Tom: Well, I guess we should talk about this. Two artists with very different styles. Well, very different styles for modern pop music, at least.
Tom: I was originally going to say “that’s strange”, but then I realised I couldn’t back the statement up. While my gut reaction was that it seemed like it had a weird song structure, or weird duet structure, it just doesn’t. Sam’s verse and chorus; Demi’s verse and chorus with a bit from Sam; middle eight; big joint abbreviated final verse-and-chorus with a gospel choir. It’s a by-the-numbers traditional pop duet structure. So why does it feel like it’s odd?
Tim: Best guess: the genre shift. Sam’s is standard nice pop, largely unobjectionable, but when Demi comes along for her verse the backing changes significantly: it becomes a lot harsher, and even the underlying beat almost drops into two-step, giving an impression of a middle eight coming significantly earlier than in should do. The chorus comes along sounding nice, then we get an actual middle eight that’s itself chopped in two – part of it lovely and part of it harsh, and then we go into a full melodic and lovely closing chorus.
Tom: At least they actually shot the music video together, though.