Most musicians are pretty lax about letting younger artists raid their back catalogues for inspiration, so it takes something to bring a band to the brink of legal action against a young pop starlet. But get ready, it's all set to be the Red Hot Chili Peppers vs Diana Vickers in a court of law soon.
The two tracks in question are the Chilis classic 1991 track “Under The Bridge” and Vickers’ new single “My Wicked Heart.” The choruses of which are so similar, it’s borderline laughable. Vickers hasn’t helped herself with her response to it either, admitting she’d listened to it the day before and had noticed the similarity. There’s only one dignified out of this for Vickers, and that’s handing over all the royalties from the track to the Chilis. Either that or lose it court, owe costs and look really stupid.
This is out of step, because, in her fledgling pop career so far, Vickers has actually made some pretty smart choices. She’s worked with Guy Sigsworth, who’s half of Frou Frou with Imogen Heap on some of the tracks from her debut record “Songs From The Tainted Cherry Treee” as well as Ellie Goulding, Nerina Pallot and Starsmith. She’s made the impression of someone who wants to follow more in the vein of Goulding and Florence Welsh than of Leona Lewis or Alexandra Burke, but thus far, she’s only succeeded in putting out watered down, smoothed out versions of the people she’s worked with. And this has never been more evident than on “My Wicked Heart.”
Even if you leave aside the plagiarism, this is one of the weakest singles released this year. It goes nowhere and does nothing. There’s never any momentum created and Vickers not so subtle attempt to channel a bit of Florence Welch’s taste for the bombastic, never sparks even the smallest speck of feeling. At least Burke and Lewis are slick and efficient in what they do, Vickers is just hiding behind a smokescreen of pseudo indie to distract from the fact her songs aren’t good enough. Even the horn section, chucked in half way through the track, can’t stop this sounding like a pompous bit of dirge.
There’s no point comparing it to “Under The Bridge”, that is a beautifully written, heartfelt pop song that will move people till the end of time, subtle drug references and all. This is a shoddy, half arsed piece of fluff, lacking in momentum and merit.
It doesn’t matter who you work with or how you dress, you’ll get nowhere if you churn out sub standard songs and this is a prime example of that.
Disagree? Video's here:
Wow, one sided "review" of My Wicked Heart or what? Totally disagree.
ReplyDeleteI was with you until you called this single the weakest. It is EASILY the best single she has ever put out and probably the single most different track to be on the UK charts since... well ever.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly goes somewhere considering how musical theater the track is and just because you don't understand it doesn't mean you can throw that comment around.