Rachel Platten – Fight Song

“Absolutely, magically, wonderful.”

Tim: And now, for your delectation, the best Avril Lavigne song you’ve heard in years.

Tom: Huh. You’re not wrong about that. I think Rachel Platten might have better vocals than Avril Lavigne too, even if they’re not quite as forceful.

Tim: I heard it in the Supergirl trailer that got put out a few days ago, and bloody hell have I been listening to it a lot since, because it has EVERYTHING. A quiet start implying her initial reluctancy and lack of confidence, building up through a heavy-to-medium pre-chorus and then a big, BIG chorus that’s utterly brilliant.

Incidentally, the pretty good lyric video also picks up on that, with the verses and middle eight being in a lightweight font but the choruses a whole thicker.

Tom: It’s subtle things, like that, which separate decent lyric videos from the ones just quickly churned out.

Tim: One of my favourite parts is, much like with Cara Mia, that surprise return from the middle eight, where the lack of anything except the drums provides another impression of just how ready she is to fight, in case the rest of the song was so subtle that you’d not already figured that out.

Tom: The part that sticks out for me is what sounds like a call-and-response with herself in the verse — the kind of thing you can’t do live with only one voice, but that really works here.

Tim: Yes, and speaking of sort-of-backing vocals, those “ahhhh-ahhh” ones that come in under the pre-chorus are also fantastic. I do, though, have two tiny, tiny nitpicky bits: that the recorded vocals on “prove I’m alright” sound closer to “prove ’em all right” with its directly opposite meaning, so an emphasis on the “I” would be appreciated. And also I reckon “hear my voice this time” would be better with “sing out” or “shout out” or similar.

Tom: And I can’t hear “motion” and “ocean” rhyming without thinking of the Bloodhound Gang.

Tim: Ah, see, for me it’s Hairspray. But aside from those few tiny, tiny bits, then, this song is absolutely, magically, wonderful.