Tim: It probably doesn’t need repeating but this man has an excellent name.
Tom: If by “excellent name” you mean “name that sounds like someone sneezing”.
Tim: Well yes I suppose there’s that as well. Can he better the fairly good Supernova, though?
Tim: Ehhh…kind of. He can certainly do a better ballad than he can do a dance, because there’s a reason singers don’t generally stand still and just move their arms – look what happened the last time we saw this. Points for the rest of the video, though, if only from a technical standpoint, with the screens and the single shot, though I was kind of hoping the choir would emerge when the back opened up.
Tom: Two things to ruin the video for you: the reflections on his necklace, and the careful “not really playing the piano” camera shot. But yes, technically impressive.
Tim: The song, though, which we should probably discuss at some point, is…well, somewhat average, which is probably why I left it until last to mention it.
Tom: Can we deal with the lyrics first? “This is so mad, this is so sad”. Is he… is he six years old?
Tim: No, no he isn’t, and he’s proves that by referencing his favourite grown-up TV show in the next line, which definitely won’t be an outdated reference twelve months from now.
Musically it’s a decent enough ballad, and the choir helps to prop it up a bit; problem is that it’s too slow and gentle a grower. Compare ten seconds in and three minutes later and there’s a vast improvement, but there’s no WOW moment where everything changes, and that’s what I want from a good ballad.
Tom: Right. For me, it’s those lyrics — not just that one bad line, but all of it — that ruin it for me. Like the video: technically, it’s all brilliant, it’s just the content isn’t quite there.
Tim: So far, so room for improvement.