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"You Ruin Me"
Song

"You Ruin Me" is a song by Australian pop duo The Veronicas from their self-titled third studio album. Produced by DNA, the recording is the lead single from the album and their first musical release since "Lolita" in 2012. The track, which was released on 19 September 2014, was co-written by Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci along with The Veronicas' twins Lisa Origliasso and Jessica Origliasso.

Background

In 2012, The Veronicas released the song "Lolita" as the lead single from Life on Mars, the title of what was meant to be their third studio album. The recording was a moderate success, peaking at number twenty-three on the ARIA Charts and achieving a gold certification.[1][2] Life on Mars was scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2012, however their record label Warner Music pushed the date back, and by October 2013 the album was mysteriously shelved.[3][4]

Having been barred from releasing an album since 2007 the duo had enough. When they were shortlisted for the Oz Artist of the Year Awards the duo chose to vent their frustrations on their official Facebook page with a message that said: "Despite our record label not allowing us to release music this year, we are still nominated in the top 50 for "Oz artist of the year" awards!.[5] They concluded the post with, "HELP US shove it in their faces, and please VOTE at the link below!!"[5] Lisa and Jessica eventually hired a lawyer in a bid to get out of their contractual obligations with the label and were successful, so by 2013 The Veronicas became an independent act.[6] Releasing a statement which described the struggles experienced with Warner, they said, "After 5 years of being in a ‘Warner Brothers Records Lockdown’, we are officially able to move forward RELEASING and Recording music without our past label dictating our creative journey, or withholding our musical releases + touring."[7] By April 2014, The Veronicas had signed with Sony Music and continued working on their third studio album.[8]

Recording and composition

The Veronicas had finished work on their third album in July 2014 and were in the process of filming a music video for another track when they decided to have a late night songwriting session.[9] Wanting to create one more song for the record, they got together with Sydney based production duo Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci of DNA and finished the track at 1:30am.[9] The recording session resulted in the song "You Ruin Me", which was inspired by ex-boyfriends and the dramas they experienced with their former record label.[9] Having not released a ballad before, the duo wanted to release something unexpected. Speaking to Kathy McCabe of The Courier-Mail, Jessica Origliasso said: "We are in such a great place now as far as being artists and being comfortable as women and this song was the last piece of the puzzle to say goodbye to the broken parts of ourselves."[9] "You Ruin Me" was recorded at Sony Studios in Sydney, New South Wales with David Pritchard-Blunt playing the piano. Mixing was done by Egizii, and engineered by Louise Wheatley and Peter Holz.

"You Ruin Me" is a slow-tempo power ballad.[10] The track is written in the key of F major, with Jessica and Lisa's vocals spanning from G3 - B♭4.[11] The recording features "minimalist"[12] instrumentation of piano and sweeping strings, an arrangement which Tim Byron of The Vine said was reminiscent of "Someone Like You" by Adele.[10] Lisa sings most of the song, with Jessica singing the bridge and backing vocals during the last chorus.[13] It begins with the line, "Job well done, standing ovation. You got what you wanted, I guess you won."[14] Following the first verse, Lisa sings the chorus with, "[cause you] play me like a symphony, play me til your fingers bleed, I'm your greatest masterpiece - You ruin me."[10]

Release and reception

On 5 September 2014, the duo teased the release of "You Ruin Me" with a 50-second video clip of the twins wearing white and pink tutus, and performing a series of ballet inspired poses beneath a tunnel in Downtown Los Angeles.[15] The song was sent to mainstream radio on 11 September 2014[16] and was released digitally and physically on 19 September 2014.[17][12] The CD single contained a remix of the song by Josh Katz.[12]

