degen
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Post by degen on Aug 25, 2022 23:17:42 GMT -5
This is pretty uneventful for me. I’m underwhelmed. I think the leak spoiled the surprise and then the final version is just not giving me anything extra. Yea I can see this debut pretty well and then falling off quickly.
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Choco
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Post by Choco on Aug 25, 2022 23:18:55 GMT -5
This is cute. Not amazing but I'm glad Brit is back in the music business.
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Juan Carlos
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Post by Juan Carlos on Aug 25, 2022 23:23:07 GMT -5
Her team couldn't even git this on Spotify Today's Top Hits? It is #3 on New Music Friday. This is being handled by Interscope/EMI, which is Elton John's label, not RCA, which is Britney's label. And it's at #4 on New Music Friday, not #3.
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Mike
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Post by Mike on Aug 25, 2022 23:25:12 GMT -5
I’m on a plane flying to Paris and of course the Air Canada wifi won’t let me listen to it 😩
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Mirago
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Post by Mirago on Aug 25, 2022 23:42:22 GMT -5
There’s some gorgeous piano work in The One and I think they missed a chance to make this more dynamic as they capture it here only minimally at the end. Britney feels a bit underutilized overall but pleasantly surprised by its groove.
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Post by It's me, bitch. on Aug 25, 2022 23:43:51 GMT -5
Both singers’ vocals seem distant. I wish they would’ve made them more prominent.
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Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815...
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Post by Me. I Am l!nk!nfan815... on Aug 25, 2022 23:46:22 GMT -5
I can only make out Britney’s voice when she says “baby”.
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degen
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Post by degen on Aug 25, 2022 23:57:50 GMT -5
There’s some gorgeous piano work in The One and I think they missed a chance to make this more dynamic as they capture it here only minimally at the end. Britney feels a bit underutilized overall but pleasantly surprised by its groove. Britney’s vocals feeling underutilized is a statement no one said ever. It’s a first time for everything. Congratulations lol.
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Post by It's me, bitch. on Aug 26, 2022 1:13:13 GMT -5
Already number one on iTunes.
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Dylan :)
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Post by Dylan :) on Aug 26, 2022 2:20:42 GMT -5
This is so groovy, I love it!!
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Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on Aug 26, 2022 2:49:14 GMT -5
Excellent.
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Dylan :)
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Post by Dylan :) on Aug 26, 2022 3:24:39 GMT -5
#1 on iTunes in 27 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the US, according to Kworb
Apple Music: #26 New Zealand #32 Australia #63 Brazil
Shazam: #85 New Zealand #102 Australia
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andymusic01
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Post by andymusic01 on Aug 26, 2022 4:51:58 GMT -5
Already heard this 2 times on the radio today, I think it’s a bit underwhelming, for both Britney’s and Elton’s standards. It’s a decent song though.
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Marooned@Midnight
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Post by Marooned@Midnight on Aug 26, 2022 5:15:35 GMT -5
I do really love the final product still, but there’s no denying that Britney was more prominent on the demo making me prefer that version. I do think the production is silky smooth and I know I’ll be listening over and over.
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jumpb4uthink
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Post by jumpb4uthink on Aug 26, 2022 5:38:35 GMT -5
I like it a lot. Heard it on the radio and got me moving. I just wish their vocals were clearer. Maybe it just my device, sounds a little distorted.
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thezatch
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Post by thezatch on Aug 26, 2022 6:02:42 GMT -5
So lemme get this straight, instead of striking while the iron was HOT last week and dropping the song Friday right after it leaked because rumor has it “Britney wanted to do some last minute vocal touch-ups” (which had to be false), they waited a week to REMOVE some of her adlibs, pushed her vocals further back into the mix, and pulled Elton’s forward, making the final version lackluster compared to the leak.
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No Brake$
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Post by No Brake$ on Aug 26, 2022 6:04:10 GMT -5
I don’t know, I think this is actually really good and sounds very modern with the latest disco push, huge ABBA inspired production / baselines.
