Drake - Hold On, We're Going Home ft. Majid Jordan - Video, Review and Lyrics

 

Lyrics

 

[Verse]
I got my eyes on you, you're everything that I see
I want your hot love and emotion endlessly
I can't get over you, you left your mark on me
I want your hot love and emotion endlessly

[Pre-Hook]
Cause you're a good girl and you know it
You act so different around me
Cause you're a good girl and you know it
I know exactly who you could be

[Hook]
Just hold on we're going home
Just hold on we're going home
It's hard to do these things alone
Just hold on we're going home

[Verse + Pre-Hook + Hook]

[Bridge: Majid Jordan x2]
You're the girl, you're the one
Gave you everything I loved
I think there's something, baby
I think there's something, baby

 

Review

 

Drake makes a significant change in direction here away from hip hop to 80s inspired soul music, and it works. The deep, airy production is the biggest star here. "Hold On We're Going Home" may be a bit spare lyrically, but the sound is elegant and pleasing matching perfectly the retro atmosphere of many of this year's biggest pop hits.

Pros

• Elegant, spare production
• Smooth 80s soul sound
• Drake's confident singing

Cons

• Simple nature of the song

Description

• Produced by Majid Jordan and Noah "40" Shebib
• Included on album 'Nothing Was the Same'
• Released August 2013 by Cash Money

Guide Review - Drake - "Hold On We're Going Home" featuring Majid Jordan

When "Hold On We're Going Home" kicks off with drum machine and lightly ticking percussion effects, you might think you have taken a time machine back to the early 80s. As Drake begins to sing the overall impact is that of slick, but warm soul music perfect for a sultry summer night. This is a significant change of pace from Drake's recent hip hop hits. However, we've always known he can sing from the first major hit "Best I Ever Had" to the ultra-elegant "Take Care" with Rihanna. The difference here is that "Hold On We're Going Home" is more relaxed and unassuming than most all of his past releases. The relaxed nature sounds like maturation.
Lyrically, this song is light as air, but there is a resonance in the production that helps the words of love and devotion sink in. The words are also completely clean, which is a rarity for a Drake single release. Majid Jordan, a production duo made up of Majid Al Maskati and Jordan Ullman, provide the beautiful, spare backing vocals as well as playing a major role in the overall sound of the track. Particularly beautiful is the echoing, nearly beatless, extended bridge that kicks into the song's final reprise. Majid Jordan are not well known yet, but the elegance of this track seems to indicate they soon will be.
Drake's recent hit "Started From the Bottom" quickly rose into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 but it failed to get significant attention from mainstream pop radio. "Hold On We're Going Home" seems destined to reverse that problem. It is likely to be appealing to both mainstream pop and R&B radio programmers. It is an elegant addition to end of the summer playlists with the soul and disco influences allowing the song to bookend Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" kickoff to the summer of 2013.

 

OneRepublic - Counting Stars - Video, Review and Lyrics

Lyrics

Lately I been, I been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be counting stars
Yeah, we'll be counting stars

[Verse 1]
I see this life
Like a swinging vine
Swing my heart across the line
In my face is flashing signs
Seek it out and ye shall find

Old, but I'm not that old
Young, but I'm not that bold
And I don't think the world is sold
I'm just doing what we're told

I feel something so right
By doing the wrong thing
And I feel something so wrong
By doing the right thing
I could lie, could lie, could lie
Everything that kills me makes me feel alive

[Chorus]
Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard (hey!)
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be counting stars
Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard (hey!)
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be, we'll be counting stars

[Verse 2]
I feel the love
And I feel it burn
Down this river every turn
Hope is a four letter word
Make that money
Watch it burn

Old, but I'm not that old
Young, but I'm not that bold
And I don't think the world is sold
I'm just doing what we're told

And I feel something so wrong
By doing the right thing
I could lie, could lie, could lie
Everything that downs me makes me wanna fly

[Chorus]
Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be counting stars
Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard (hey!)
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be, we'll be counting stars