Critical response

"You Ruin Me" received mixed reviews from critics who praised the recording for its raw honesty, but criticised DNA Songs "generic" production of the song. Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun opined that "the raw, palpable honesty in 'You Ruin Me' reminds you the Origliasso twins have that rare ability to connect."[18] A reviewer from mX called the song "immaculate". They suggested that the rest of The Veronicas should have been in the same vein as this "You Ruin Me", along with other album tracks "Line of Fire" and "Let Me Out".[19] In his review of "You Ruin Me" James d'Apice of TheMusic described it as "a clumsy, melodramatic Enrique Iglesias tribute."[20] The Vine's Tim Byron gave a lengthy review of the recording, and criticised DNA Songs production saying, "'You Ruin Me' sounds little like the radio-friendly plastic blandness of DNA Songs' previous chart toppers." Concluding his critique he said "... I listen to the song and long for it to do something clever or risky. For the person listening to pop music in the hope of hearing something interesting, there's not much here. It's slightly too obvious to my ears that 'You Ruin Me' is just bits and pieces of other people's songs put together in a new order... Of course, I've more or less said the same thing about every DNA Songs production..."[10] In an almost similar opinion, a critic from auspOp considered "You Ruin Me" to be "the least generic song Sydney production duo DNA has produced in a while." However, the track was named "one of the best ballads of the year" and was picked, along with "Cruel" and "Cold", as one of the top songs to download from the album.[21]

Commercial performance

In Oceania, "You Ruin Me" debuted atop the Australian Singles Chart, becoming The Veronicas' second number-one hit in Australia since "Hook Me Up" in 2007.[22] The recording replaced Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass", which spent four weeks at the apex of the chart.[22] The recording is the third to debut at the top of the chart in 2014, and The Veronicas are the fourth Australian act to gain a number-one for the year.[22] The CD single contributed to the song's success, with over 2000 sales in its first week, out-selling the 200 copies of Trainor's EP Title.[22] "You Ruin Me" was certified triple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments exceeding 210,000 copies.[23] In New Zealand, "You Ruin Me" debuted at number 23 on the New Zealand Singles Chart and has since peaked at number 16.[24] In Europe, "You Ruin Me" debuted at number-eight on the UK Singles Chart on 22 November where it peaked.[25] The song is their second UK top ten hit, their first being "Untouched" which also peaked at number-eight in 2009.[26] It also peaked at number ten in Scotland and 93 in Ireland.

Accolades

In his list of best songs of 2014, Cameron Adams of news.com.au placed "You Ruin Me" at number five commenting that, "sometimes the best songs are the most unexpected."[27] Australian media monitor AirCheck listed the recording as the 97th most played track on Australian radio with a total of 5793 spins.[28] The music video ranked at number 23 on rage's Best Videos of 2014 countdown.[29] The track received a nomination for Music Video of the Year at the 6th annual Australian Rolling Stone Awards.[30] "You Ruin Me" received a nomination for Song of the Year at the 2015 APRA Awards.[31] At the ARIA Music Awards of 2015 the recording received nominations for "Song of the Year and Best Video, winning the latter.[32][33]

Music video

The music video for "You Ruin Me" was filmed in Sydney and Los Angeles during September 2014 and published on VEVO on 18 September.[34][35] Directed by Matt Sharp and Tapehead, the visuals are inspired by Darren Aronofsky's 2010 film Black Swan.[36] Speaking of the concept to Stephanie Anderson of BuzzFeed, Jessica Origliasso explains that it was her idea to have a ballet inspired video saying, "I was listening to it, like a total dork, on the plane, we’d literally just recorded it, so I only had a voice note of the playback, and I took the earphones out and I was like 'Lis! I’ve got the concept for the video!' And it was the ballet thing."[37] The scenes that were shot in Sydney took place at the State Theatre and Bangarra Dance Theatre.[34]

Live performances

In Australia, The Veronicas performed "You Ruin Me" on live television for the first time on The X Factor (Australia) on 29 September 2014 during the live elimination show.[38] Dressed in outfits similar to the music video, Lisa was stationed in the centre of the stage, Jessica was positioned to the right playing the piano, and an orchestra played in the background. Lisa stood on her own for most of the song until the bridge when Jessica left the piano and stood beside her in the centre.[39] Additionally, the track was sung live on the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars,[40] as well as breakfast television programs Sunrise[41] and Today.[42] The duo sang "You Ruin Me" on radio for the first time for Today Network's World Famous Rooftop on 30 October.[43][44] They also performed the track when they made an appearance on Nova 100's Red Room in Melbourne.[45] While promoting the song in New Zealand in 2014, The Veronicas played an acoustic version of "You Ruin Me" on ZM and The Edge.[46][47]

