´óÏó´«Ã½

(, which seems to be set in a Mariah Carey version of Glastonbury.)

Anyway, the single: it begins as a breathy, earnest ballad led by piano and a drum loop, with Jordin musing about a difficult relationship ("one word turns into a war/why is it the smallest things that tear us down?") and then just when you think you've got the measure of it, the chorus kicks in in a BMM-BMM-TISCH sort of way and everything gets much louder and pleading./

Then again, just when you think you've got the measure of it, it does ANOTHER switcharoo on you and turns into some kind of battle charge with Jordin bellowing "why does love always feel like a BATTLEFIELD? A BATTLEFIELD? A BATTLEFIELD?" in a way that compels you to punch your arm in the air as though you're lining up ready to storm the Houses of Parliament to demand that they table a new law to outlaw love ever having to be like a battlefield, or something.

So far, so awesome. Surely it can't get better than that? Oh, but it does: we repeat the above pattern for the second verse and chorus, the effect of which is lessened a little bit now that we all know what's coming, but then just when we think we've figured it all out (again), all of the backing crashes out and Jordin informs us that "you'd better go and get your armour" and then the bells come crashing in and you half expect a tank to come crashing through the wall, it's that brilliant.

Clearly this song takes the expectations brought on by the title 'Battlefield' very seriously.

Essentially it's about four different songs all mashed together and jostling for space, but the only thing that's stopping this from being a five star song is that after the initial novelty wore off, I tended to find myself mentally hurrying the song along for the first two minutes because I wanted it to get to the "better go and get your armour" bit, which remains amazing.

If the rest of the track was up to that standard, I'd probably be asking Fraser if he could make a seven-star graphic for me to give this song. Not that the rest of it isn't good, because it is, but it's just not amazing, and if you can be amazing for about a minute's worth of song, I don't see why you can't be equally amazing for the other three. Possibly a bit harsh, but frankly it's the only way she'll learn.

Download: Out now
CD Released: June 29th

´óÏó´«Ã½ Music page

(Steve Perkins)

"It still sounds somewhat odd to these ears, like her voice has been dosed with a double shot of Splenda because that was the only way it could match up to the bombast surrounding her."
"You wouldn't expect a songwriter to give Jordin a better song than they gave Beyoncé, but it seems to have happened!"