[Bridge 4x:]
Take that money
Watch it burn
Sink in the river
The lessons I learned

Everything that kills me makes me feel alive

[Chorus]
Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard (hey!)
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be counting stars
Lately I been, I been losing sleep
Dreaming about the things that we could be
But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard
Said no more counting dollars
We'll be, we'll be counting stars

[Outro 4x:]
Take that money
Watch it burn
Sink in the river
The lessons I learned 

Review

OneRepublic released Counting Stars as the second single off Native. While the band's latest album became their highest charting album to date, its singles Feel Again and If I Lose Myself are not chart success stories. Although the former managed to hit platinum with 1,000,000 sales.

While the previous tunes released are reminiscent of Coldplay's style, Counting Stars brings us back to their roots. The song borrowed sound from their Dreaming Out Loud pop rock production mixed with indie elements which makes it edgier than their debut recordings. The chorus alone shows the difference as it doesn't rely on catchy hooks.

Radio support might be the least concern of OneRepublic these days. They are more interested in reaching out to a wider audience. Maybe, having their songs played in the movies might do the trick just like how The Sorcerer's Apprentice pushed Secrets on a higher pedestal. But I'm not sure this song will do that. Burning Bridges has bigger chance.

Eminem - The Monster ft. Rihanna - Video, Review and Lyrics

Lyrics

[Chorus - Rihanna]
I'm friends with the monster
That's under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You're trying to save me
Stop holding your breath
And you think I'm crazy
Yeah, you think I'm crazy (crazy)

[Eminem - Verse 1]
I wanted the fame, but not the cover of Newsweek
Oh well, guess beggers can't be choosey
Wanted to receive attention for my music
Wanted to be left alone, public excuse me
Been wanting my cake, I need it too
Wanting it both ways
Fame may be a balloon cause my ego inflated
When I blew seep it was confusing
Cause all I wanted to do is be the Bruce Lee of loose leaf
Abused ink, used it as a tool when I blew steam
Hit the lottery (oh wee)
With what I gave up to get was bittersweet
It was like winning a huge meet
Ironic 'cause I think I'm getting so huge I need a shrink
I'm beginning to lose sleep: one sheep, two sheep
Going cucko and cuckier as Kool Keith
But I'm actually weirder than you think
Cause I'm...

[Chorus]
I'm friends with the monster
That's under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You're trying to save me
Stop holding your breath
And you think I'm crazy
Yeah, you think I'm crazy

Well, that's nothing
Well, that's nothing

[Eminem - Verse 2]
Now I ain't much of a poet
But I know somebody once told me to seize the moment
And don't squander it
Cause you never know when it all could be over
Tomorrow so I keep conjuring
Sometimes I wonder where these thoughts spawn from
(Yeah, ponder it, do you wonder there's no wonder you're losing your mind the way you're brought up?)
I think you've been wandering off down yonder and stumbled on Jeff VanVonderen
Cause I needed an intervention in this to intervene between me and this monster
And save me from myself and all this conflict
Cause the very things that I love is killing me and I can't conquer it
My OCD is clonking me in the head
Keep knocking, nobody's home, I'm sleepwalking
I'm just relaying what the voice of my head saying
Don't shoot the messenger, I'm just friends with the...

[Chorus]
I'm friends with the monster
That's under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You're trying to save me
Stop holding your breath
And you think I'm crazy
Yeah, you think I'm crazy

Well, that's nothing
Well, that's nothing

[Eminem - Verse 3]
Call me crazy, but I had this vision
One day that I'd walk amongst you regular civilians
But until then drums get killed I'm coming straight at
Emcees, blood get spilled and I
Take it back to the days that I get on a Dre track
Give every kid who got played gat
Pumped the villian and sh*t that say back
To the kids who played 'em
I ain't here to save the f*cking children
But if one kid out of a hundred million
Who are going through a struggle feels and relates that's great
It's payback, Russell Wilson falling way back
In the draft, turn nothing into something, still can make that
Straw in the gold chump I will spend
Rumpelstiltskin in a hay stack
Maybe I need a straightjacket, face facts
I am nuts for real, but I'm okay with that
It's nothing, I'm still friends with a...