Cover versions

Australian band Little Sea covered "You Ruin Me" when they appeared on Sydney radian station 2Day FM on 30 October 2014. Unlike the original minimalist performance by The Veronicas, Little Sea's cover was accompanied by guitars and drums.[48]

Track listing

Digital download[17]
  1. "You Ruin Me" – 3:50
CD single[12]
  1. "You Ruin Me" – 3:53
  2. "You Ruin Me" (Josh Katz remix) – 3:15

Charts and certifications

Release history

Country Date Format Label
Australia[17][16][12] 11 September 2014 Contemporary hit radio Sony
19 September 2014
United Kingdom[56][57] 9 November 2014 Digital download RCA
United States[58] 23 February 2015 Hot adult contemporary

See also

References

  1. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2012 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  2. ^ Medien, Steffen. "The Veronicas - 'Lolita' (song)". Australian Charts Portal. (Hung Medien). Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  3. ^ Moran, Jonathan (2 September 2012). "Veronicas Lisa and Jess rocket to new heights". Herald Sun. The Herald and Weekly Times (News Corporation). Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  4. ^ Adams, Cameron (8 October 2013). "The Veronicas slam record company on Facebook". News.com.au (News Corp Australia). Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  5. ^ a b Moran, Jonathon (7 November 2013). "The Veronicas go solo after war with US label". The Daily Telegraph. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  6. ^ Savage, Mark (17 November 2014). "The Veronicas' triumphant return from pop purgatory". BBC News (British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)). Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  7. ^ Lansky, Sam (8 November 2013). "The Veronicas Split From Label, Prep Independent Release For February 2014". Idolator. Spin Media. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  8. ^ Moran, Jonathon (28 April 2014). "The Veronicas Sign Global Deal With Sony Music, New Album Coming". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  9. ^ a b c d McCabe, Kathy (4 September 2014). "The Veronicas reveal they came to blows over risky comeback single You Ruin Me". The Courier-Mail. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  10. ^ a b c d Byron, Tim (1 October 2014). "Number Ones: The Veronicas 'You Ruin Me'". The Vine. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  11. ^ "Digital sheet music – The Veronicas – 'You Ruin Me'". Musicnotes.com. Alfred Publishing. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  12. ^ a b c d e "The Veronicas CD Single You Ruin Me". Sanity. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  13. ^ Chandra, Jessica (19 October 2014). "The Veronicas Get Emotional About Their "Consistent" Fans". PopSugar. PopSugar (Australia) (POPSUGAR Inc.). Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  14. ^ Wass, Mike (10 September 2014). "The Veronicas Return With Ballad "You Ruin Me": Listen To The Radio Premiere". Idolator. Spin Media. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  15. ^ Kilby, Penelope (5 September 2014). "Twinning in tutus! The Veronicas are beautiful ballerinas in LA's underground as they tease comeback single You Ruin Me". Daily Mail (Australia). Ninemsn Pty Ltd. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  16. ^ a b "Holy shit....The Veronicas". Radio Today. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  17. ^ a b c "'You Ruin Me' – Single by The Veronicas". iTunes Store (AU) (Apple, Inc.). Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  18. ^ Adams, Cameron (20 November 2014). "Best albums of the week: The Veronicas, Guy Sebastian and more". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  19. ^ "mX CD review: The Veronicas". mX. News Corp Australia. 6 December 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  20. ^ d'Apice, James (20 November 2014). "The Veronicas - The Veronicas - Music review". theMusic.com.au (Street Press Australia Pty Ltd). Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  21. ^ "ALBUM REVIEW : The Veronicas - The Veronicas". auspOp. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  22. ^ a b c d Ryan, Gavin (27 September 2014). "The Veronicas Become Second Brisbane Act of '14 Top ARIA Singles". Noise11. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  23. ^ a b "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2014 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  24. ^ a b "The Veronicas – You Ruin Me". Top 40 Singles.
  25. ^ "Gareth Malone's All Star Choir storm to Number 1". Official Charts Company (OCC). 16 November 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  26. ^ "Will The Veronicas 'You Ruin Me' get to #1 in the UK?". Take 40 Australia. Authentic Entertainment. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014. {{cite web}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |work= at position 1 (help)