I think many will ask, wait, is that Britney?
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No Brake$
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Post by No Brake$ on Aug 26, 2022 6:05:17 GMT -5
So lemme get this straight, instead of striking while the iron was HOT last week and dropping the song Friday right after it leaked because rumor has it “Britney wanted to do some last minute vocal touch-ups” (which had to be false), they waited a week to REMOVE some of her adlibs, pushed her vocals further back into the mix, and pulled Elton’s forward, making the final version lackluster compared to the leak. K. I agree, there’s a story, and she’s not even included as an “artist”
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Ling-Ling
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Post by Ling-Ling on Aug 26, 2022 7:07:18 GMT -5
It's very pleasant and obviously there's a nice hook. I mean, they're interpolating a classic, can't go wrong there.
But what is going on with the vocals? The way they've mixed and layered them, it sounds like two indecipherable androids harmonizing. Like I know there's female vocals in there, but it doesn't sound like Britney (hell, it doesn't even sound like Elton). And it makes that studio account all the more hilarious... like where?
*edit* Okay, just listened to the demo. Not perfect either, but definitely the superior version.
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Koochie
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Post by Koochie on Aug 26, 2022 7:28:42 GMT -5
Yeah I uh…
How did they somehow make the mix worse than in the demo? The layering was perfect there, no idea why they went out of their way to fuck over Britney’s vocals here.
They didn’t even remove the awkward chain on her vocals in the first chorus either but somehow didn’t chain Elton’s? Who the fuck produced this lmao
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thiago2013
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Post by thiago2013 on Aug 26, 2022 7:34:19 GMT -5
Hold Me Closer
iTunes (34x #1):
#1 Argentina
#1 Australia
#1 Austria
#1 Belgium
#1 Brazil
#1 Bulgaria
#1 Canada
#1 Chile
#1 Colombia
#1 Czech Republic
#1 Denmark
#1 Finland
#1 Germany
#1 Greece
#1 Hungary
#1 Ireland
#1 Israel
#1 Italy
#1 Kazakhstan
#1 Mexico
#1 Netherlands
#1 New Zealand
#1 Norway
#1 Panama
#1 Peru
#1 Poland
#1 Portugal
#1 Slovakia
#1 Spain
#1 Sweden
#1 Switzerland
#1 Turkey
#1 United Kingdom
#1 United States
#2 Ecuador
#2 El Salvador
#2 France
#2 Guatemala
#2 Philippines
#2 Romania
#2 Singapore
#2 South Africa
#2 Vietnam
#3 Costa Rica
#4 Armenia
#4 Malaysia
#5 Saudi Arabia
#6 Indonesia
#6 Oman
#7 Thailand
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#12 Ukraine
#36 Taiwan
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upsidedown
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Post by upsidedown on Aug 26, 2022 7:34:23 GMT -5
Yeah I uh… How did they somehow make the mix worse than in the demo? The layering was perfect there, no idea why they went out of their way to f**k over Britney’s vocals here. They didn’t even remove the awkward chain on her vocals in the first chorus either but somehow didn’t chain Elton’s? Who the f**k produced this lmao How did they f**k over her vocals though? Her vocals sound nearly the exact same as the demo, just a bit polished. The only difference to me is obviously Elton's are now layered over Britney's in two spots where Britney's were solo before. I don't think hers are any more processed than they were before, and neither are Elton's, it's obviously just jarring compared to the demo where now two voices are on top of one - this is a "duet" after all lol. I'm in complete agreeance that the demo was better because it had Britney shine more, but I don't think the official version is "worse". It's just different. This is a full fledged duet here. I saw some posts somewhere else where someone said something that struck out to me - Elton maybe didn't realize CH would be such a big hit and regretted not putting himself more on that (then someone brought up he played it at a concert and had nothing to sing for Dua's parts and was bored), so maybe he (a bit selfishly, but I get it obviously lol) wanted to make sure he was covered throughout this entire song, and thus why we have both Britney and Elton on all the parts Either way, I do like that the final is more polished than the demo.