[Bridge]
I'm friends with the monster
That's under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You're trying to save me
Stop holding your breath
And you think I'm crazy
Yeah, you think I'm crazy

I'm friends with the monster
That's under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You're trying to save me
Stop holding your breath
And you think I'm crazy
Yeah, you think I'm crazy

Well, that's nothing

Review

‘Love the Way You Lie,’ Eminem‘s weighty duet with Rihanna, which explored a crumbling and destructive relationship, was one of the biggest hits of both of their careers. It makes sense for them to reprise with ‘The Monster,’ which will appear on his ‘The Marshall Mathers LP 2′ and is a much more upbeat and less serious track, sonically speaking. It’s not nearly as powerful or affective as the previous partnership, but it’s not supposed to be.
While the song does address mental health issues — essentially, the rapper and the topless wonder of the world admit to being bonkers — it isn’t melancholic. Em and Ri sing about OCD, the voices in their heads and more. While the song is lighthearted, their attitudes really are not. It’s as if they’re saying (and rapping and singing) that it’s okay to be cray cray.
Rihanna’s icy voice delivers the intro and the choruses, while Em pops off rhymes in the verses, with his trademark nasally style. “Everything that I love is killing me / And I can’t conquer it” is one of his most poignant lines, while RiRi sings about being friends with the monster under her bed. But when Em sings about being crazy, we can’t help but wonder if the monsters they sing about are really just the darker sides of themselves.
There is some vulnerability in the lyrics and some poppy synths sprinkled at the end of the choruses, but the whole song leads up to the final 30 seconds, which build up to a harmony and a fade out.
Em and Ri have undeniable vocal chemistry and it asserts itself on ‘Monster.’ This song has nothing to do with goblins and ghouls, unless, of course, they’re of the mental sort.

"Applause" by Lady Gaga - Video, Review and Lyrics

Lyrics

[Verse 1:]
I stand here waiting for you to bang the gong
To crash the critic saying, "Is it right or is it wrong?"
If only fame had an I.V., baby could I bear
Being away from you, I found the vein, put it in here

I live for the applause, applause, applause
I live for the applause-plause
Live for the applause-plause
Live for the way that you cheer and scream for me
The applause, applause, applause

Give me that thing that I love (I'll turn the lights on)
Put your hands up, make 'em touch, touch (make it real loud)
Give me that thing that I love (I'll turn the lights on)
Put your hands up, make 'em touch, touch (make it real loud)

(A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E) Make it real loud
(A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E) Put your hands up, make 'em touch, touch
(A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E) Make it real loud
(A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E) Put your hands up, make 'em touch, touch

[Verse 2:]
I've overheard your theory "nostalgia's for geeks"
I guess sir, if you say so, some of us just like to read
One second I'm a Koons, then suddenly the Koons is me
Pop culture was in art, now art's in pop culture in me

I live for the applause, applause, applause
I live for the applause-plause
Live for the applause-plause
Live for the way that you cheer and scream for me
The applause, applause, applause

Give me that thing that I love (I'll turn the lights on)
Put your hands up, make 'em touch, touch (make it real loud)
Give me that thing that I love (I'll turn the lights on)
Put your hands up, make 'em touch, touch (make it real loud)

(A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E) Make it real loud
(A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E) Put your hands up, make 'em touch, touch
(A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E) Make it real loud
(A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E) Put your hands up, make 'em touch, touch

[Bridge:]
Touch, touch
Touch, touch now
Ooh-ooh-ooh-hoo
Ooh-ooh-ooh-hoo
Ooh-ooh-ooh-hoo
Ooh-ooh

I live for the applause, applause, applause
I live for the applause-plause
Live for the applause-plause
Live for the way that you cheer and scream for me.
The applause, applause, applause

