6000 Songs: Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball

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Rob
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6000 Songs: Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball

Post by Rob »

This topic is part of the weekly 6000 songs, 6000 opinions. In this, every week another song from the Acclaimed Music song top 6000 is selected for discussion. The song is chosen completely at random, through random.org, making the selections hopefully very varied. The only other rule in this is that after an artist has had a turn, he can’t appear for another ten weeks. The idea for this topic came to me because I wanted to think of a way to engage more actively with the very large top 6000 songs that Henrik has compiled for us, while still keeping it accessible and free of any game elements. Yes, that’s right, no game elements. You are free to rate the song each week, but I’ll do nothing with this rating. I want it to be about people’s personal reviews and hopefully discussions. So in reverse to other topics on this site I say: “Please comment on this song, rating is optional”.
Earlier entries of this series can be found here: http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/forums/vi ... ive#p45337

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“I never hit so hard in love”

Image

69. Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball

The facts:
Year: 2013.
Genre: Pop.
Country: United States.
Album: Bangerz.
Acclaimed Music ranking: #4865.
Song ranking on Acclaimed Music in the artist’s discography: 1st, the only one.
Ranks higher than Göttingen by Barbara, but lower than See a Little Light by Bob Mould.
Place in the Acclaimed Music Song Poll 2015: Not ranked.

The people:
Written by Sacha Skarbek, Maureen “MoZella” McDonald, Stephan Moccio, Kiyanu Kim, Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald & Henry Russell “Cirkut” Walter.
Produced by Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald & Henry Russell “Cirkut” Walter.
Lead vocals by Miley Cyrus.
Drums by Steven Wolf.
Piano by Stephan Moccio.
Violin by Charlie Bisberat, Kevin Connolly, Songa Lee, Grace Oh, Joel Pargman, Alyssa Park, Sara Parkins & John Wittenberg.
Viola by Darrin McCann & Andrew Duckles.
Cello by Steve Richards & Suzie Katayama.

The opinion:
It’s easy to make fun of much pop music and sometimes that’s deserved. Wrecking Ball has been made fun of quite a lot, although more because of its music video and the antics of its artist, than because of the song itself. As pop songs go it’s rather good, I would say. And we should celebrate it, because on paper it should have been the wreck Cyrus claims to be.

There is one question that I have to ask; one I don’t know the answer to and probably never will get an answer too. But lets get it out of the way: why on Earth needs a song like this six – six! – writers? It surely can’t be the lyrics, can it? They’re decent and somewhat memorable, but they aren’t exactly poetic. Is it the music writing? Again, well executed and catchy, but also rather formulaic.

Actually, I can’t think of any song that warrants so many writers. Could something like that ever feel like anything else than an overly polished product by committee? Apparently yes, although the album Bangerz contains much evidence on the contrary. That album has its defenders (though as of yet it is not acclaimed), but I think it is mostly a disaster, full of bad songs. Cyrus has a naturally good voice, but a lot of the singing on Bangerz sounds oddly unconvincing. That’s nothing compared to the lyrics that are mostly supremely idiotic. And yes, most of the songs here have as many writers as Wrecking Ball, some even more. It feels like a group of people decided to make an album for Miley Cyrus, but nobody knew what it should be and with every new problem another person was asked to help.

I admit, the actual production process of Bangerz is a mystery to me. I only know it is one of the worst albums I have ever heard. It’s everything haters of Cyrus could want for to feed their hatred. Wrecking Ball could have been part of the cause of that mess: the song was originally written for Beyoncé. When writer Sacha Sarbek heard it was suddenly to be turned into a single for Cyrus even he admitted openly on Twitter that he didn’t know what to make of that decision. Nothing here suggests it was a product of confidence.

To add to all this, the song has a full orchestra of string instruments behind it. Did you notice? I didn’t. I mean, I noticed the strings, but nothing suggest that they needed such an absurd amount. This is obviously a vocal-based song, but the instrument that stands out is the piano, performed by co-writer Stephan Moccio. His tuneful opening lead almost serves as a comforting warning: “Don’t worry, this is the one song on this album that will be good”.

And good it is. Not brilliant or anything, but it is a very solid pop song of which it is easy to hear the appeal. I mostly like the way the song builds towards it’s chorus, the melody behind the words “Don’t you ever say…” to “I will always love you” is very nice and it makes the following smash of the wrecking ball all the more satisfying. Cyrus is also unafraid to let you hear her breath in deeply before her final burst into the chorus. It’s a small touch that brings this more down to earth than you guess it would be.

