Music Review: Fly on the wall

When it comes to Miley Cyrus (and Hannah Montana) ’s music, people tend to either love her or hate her. There’s rarely any middle. I was one of the ones who didn’t like her music. However, around the time of the Disney Channel Games, I did see a clip of her singing Fly on the Wall and for the time I fell in love with one of her songs.

Why?

It showed off her:

• Vocal maturity – the ability to adapt a voice to feelings, without going overboard
• Vocal strength – the ability to support the low and high extremes of a song just as well as the middle extremes
• Experimental Interest – This is a very different song for her. It may be a pop song, but there are so many reminiscence of early 90’s rock. The vocal range she chose is also deeper and darker than most of her other songs.

However, that was a review of her short live performance.  That would mean that if I ever went to a Miley Cyrus concert I would be able to look forward to a great Fly on The Wall, but how does it compare with the official album version? So yesterday, while I was browsing Amazon to see what songs I could buy with my Pepsi points, I remembered how much I liked the performance video and I decided I’d get the official version.

But unfortunately the album version of Fly on the Wall is extremely disappointing and childish.

How could a song be so different?

Well it starts off the same, but the refrain is absolutely, completely butchered. The effects on her voice while she is singing at that time are

1. unnecessary. She does not need to make her voice sound like that of a “fly” to captivate an audience and
2. horrible. The very beauty of the song is the clean maturity of her voice – having her sound like 3 little kids singing at once just breaks the awe and
3. the extra effects added to the men who actually say Fly on the wall also slightly break the mood, but not as much as the effects on her voice.

What else is worse in the album version?

• The Bridge (The section that starts with “a little communication” and ends with “too much she say he say”) There’s not that much oompf during the bridge, which was actually a selling point in the performance version because, while the verses are where she showed off her vocal maturity, the bridge is where she showed off her vocal strength and the control of that strength. Unfortunately in the album version there is not that much strength and it totally renders the bridge to an almost bland state.
• The End. The ending of the performance video went “don’t you wish that you could be a fly on the wall” one last time (without the whole refrain) just after she went “don’t cha”. This was a very abrupt ending that left me actually wanting for more. This teasing effect had the same attitude as the song and made it a perfect ending. Unfortunately after the “Don’t cha” sections of the album version, she goes into a regular refrain. This gives a cookie-cutter ending to a song that has so much potential.

The Verdict:
The Album version starts off well but just sinks once you get to the first refrain. If I hadn’t heard the performance version, I would probably have thought the entire song was lame without giving it hope. I absolutely regret purchasing this version. However if they were ever to re-release the song without the effects on her voice, and without restraining her voice on the bridge, and by taking off that mainstream ending, I’d seriously consider buying the song again because that would be a kick-ass song.

I now realize that she does have a great voice and could be a great singer – if she just had better songwriters and song producers.

Miley Cyrus – Fly On The Wall(Official Full Disney Channel Games Performance)

Squimpleton Revival

After a few weeks of inactivity, I’ve decided I should revive my blog .I know, I know..”when was it ever alive?”. This wasn’t exactly a well-known blog. However this time I’ll take better care of my blog. After all, it is my diary.

So what will I be writing about?

• My Squidoo profile
• My new Zazzle Store, Squimpleton & Friends
• The cast and production of Squimpleton & Friends
• My eCrater stores
• Anything I want…..