Give me that thing that I love (I'll turn the lights on)
Put your hands up, make 'em touch, touch (make it real loud)
Give me that thing that I love (I'll turn the lights on)
Put your hands up, make 'em touch, touch (make it real loud)

(A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E) Make it real loud
(A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E) Put your hands up, make 'em touch (make it real loud)
(A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E) Make it real loud
(A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E) Put your hands up, make 'em touch, touch
 
Review

Does it matter if Lady Gaga’s derivative? This debate has been going on ever since La Gaga first arrived on the scene, complete with an image carefully constructed from the detritus of performance art and queer culture, and the promotional budget to sell gazillions of records. It’s started up again after the release of the video for new single “Applause,” which, as with all of Gaga’s work, lifted imagery and aesthetics from a variety of sources. This morning saw the arrival of the “So what if Gaga is derivative?!” pieces, like this one in Slate. I submit that they’re answering the wrong question.


The thing with this argument is that it doesn’t really matter whether you think Gaga is ripping off other artists, or “paying homage” to their work, or whatever else — this is ultimately semantics, because the fundamental point is that her work borrows plentifully and unabashedly from various sources. And really, who cares? As plenty of people have pointed out, artists have been doing this since art has existed — nothing is without precedent or inspiration, and indeed, I’ve written in defense of other artists who’ve been accused of the same thing. (It’s also worth noting that Madonna, who Gaga is so often accused of aping, is also not above lifting others’ ideas.)

In this respect, Gaga is a quintessentially postmodern artist — her work has always existed in a sort of border zone between intertexutality and pastiche, full of in-jokes and knowing references to the work of others. You either find this approach compelling or you don’t, but the question isn’t so much whether artists should be borrowing other artists’ ideas — it’s what they do with those ideas. Do they add up to anything greater than the sum of their parts? Do they serve any purpose? Or are they just there to demonstrate how clever/informed/postmodern the person borrowing them is?

It’s here that “Applause” falls down, because it’s postmodernism without purpose. Sure, it’s fun playing “look at all these references” — we did so (with pursed lips, apparently) yesterday. But really, it’s only interesting if you happen to have studied and/or enjoyed the work of the same people Gaga’s clearly been swotting up on: German expressionist cinema, fallow-era David Bowie, and, of course, pop art. Beyond that, there’s nothing there. Even if you understand what it’s referring to, the imagery is just imagery; it adds up to nothing more than a series of costume changes.

You could argue that it’s ever been thus with Gaga, of course — that her entire aesthetic has always been a sort of edifice constructed on a victory of style over substance. Certainly, there’s been plenty of justified criticism of some of her more vapid aesthetic decisions. You might also argue that the only difference between “Applause” and, say, “Paparazzi” is that the latter is better. You may or may not have a point, but at least in the case of the latter, there was some sort of narrative and the sense that the video’s sensory bombardment served the purpose of some greater idea.

“Applause,” by contrast, is empty self-referentialism, both in its visual aesthetic and its lyrics: “I live for the applause.” But we’ve always known that — Gaga’s entire career has revolved around being that girl in drama class who stands up on stage and demands that everyone look at her. This isn’t in and of itself interesting, and ”Applause” just creates a sort of empty feedback loop — it’s saying nothing about nothing, so much so that, as The Atlantic‘s Spencer Kornhaber pointed out this morning, it bears an uncanny resemblance to Weird Al Yankovic’s dead-on Gaga parody “Perform This Way.”

And the thing is that Gaga appears to know it. It’s perhaps instructive that she references Jeff Koons in this song, given that along with latter-period Damien Hirst he’s perhaps the greatest contemporary example of the artist as unclad emperor. All the “ignore the critics” stuff… the tiresome meta-ness of the ARTPOP trailer… They’re basically ways of saying “It doesn’t matter if this sucks.” It’s the same sort of preemptive defense as saying, “Oh, it’s ironic,” and just like that strategy, it’s fundamentally pusillanimous. Because it does matter.

