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Nov. 26th, 2021 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
between_time_and_42Okay, now that I've heard the original demos of the Annette songs, here are some thoughts:
-The instrumentation of the finished version of "We Love Each Other So Much" infinitely improves it, as well as... sorry... Marion Cotillard's voice instead of Rebecca Sjowall's. I'm sure this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but: I don't like Rebecca Sjowall's voice. At least her operatic voice. She sounded fine singing in a pop-y chest voice on "Is She Legitimate?" and it worked for me on "Life With the Macbeths" from Hippopotamus, but I liked it less when I saw a live recording of that song, and then on "We Love Each Other So Much..." I'm sorry, I just don't like her timbre when she's singing in her operatic style. Russell's singing on "We Love Each Other So Much" was pretty swoon-worthy though.
-"Worth Her Weight in Gold" is very good, but I see why it got cut as it massively peels back the curtain on Henry's character and motivations- it works far better as a piece on a concept album than in a film, since films can use visuals to tell a story instead of having a character explain their thoughts verbally. Probably one of the few songs that actually sounds like it could be in a Broadway musical- and even then, the melodic structure is pretty unconventional for the type of song it is, I just mean the storytelling in the lyrics sounds a little more typical than some of the other songs on Annette.
-Glad Ron changed some of the lyrics on "We Used to Laugh," as a few made me crack up unintentionally. Also Russell's turn as angry Henry didn't convince me as much as I'd have liked it to. But, still a great take on a great tune.
-"Is She Legitimate?" and "Upstaged" definitely would have detracted from the plot- "We're Traveling 'Round the World" works much better in displaying Annette's rise for fame. Still interesting to hear.
I'll get into more thoughts on the rest of the soundtrack later.
-The instrumentation of the finished version of "We Love Each Other So Much" infinitely improves it, as well as... sorry... Marion Cotillard's voice instead of Rebecca Sjowall's. I'm sure this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but: I don't like Rebecca Sjowall's voice. At least her operatic voice. She sounded fine singing in a pop-y chest voice on "Is She Legitimate?" and it worked for me on "Life With the Macbeths" from Hippopotamus, but I liked it less when I saw a live recording of that song, and then on "We Love Each Other So Much..." I'm sorry, I just don't like her timbre when she's singing in her operatic style. Russell's singing on "We Love Each Other So Much" was pretty swoon-worthy though.
-"Worth Her Weight in Gold" is very good, but I see why it got cut as it massively peels back the curtain on Henry's character and motivations- it works far better as a piece on a concept album than in a film, since films can use visuals to tell a story instead of having a character explain their thoughts verbally. Probably one of the few songs that actually sounds like it could be in a Broadway musical- and even then, the melodic structure is pretty unconventional for the type of song it is, I just mean the storytelling in the lyrics sounds a little more typical than some of the other songs on Annette.
-Glad Ron changed some of the lyrics on "We Used to Laugh," as a few made me crack up unintentionally. Also Russell's turn as angry Henry didn't convince me as much as I'd have liked it to. But, still a great take on a great tune.
-"Is She Legitimate?" and "Upstaged" definitely would have detracted from the plot- "We're Traveling 'Round the World" works much better in displaying Annette's rise for fame. Still interesting to hear.
I'll get into more thoughts on the rest of the soundtrack later.
