Tim: So we all know and adore the original, of course, but I was at Radio 1’s Big Weekend *CLANG* —
Tom: Gig-dropping again there, Tim?
Tim: You don’t mind, do you? — where I saw Taylor Swift sing this, an updated version.
Tim: It came with a nice explanatory intro about how she came across Romeo & Juliet at school and loved all of it except for [SPOILER alert] the whole suicide business, and so she changed the ending, an act which literary scholars would argue the merits of for possibly entire minutes.
Tom: I’m just going to take a moment to appreciate that last clause.
Tim: Regardless, in the six years or so since then her style has changed quite a lot, so she’s done a version which would sit nicely on her 1989 album. And, well, obviously it doesn’t match up to the greatness of the first, but it’s an interesting take on it.
Tom: I disagree: I think this is better. I mean, for some reason, the sound engineer’s put the backing vocals up way too loud, but as it’s live, we can forgive that. This is an amazingly good arrangement — it brings it up to date, it fits her new style, and it replaces the overly cloying instrumental. Yes.
Tim: Fair point, I suppose, and if it was a new song I heard now I’d probably love it; as it is, though, the overly cloying instrumental is part of what brought the ridiculously syrupy original’s charm, and it kind of doesn’t sound right without it. It’s still very good, but it wouldn’t take the same place in my heart that the original did, especially now the key change has lost its sense of whacking you in the ear with an aural frying pan.
Tom: More like this, please.
Tim: Yes – it is something that I’d kind of like other artists to do every now and again. We could have Britney’s Baby One More Time sung in the style of Toxic, perhaps, or Eric Saade’s Manboy sung in the style of Girl From Sweden, though if I think a bit actually both of those would be terrible ideas so let’s move quickly on.
Tom: Okay, so when I say “more like this”, I mean “more artists who’ve massively improved their style doing this”.
Tim: Sensible caveat, so this one’s alright, as an observation if nothing else.