If, as MTV’s James Montgomery argued yesterday, “[Gaga is] willing to do anything to please the public,” maybe she should stop justifying not having any new ideas and, y’know, come up with some new ideas. Because even if her derivative style has worked in the past, “Applause” is, to quote an avatar of modernism, “a heap of broken images.” What branches grow out of this stony rubbish? So far, none at all.

Jay Z ft Justin Timberlake - Holy Grail Video, Review and Lyrics

Lyrics

 [Intro: Justin Timberlake]

You'd take the clothes off my back and I'd let you
You'd steal the food right out my mouth and I'd watch you eat it
I still don’t know why, why I love you so much, ohh
You curse my name, in spite to put me to shame
Have my laundry in the streets, dirty or clean, give it up for fame
But I still don't know why, why I love it so much
 [Hook: Justin Timberlake]
And baby, it's amazing I'm in this maze with you
I just can't crack your code
 One day you screaming you love me loud
 The next day you're so cold
One day you're here, one day you're there, one day you care
You're so unfair, sipping from your cup 'til it runneth over, Holy Grail
 [Verse 1: Jay-Z]
Blue told me remind you niggas
 Fuck that shit y'all talking 'bout, I'm the nigga
 Caught up in all these lights and cameras
 But look what that shit did to Hammer
Goddammit it I like it
 Bright lights is enticing but look what it did to Tyson
All that money in one night, thirty mill for one fight
 But soon as all the money blows, all the pigeons take flight
Fuck the fame, keep cheating on me, what I do, I took her back
 Fool me twice, that's my bad, I can't even blame her for that
Enough to make me wanna murder, momma please just get my bail
I know nobody to blame, Kurt Cobain, I did it to myself
[Bridge: Justin Timberlake]
 And we all just entertainers
 And we're stupid and contagious
 And we all just entertainers
 [Hook]
 [Verse 2: Jay-Z]
Now I got tattoos on my body, psycho bitches in my lobby
I got haters in the paper, photo shoots with paparazzi
 Can't even take my daughter for a walk, see 'em by the corner store
 I feel like I'm cornered off enough is enough, I'm calling this off
Who the fuck I'm kidding though, I'm getting high, sitting low
 Sliding by in that big body, curtains all in my window
This fame hurt but this chain works, I think back you asked the same person
 If this is all you had to deal with, nigga deal with, this shit ain't work
This light work, camera snapping, my eyes hurt
Niggas dying back where I was birthed, fuck your IRIS and the IRS
Get the hell up off your high horse
You got the shit that niggas die for, dry yours
 Why you mad, take the good with the bad
 Don't throw the baby out with the bath water
You still alive, still that nigga
 Nigga you survived, you still getting bigger nigga
Living the life, Vanilla wafers in a villa
Illest nigga alive, Michael Jackson's Thriller
 [Hook]
 [Bridge: Justin Timberlake]
You get the air out my lungs whenever you need it
And you take the blade right out my heart, just so you can watch me bleed
And I still don’t know why, why I love you so much, yeah
And you play this game in spite to drive me insane
 I got it tattooed on my sleeve forever in ink with guess whose name
But I still don't know why, why our love is so muAnnotatech

Review

Jay-Z is richer than God, and probably about as famous. He headlines the hugest rock festivals, parties with Warren Buffett and, thanks to an unprecedented business maneuver, his 12th solo album went platinum before it even came out. What could he possibly have to complain about?

Plenty, it turns out. "Fuck the fame," Jay spits on the LP's surprisingly moody opener, "Holy Grail," where he vents about intrusive paparazzi and fickle fans, name-checks Kurt Cobain and brings out his buddy Justin Timberlake for a round of twisted "Teen Spirit" karaoke: "And we're all just entertainers/And we're stupid and contagious." And, yet, on the next song, "Picasso Baby," he's celebrating the perks of superstardom by giving us a grand tour of his art collection, displaying his Basquiats, Warhols and Rothkos – names he's been working into his verses for years – over a museum-quality boom-bap backdrop: "House like the Louvre or the Tate Modern/Because I be going ape at the auction."