  27. ^ Adams, Cameron (23 December 2014). "It was all about Paolo Nutini, Mark Ronson and Taylor Swift in the list of 2014's best songs". News.com.au (News Limited). Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  28. ^ "The Most Played Song in Australia for 2014". Radio Today. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  29. ^ "Sia, Chet Faker Lead Rage's Best Videos Of 2014 Countdown". theMusic.com.au (Street Press Australia Pty Ltd). 30 December 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  30. ^ "Nominees Announced for the 6th Annual Rolling Stone Awards". Rolling Stone Australia. 28 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  31. ^ Brandle, Lars (26 February 2015). "Sheppard, Sia, 5 Seconds Of Summer Top APRA Awards Nominations". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  32. ^ Baroni, Nastassia (7 October 2015). "Courtney Barnett, Hermitude, Tame Impala Lead 2015 ARIA Award Nominations". musicfeeds.com.au. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  33. ^ "And the ARIA Awards Goes to..." Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). 27 November 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  34. ^ a b Sams, Christine (10 October 2014). "That's a wrap: The Veronicas finish filming new music video in Sydney". The Daily Telegraph. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  35. ^ Wass, Mike (18 September 2014). "The Veronicas Get It Just Right With Their Epic "You Ruin Me" Video: Watch The Twisted Ballet Drama". Idolator. Spin Media. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  36. ^ Brandle, Lars (19 September 2014). "The Veronicas Return With Twisted Ballet Video for 'You Ruin Me': Watch". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  37. ^ Anderson, Stephanie (24 September 2014). "The Veronicas Tell Us Where The Hell They've Been Since 2009". BuzzFeed Inc. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  38. ^ "Jason is eliminated – X Factor Recap". Take 40 Australia. Authentic Entertainment. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014. {{cite web}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |work= at position 1 (help)
  39. ^ Stern, Bradley (29 September 2014). "The Veronicas Perform "You Ruin Me" on 'X Factor Australia': Watch". Idolator. Spin Media. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  40. ^ Gracie, Bianca (30 October 2014). "The Veronicas Perform "You Ruin Me" On 'Dancing With The Stars Australia': Watch". Idolator. Spin Media. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  41. ^ "The Veronicas live on Sunrise". Sunrise. Yahoo!7. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2014. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  42. ^ "The Veronicas Perform "You Ruin Me" On 'Dancing With The Stars Australia': Watch". Daily Mail. Ninemsn (Mi9). Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  43. ^ "The Veronicas Live On The World Famous Rooftop". Hot FM (Southern Cross Austereo). 30 October 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  44. ^ "World Famous Rooftop - The Veronicas Lve!". Southern Cross Austereo. Archived from the original on 22 November 2014.
  45. ^ "The Veronicas 'You Ruin Me' in Nova's Red Room". NOVA Entertainment. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  46. ^ "The Veronicas - You Ruin Me (Live For iHeartRadio)". ZM (The Radio Network). Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  47. ^ "The Veronicas live performance of 'You Ruin Me'". The Edge (MediaWorks New Zealand). 2 December 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  48. ^ "Little Sea Cover The Veronicas' You Ruin Me". 2Day FM (Southern Cross Austereo). 30 October 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  49. ^ "The Veronicas – You Ruin Me". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  50. ^ "The Veronicas – You Ruin Me" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved January 02, 2015.
  51. ^ "Chart Track: Week 47, 2014". Irish Singles Chart.
  52. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  53. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  54. ^ "The Veronicas Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard.
  55. ^ "End of Year Charts – ARIA Top 100 Singles 2014". ARIA Charts. Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 4 February 2015. {{cite web}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |work= at position 1 (help)
  56. ^ McGrane, Danielle (10 November 2014). "The Veronicas sisters score UK smash after three years of record company hell". The Daily Telegraph. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  57. ^ "'You Ruin Me' by The Veronicas". HMV (Hilco). Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  58. ^ "Hot/Modern/AC Future Releases". All Access Music Group. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015.
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