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upsidedown
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Post by upsidedown on Aug 26, 2022 7:35:06 GMT -5
225 spins on Pop today so far.
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No Brake$
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Post by No Brake$ on Aug 26, 2022 7:36:24 GMT -5
My guess is something is going to come out that Britney’s team pissed someone off on either Elton or the production’s team.
Again, I find this song to be pleasant but it should be a much larger of an event for this to come out, why isn’t it? There is only one way, there has to be someone angry or something happened.
It’s like they purposely deleted Britney out of like 95% of the song, if you told me “that’s actually Cascada or Duffy” or some 2000s artist, I’d believe it.
Can’t say enough, the fact it is simply now just labeled as being by “Elton John” and no one else shows something really dramatic happened by the scenes. Just my opinion.
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bat1990
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Post by bat1990 on Aug 26, 2022 7:38:24 GMT -5
I think it's largely fine, it's mainly the artificially pitched up "hold me closer" that's mostly Elton anyway which sounds off to me. It seems unnecessary like riffing on Cher's "Believe" without needing to.
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upsidedown
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Post by upsidedown on Aug 26, 2022 7:41:27 GMT -5
My guess is something is going to come out that Britney’s team pissed someone off on either Elton or the production’s team. Again, I find this song to be pleasant but it should be a much larger of an event for this to come out, why isn’t it? There is only one way, there has to be someone angry or something happened. It’s like they purposely deleted Britney out of like 95% of the song, if you told me “that’s actually Cascada or Duffy” or some 2000s artist, I’d believe it. Can’t say enough, the fact it is simply now just labeled as being by “Elton John” and no one else shows something really dramatic happened by the scenes. Just my opinion. It's still Elton John & Britney Spears on every single platform. I think you're looking too much into it. People are really doing the most with this. The only actual parts from the demo to the finished that got *deleted* are the two Britney adlibs in the beginning, and who knows if those were even supposed to be there. Adding Elton's vocals to duet with Britneys on a few part =/= "deleting Britney out of 95% of the song" Also, just as an aside, you can tell this is Britney even just from the adlibs that are still there. If you really thought that was Cascada or Duffy, then sis you've got other issues
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upsidedown
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Post by upsidedown on Aug 26, 2022 7:42:45 GMT -5
Her team couldn't even git this on Spotify Today's Top Hits? It is #3 on New Music Friday. Yeah, not sure what happened with Elton's team but he really dropped the ball. Today's Top Hits should've been a guarantee, even Selena's remix landed in there. I could see NMF because maybe Khaled secured the cover before Elton/his team could, but it still shouldn't be #4.
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Koochie
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Post by Koochie on Aug 26, 2022 8:25:53 GMT -5
Yeah I uh… How did they somehow make the mix worse than in the demo? The layering was perfect there, no idea why they went out of their way to f**k over Britney’s vocals here. They didn’t even remove the awkward chain on her vocals in the first chorus either but somehow didn’t chain Elton’s? Who the f**k produced this lmao How did they f**k over her vocals though? They’re polished to be more clear and fluid, but they’re too quiet. Britney’s little nuances get lost now that her vocals are competing with Elton’s. For whatever reason they cranked the mid up on his and lowered the volume on Britney’s altogether—they sound like they’re fighting over the mic. Before, his vocals were tucked neatly behind hers and it sounded way more polished, but everything else about the song didn’t. It’s like they fixed one thing only to fuck up another lmao.
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Az Paynter
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Post by Az Paynter on Aug 26, 2022 8:27:12 GMT -5
Are you listening on headphones? 'Cause admittedly I was listening through desktop speakers but Britney did NOT sound buried to me like... at all.
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thezatch
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Post by thezatch on Aug 26, 2022 8:29:46 GMT -5
NOT Duffy!! I haven't heard that name in at least a decade. omg.
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