Today's song: Torn by Natalie Imbruglia or Trine Rein or Ednaswap
This isn't the first time I tried to write something up for this song. It's a good song. Seems like a lot of artists agree because it has been covered by ten other acts, been featured in three different televised singing competitions, covered by several acts as part of their live shows, and used in many television episodes. But I've never been able to find the hook I needed to actually write something about it.
So when I sat down today and tried to take another shot at using this song for the inspiration for a post I looked at the Wikipedia entry. I do that a lot, as should be apparent from my continual citations to it when I don't just steal from it wholesale. When I looked at it i saw that Natalie Imbruglia was not the first artist to release this song. She wasn't even the first artist to cover the song. This song just keeps getting released and released and released.
This song was written by and first performed by the alternative band Ednaswap. I've never heard of them before either, dear reader. To be honest I did not even bother to look them up. I listened to the Ednaswap version on Youtube and thought that it was a good thing this song got covered. Torn was written by Scott Cutler, Anne Preven, and Phil Thornalley. Thornally is primarily a producer and it seems that he actively promotes the use of the song by artists that he works with.
Seems like Thornally is a smart guy. Torn is a good song. But not every good song goes on to be a hit. Not every hit goes on to be a mega-hit. By pushing as many artists to cover the song as possible, Thornally increases the chances that his good song will go on to be a hit. Since the songwriter usually makes substantially more off a song than the performer, Thornally was engaging in an admirable act of capitalism.
As I've explained, I am not gifted in any of the arts. I lack the proper training and vocabulary to talk intelligently about the artistic aspects of songs, song performances, and song writing. The selection of a different song every day to write about is a device used to make sure that I generate content and to present myself with a challenge to overcome.
You don't need a lot of specialized knowledge to figure out why Imbruglia's version was the one that hit it big. Natalie Imbruglia was a model and soap opera star in Australia before she became a pop singer. She is a strikingly beautiful woman. Ibruglia's cover is very soft which plays well with her diminutive stature and delicate good looks. Her version of the song is the most pop oriented version with a dance beat throughout the song that most over covers lack. This ensures that her version has the widest possible appeal.
Pop music doesn't usually succeed because of artistic merit. Oh, to be sure, great art has a leg up over garbage. In the world of pop music it is more useful to have a degree in marketing than music to predict success. The greatest success will be conferred upon the select few who possess great talent as an artist and marketable features such as compelling narrative or model good looks. Imbruglia had a good song but she was no creator. Her pop career has not amounted to much, but she has been moderately successful. I find that I do not tire of watching Imbruglia perform Torn, but I probably would not tire of watching her do laundry or chop wood either.
Well now you have my take on a song that I tried to do five years ago and more than once in the last three weeks. If you did not watch it when you started this post go back and watch it. Alison Maclean directed a hell of a good video, but then again how do you screw up video featuring one of the most beautiful women on the planet? Hannah Lux was similarly successful with Come Alive by Paris Hilton. The key to recognizing the quality of Come Alive lies in watching it on mute. (Thanks for the tip Samy.)
Later
Bob
No comments:
Post a Comment