It’s hard to say where Cyrus will go from here (Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz is probably not going to lead into a new direction). It feels like the Bangerz period was the product of someone desperately looking for her own identity and not finding it. But who am I to draw such conclusions. For me, Wrecking Ball is the only worthwhile thing she has yet done in music and even that one got obscured by controversy over its video (about which is written so much that I wouldn’t dream of writing more). At least it has sincere emotions and that’s what pop is desperately in need of.
7/10

Other versions:
The song is rather new, yet it has already spawned tons of version, the one more forgettable than the other. It seems like all the pop hopefuls of this world are tumbling over each other to record this. In the long list provided below only a few are worth listing here. Most interesting is the semi-classical piano piece that Bernard Dubicki delivers. It works better than you might think. There is also a catchy country version by The Gregory Brothers, a good hard rock take by Cry to the Blind and a sadly uninspired but still rather fun metal cover by August Red Burns. The other versions are really showcases for woman vocalists who don’t have Cyrus’ pipes.

The song has been used differently too: Ben Woodward mixed it with Timber. “Weird Al” Yankovic mixed it with many other pop hits of the last ten years, filled with wacky sound effects and turned into a polka work-out named NOW That’s What I Call Polka! Caked Up, finally, remixed and remodelled the song into a dance track.

The playlist:
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prosecutorgodot
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Re: 6000 Songs: Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball

Post by prosecutorgodot »

I definitely prefer "We Can't Stop" over this track, and even "Adore". This song's just kinda lame to me.
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Live in Phoenix
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Re: 6000 Songs: Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball

Post by Live in Phoenix »

It's been a little while since Miley has flung her naked body at America, so I'm tentatively assuming that she's settled down a little bit. I think she's a judge on one of those singing shows, which suggests a more comfortable level of stardom away from the hysterical spectacles of old. (At any rate, the incredible success of Adele has shown that there's more to young female pop music than being a singing stripper.)

I believe this song was picked as a single in the wake of her twerking scandal and then breakup with her fiancé (the two were maybe or maybe not related, God knows I'm not going to bust my ass on Miley trivia). At the time, the music video indicated to me that Miley Cyrus would shrivel up and die if there wasn't always a crowd of people gawking at her.

The music (as the last factor). She could have released anything that year and it would have hit Number One -- and indeed, "Wrecking Ball" does qualify as "anything." Well, I suppose it's not bad and I could rate it a generous 3 out of 5, i.e., "passably catchy," whereas 2/5 in this case would have been "brain-dead catchy." Though I must admit to preferring "Party in the U.S.A." (Writing this post has forced my hand.)
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StevieFan13
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Re: 6000 Songs: Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball

Post by StevieFan13 »

I'm just not a Miley fan. Couple of good songs from her Hannah Montana days (I like Rock Star and Start All Over), but I don't find her an artist worth getting invested in.
Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand - Sir Duke (1976)
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Rob
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Re: 6000 Songs: Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball

Post by Rob »

prosecutorgodot wrote:I definitely prefer "We Can't Stop" over this track, and even "Adore". This song's just kinda lame to me.
In my mind these two songs (which I honestly think are horrible beyond believe) would justify everything Live in Phoenix writes, regarding her need for attention and the desperate way of achieving it.
Live in Phoenix wrote:(At any rate, the incredible success of Adele has shown that there's more to young female pop music than being a singing stripper.)
But this song actually came out a couple of years after Adele became a star, so clearly Miley Cyrus doesn't care.
I believe this song was picked as a single in the wake of her twerking scandal and then breakup with her fiancé (the two were maybe or maybe not related, God knows I'm not going to bust my ass on Miley trivia).
The answer to the last question is in the review above though: the song was not written about Cyrus' break-up, as it was written with Beyoncé in mind (who didn't have a break-up either).
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andyd1010
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Re: 6000 Songs: Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball

Post by andyd1010 »

I'm going to make a few bold statements related to this song.

1. As someone who places an emphasis on melody, I consider this a top-250 song of all time. That melody Rob talks about is incredible.

2. Dustin Kensrue's interpretation is fantastic.

3. Dustin Kensrue is the most underrated musician of all time.
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