This is how it goes for most of Magna Carta . . . Holy Grail. Jay-Z sorts through his mixed feelings about celebrity, then cheers himself up by itemizing the awesome things he owns. The production, mostly handled by Timbaland, is woozy and grand – another luxury possession. But Jay often sounds like he's trying to convince himself that he should still be excited about making music. What's disappointing is, he doesn't always seem to be winning that argument.

Take "Tom Ford," which might mark the lyrical nadir of Jay-Z's catalog. "Numbers don't lie, check the scoreboard," he says in a distracted tone. "Tom Ford, Tom Ford, Tom Ford." He sounds bored half to death by the basic rhyme, listlessly repeating the designer's name like it's going to magically transform into a clever or catchy hook. It hurts to see him waste a primo Timbaland beat like this. What happened to the guy who would have devoured those jiggly synth squelches a couple of years ago?

In part, he's the victim of his own remarkable longevity and extraordinary success. Jay-Z has been telling us about himself since 1996. He retired, then unretired, and that was four albums ago. Maybe he's starting to run out of things to say – or maybe, absent a foil like Kanye West on 2011's superb Watch the Throne or Kendrick Lamar on this year's "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" remix, he can't find the energy to push himself creatively.

Even at his most checked-out, Jay-Z remains a great MC; listen to how he layers his imagery on the Frank Ocean-assisted "Oceans": "On the holiday, playing 'Strange Fruit'/If I'm-a make it to a billi, I can't take the same route." But there's not much on Magna Carta . . . Holy Grail that he hasn't said before in more interesting ways.

He sounds most engaged on "Jay-Z Blue," where he grapples with his deepest fears about parenthood: "Father never taught me how to be a father, treat a mother/I don't wanna have to just repeat another, leave another/Baby with no daddy." It's a vivid, powerful moment that reminds you what he can do when he really cares.

Lorde - Royals Video, Lyrics, and Review

Lyrics

"Royals"

[Verse 1]
I've never seen a diamond in the flesh
I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies
And I'm not proud of my address,
In the torn-up town, no post code envy

[Hook]
But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room,
We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams.
But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your time piece.
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash.
We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair.

And we'll never be royals (royals).
It don't run in our blood,
That kind of luxe just ain't for us.
We crave a different kind of buzz.
Let me be your ruler (ruler),
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.
Let me live that fantasy.

[Verse 2]
My friends and I – we've cracked the code.
We count our dollars on the train to the party.
And everyone who knows us knows that we're fine with this,
We didn't come from money.

[Hook]
But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom.
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room,
We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams.
But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your time piece.
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash
We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair

And we'll never be royals (royals).
It don't run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain't for us.
We crave a different kind of buzz.
Let me be your ruler (ruler),
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.
Let me live that fantasy.

Ooh ooh oh
We're bigger than we ever dreamed,
And I'm in love with being queen.
Ooh ooh oh
Life is game without a care
We aren't caught up in your love affair.

And we'll never be royals (royals).
It don't run in our blood
That kind of luxe just ain't for us.
We crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler (ruler),
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.
Let me live that fantasy.

 

Review

 

A coy flutter, a sly smirk: "I met Kanye West yesterday." You wouldn't expect such breathless name-dropping from New Zealand's Lorde, AKA 16-year-old minimalist wunderkind Ella Yelich-O'Connor. Given she is the first woman to top Billboard's Alternative Songs chart in 17 years with her EP The Love Club, much has been made of her in-song rejections of celebrity and pop culture mores. Her click-soul breakthrough track Royals decries the enforced fantasies of Hello! culture and rap videos full of diamond watches and Maybachs, while on Team she snarls: "I'm kinda over getting told to throw my hands up in the air." She's touted as the voice of a savvy new generation, yet her aesthetic at this first London show – which sold out in four minutes – is more classical than counter-cultural. Her black-lace outfit recalls pre-Raphaelite Kate Bush or Vampira, her sneers are pure Dietrich, her cat-claw poses totally, well, Cleo Rocos. She's a freshly fired antique.

