Another big winner at last year’s ARIA awards was Ladyhawke, who won Breakthrough Artist Album and Single. So I should probably be familiar with My Delirium:
Hey, Ladyhawke might like my post! Because she’s waiting by the phone, and nobody waits by a phone anymore! Seriously, what year is it? I guess all that talk of her ’80s retro-ness isn’t just publicity guff.
I quite like this song, I really do. I like that the melody isn’t the same as the guitar riff – instead the two work against one another, and that takes a songwriter’s touch. I like that the chorus goes up a notch from the verses. I like that the verses aren’t melodically dull, in order to give the chorus a helping hand.
The lyrics, especially in the verses, are a little bland. No real concrete images in “room”, “watch”, “world”, “eat” and ”sleep”. And it really needs a bridge: the breakdown before the riff comes back into the final choruses is fun, but a truly butt-kicking bridge could have made the thing special.
OK, this exercise requires a scoring scale, and I will invent one. It’s called the Vanda-Young Scale, and it goes like this:
10 A spectacular song, on a universal subject, that will still hit you on all fronts in fifty years. Everything works together, and the whole is mystically greater than the sum of the parts. A really, really good song. Friday On My Mind good.
7-9 An inspired effort, ambitious and unusual, solid professionalism spiced with a pinch of genius. Not flawless, but a memorable experience. An Evie experience.
5-7 It sticks with you, no argument. Maybe you’ll love it, if it’s playing at just the right time. Everything’s well-crafted and in capable hands. Love Is In the Air, and you’re Yesterday’s Hero.
3-5 A song by someone who knows what they’re doing, but not on their best day. Quality album filler, or an OK single. Around the Show No Mercy or My Little Angel mark.
1-2 Glimmers of talent, but a misfire.
0 Three minutes that would have been better spent in silence.
Based on this system, I’m scoring my two contenders thus far:
Walking On a Dream – 1.5
My Delirium – 4
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