 4am tracks, and many would argue that version would definitely have more of an overnight vibe to it, but even that song honestly wouldn't sound all that out of place for someone waking up at 4am as opposed to staying up until 4am, the maracas as well as the guitar picking up from the bass give the song a bit of tension that can signify a new day is coming.
The 5am track in all five games is the first track that has a definitive morning vibe to it, even though New Horizons is the only game where the turnover is at 5am, whereas in the older games it was at 6am (even then though, 5am was when Normal villagers woke up in Wild World, as well as in New Leaf with the Early Bird ordinance).
Now, for me personally, I'd say 4am leans more "early", despite the fact I am more of a night owl, I generally go to bed around 12am-1am during the weekdays and 1am-2am during the weekends (my shift starts at 10:00am, so my alarm is set for 8:00am on weekdays), but even then, I'd rather wake up at 4am then stay up until 4am, albeit I'd only want to be awake at that hour on special occasions like seeing the sunrise during the summer solstice. Also, the gym I live near opens at 4:00am, and Starbucks opens at 4:30am, so there's that as well.
But what about you? Do you associate 4am more as "late" or "early"?
In your mind, do you associate the hour of 4am as "late" or "early"? Do you associate it more as a night owl hour, or an early bird hour?
In real life, I've met both folks that wake up at 4am, generally those that work early jobs starting around 6am, as well as folks that stay up past 4am, generally night shift workers. I myself used to wake up at 4:30am when I was working a shift that started at 6:00am a few years ago, but I've also stayed up past 4am on several occasions, like about ten years ago when I was in my early teens and found staying up late to be "cool", as well as during the pandemic back in 2020 when I was off work for a couple months.
Being awake at 4am, either from staying up late or waking up early, will mean sacrificing vital time in either the morning or the evening.
Even a night owl that stays up until 2am can get 7 hours of sleep and wake up at 9am, where they can still catch breakfast at places that stop serving it by 11am, can still work a normal dayshift (not a 9-5, but an 11-7 definitely), and in the winter time they can still get a half-days worth of daylight.
Likewise, an early bird that wakes up at 6am can get 7 hours of sleep by going to bed at 11pm, where they can still enjoy some nightly recreation for either the bar, for Netflix or gaming, or for creative pursuits that come more naturally during the night such as reading, writing, or drawing.
Being awake at 4am either way and getting a full 7 hours of sleep would mean either waking up past 11am, missing out on breakfast hours and just coming awake when the day is already in full swing, as well as getting severely daylight-deprived during the winter, or going to bed by 9pm and missing out on nightly recreation. Oh, and if you sleep 8 hours, that would mean either sleeping past noon, or being in bed by 8pm....
Not to shame anyone by saying this, especially those that have to be up by 4am for a job or other important ventures, but it does go without saying that being awake at 4am on a normal basis does require sacrificing either the morning or the evening, and there are mental health risks involved with either.
From an Animal Crossing perspective, one thing I've noticed regarding the 4am tracks from all five games is that they all have a "flat" vibe to them, they don't have a "winding-up" vibe that the morning tracks have, nor a "winding-down" vibe that the earlier overnight tracks have.
In Wild World/City Folk, the 11pm-3am tracks all have a cohesive soothing lofi theme to them, it's music to wind down to, but then the 4am track breaks this cohesion by sounding more silent and monotone. In New Leaf, though there's less cohesion with the overnight tracks, the 4am track in that game also sounds more monotone than the previous overnight tracks, albeit also with a more haunting vibe to it.
In Population Growing (GameCube), there is no cohesion with the overnight tracks, and the 4am theme doesn't sound too different from the 3am theme, but even in that game, the 4am theme is also more neutral-sounding than the previous tracks. New Horizons 4am is less "neutral" than the other three 4am tracks, and many would argue that version would definitely have more of an overnight vibe to it, but even that song honestly wouldn't sound all that out of place for someone waking up at 4am as opposed to staying up until 4am, the maracas as well as the guitar picking up from the bass give the song a bit of tension that can signify a new day is coming.
The 5am track in all five games is the first track that has a definitive morning vibe to it, even though New Horizons is the only game where the turnover is at 5am, whereas in the older games it was at 6am (even then though, 5am was when Normal villagers woke up in Wild World, as well as in New Leaf with the Early Bird ordinance).
Now, for me personally, I'd say 4am leans more "early", despite the fact I am more of a night owl, I generally go to bed around 12am-1am during the weekdays and 1am-2am during the weekends (my shift starts at 10:00am, so my alarm is set for 8:00am on weekdays), but even then, I'd rather wake up at 4am then stay up until 4am, albeit I'd only want to be awake at that hour on special occasions like seeing the sunrise during the summer solstice. Also, the gym I live near opens at 4:00am, and Starbucks opens at 4:30am, so there's that as well.
But what about you? Do you associate 4am more as "late" or "early"?
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