Her luxuriant voice similarly runs the gamut of leftfield pop – Lana's purrs, Regina's quirks, Zola Jesus's boom, the urban urchin squeaks of Chloe Howl. And despite her billing as the most self-determining artist ever spotted by a major label at the age of 12 and kept "in development" for four years, you suspect boardroom meddling behind the soft-step controversy of naming her debut album Pure Heroine. Her music, though, is undeniably authentic. At times she's reminiscent of James Blake, her triple-tracked vocals backed by sparse tribal drums and a ethereal keyboards.

From the repetitive menace of Biting Down and the icy calypso Buzzcut Season, she artfully builds tension throughout; Anna Calvi would dollop theatrical bombast all over her a cover of the Replacements' Swingin' Party, but here its restrained throb oozes quiet power.

As Royals prompts a hushed sing-along, the beats burst from Lorde's dense bubble and 400 Lux and A World Alone become dark disco diamonds. "Pretty soon I'll be getting on my first plane," she coos in Tennis Court, and you feel the relief that her four years in pop's traps are over. Now's her time to glower.

Miley Cyrus "Wrecking Ball" Video, Lyrics and Review

Lyrics

We clawed, we chained, our hearts in vain

We jumped, never asking why
We kissed, I fell under your spell
A love no one could deny

Don't you ever say I just walked away
I will always want you
I can't live a lie, running for my life
I will always want you

I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me

I put you high up in the sky
And now, you're not coming down
It slowly turned, you let me burn
And now, we're ashes on the ground

Don't you ever say I just walked away
I will always want you
I can't live a lie, running for my life
I will always want you

I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck me

I came in like a wrecking ball
Yeah, I just closed my eyes and swung
Left me crashing in a blazing fall
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me

I never meant to start a war
I just wanted you to let me in
And instead of using force
I guess I should've let you win
I never meant to start a war
I just wanted you to let me in
I guess I should've let you win

Don't you ever say I just walked away
I will always want you

I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck me

I came in like a wrecking ball
Yeah, I just closed my eyes and swung
Left me crashing in a blazing fall
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me

Review

"Wrecking Ball" is a song recorded by American singer Miley Cyrus for her upcoming fourth studio album, Bangerz (2013). The song was released as a digital download on August 25, 2013. It was sent to American radio on September 16, 2013. "Wrecking Ball" was written by Lukasz Gottwald, Maureen Anne McDonald, Stephan Moccio, Sacha Skarbek and Henry Russell Walter. The song was produced by Dr. Luke and Henry Russell Walter under his production name, Cirkut. Both the song and its music video received mixed reviews from critics. It reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, becoming her first number one hit in the country.

Upon its release, the song received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Complex wrote: "This song seems to be a very personal one for the young singer, as she addresses love and heart break in a very passionate manner" and described it as a "drastic departure" from the "happy-go-lucky content" of We Can't Stop.^[17] Popdust described it as "a power ballad from the '80s or a Demi Lovato song. A little angsty, but certainly a nice foil to the debauchery of 'We Can’t Stop'."^[18] HitFix gave it a "D+" grade, saying: "is a blunt-force instrument of pop songcraft that could've easily been sung by Katy Perry and in that sense it more than lives up to its central metaphor. But while the song is fine in its quieter moments, it's so overwrought on the chorus that, like the tune's narrator (who I'll assume to be Cyrus herself), it tries to "force" its way in when it should have trusted its audience to get the message without being battered by it."^[19]
PMC-Magazine named it #1 in their Top Ten Anti-Work Anthems for Labor Day.^[20] It was nominated for Best Song at the 2013 World Music Awards.