Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......
Or maybe.....
It's #9
Ddddddd I'm sorry.
Permanent December was written by Miley, John Shanks and Claude Kelly and produced by John for Miley's third album Can't Be Tamed. If y'all don't know who these people are by now, then have you even bothered reading my write-ups? It's an electronic dance-pop mega-bop that I personally can never not dance too, and lyrically, it's about how much attention Miley gets from guys around the world. but she doesn't care cause she loves and misses her boyfriend, probably Liam. Let me start by saying this has never been one of my favorite songs on the album. I didn't even really like it that much when I first heard it. I think a large part of that is because of it's placement on the album. First of all, it sounds more like a Rock Mafia production then a John Shanks one, and it's electronic dance production clashes with the songs that come before and after it - both being more organically produced ballads. So I guess I just have a problem with the tracklist in general. I get that they probably wanted the Rock Mafia half together and the John Shanks half together, but I can't help feel like there's a better option there - though I love the lyrical flow, cause this coming a couple songs after the break-up in Two More Lonely People, and before the long distance struggle of Stay is kind of a moment. The song itself is a trashy, dance-y, auto-tuned as fuck electronic bop, and yes, I get my life to it. I was worried about getting sick of it while putting it on repeat, but it hasn't happened yet. It's just so much fun. The production is really great - John never disappoints. I especially love the guitar melodies throughout the song, especially during the bridge, where it becomes most prominent, and is the most obvious "John Shanks" moment. The drums really make me wanna tap my foot, while the electronics make me wanna dance my ass off. It's an amalgamation of sounds that come together to make something undeniable. I'd probably raise my score to at least a 9.25 now, maybe even a 9.5. I just...love how much fun it is. And the lyrics are really cute and funny, and even through the auto-tune, Miley is able to express the emotion of the chorus extremely well, to the point where when I was listening too closely and singing along, I felt like bursting into tears dddd. And Miley's Kesha-esque talk-singing manages to work really well, maybe cause it still manages to be really melodic and catchy, unlike most Kesha rip-offs. Honestly, this probably wouldn't have sounded too out of place on Animal, and that's always a good thing. That said, it's still my lowest score left, and it could've been out of the top 10 to make room for If We Were A Movie or Two More Lonely People. I'm not
too upset, because in general, it's still a great song and the top 10/12 for me is pretty flawless, but yeah. I wouldn't have been mad if it left a little sooner. Now, how about some stats info? If
@savilizabeths hadn't given this a 3, it would've bumped up to #8 and if
@iheartpoptarts hadn't given this an 11, it still would've been number #9, which I think is really interesting, cause it shows that averages aren't terribly close together anymore. And without both the 11 and the 3, it still would've been #9, which I think proves how well-liked the song is. One of the least divisive songs in the rate? Perhaps. The song was apparently left off the set-list for the Gypsy Heart Tour, and has never been performed live. Poor it. Critics were mixed on the song, with
AllMusic saying it "apes the Auto-Tuned rapping of Kesha's Tik Tok minus that song’s mindless fun". I'm sorry but if you're not having fun while listening to this, you need your ears checked.
Billboard said the song "sports a killer electro-disco bridge" which is true,
Entertainment Weekly said it "flaunts Cyrus in full-on Ke$ha mode, all Auto-Tune and talk-rap sass" and
The Village Voice says the song has "a part that makes good use of Miley’s freakishly mature sarcasm-voice" ddddd.
Now, it's that time to turn it over to you guys. Let's get
@savilizabeths (3) out of the way, since she knows her co-raters so well:
I bet some of you really love this but god, no! No no no no! Ddddd poor you. Everyone else is saying Yes! Yes yes yes yes! haha. Well, almost everyone.
@phily693 (7) found a shrinker:
This used to be one of my favourites but the auto-tune ruins it. The “Go go go” hook is brilliant. Auto-tune never really bothers me, not hen it's used like this. Then again, I'm a Britney and Kesha stan so...Also, yes. yes it is. Next, we have fellow John Shanks stans
@pop3blow2 (8.5) who makes a correct observation:
Is this a bit trash? Yes. Does it also go off a bit? Yes. This is a bit avant grade for a John Shanks track, too… if we’re just being honest. He has a particular style (which I tend to like) & stays in his comfort zone. This strays out of that a bit. Yeah, it's definitely like nothing I've heard from him before. Hell, Two More Lonely People sounds more like a John production then a Rock Mafia one. Maybe they wanted to give each other's styles a try or something. I think it worked really well though. Like
@phily693, a certain element of the song grated on
@M24 (8.8), but like me, this was grower for him:
Took me a while to get a liking for it. It has way too much auto-tune for me, but I admit it's a bop. Yes, it really is.
@Sprockrooster (9) simply says:
Iconic bop! Yeah, it definitely has that "Iconic in the eyes of the fans" status, though in different ways for some.
@Entropy (9) had some hearing issues as a teen:
A racket, but an enjoyable racket. I think this was my favourite for a long time when I first heard the album. Stupid 17 year old Sam used to think she was singing “it feel like a permanent December”, and I used to question her grammar for a long time until my friend told me it was “it’s been”. I guess the racket impaired my hearing. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. Iconic. 17-year old Sam and his friend are iconic.
@DJHazey (10) made a request and proceeded to stan:
Please do me a favor and censor out any comment about "too much auto-tune", "terrible vocals", "lyrics that could've been about a 6th grader's first crush", or trying to call anyone out for loving this masterpiece. No, they're all so wrong. I won't have it. It took me one nano-second to fall completely in love with everything about this and I proceeded to play it on repeat. I want to point out every little tiny piece of audio that makes my heart pound, but I'd be here all day. "Go-go-go, won't let you go, no" and the auto-tuned "wrooooong" are always the peak moments but literally every second has something 'oh so Hazey', it's not even funny. Dddd sorry, I don't censor comments unless they're like...actually harmful. Which has never happened to me so....but also I love how much you stan this. Finally,
@iheartpoptarts (11) points out a juxtaposition between title and sound that could deter some people:
That song you never listen to for the longest time because it seems like it’s about to be all sad and dark and ballad or something from the title and then you finally do one day like WHERE DID THIS BOP EVEN COME FROM. You did the same thing with The Time Of Our Lives dddd, maybe you shouldn't judge songs by their titles. But also, glad you love this so much, and finally listened to it.
MEGA-BOP:
MEGA-BOP fan-made video that's an amalgamation of scenes from the Wonder World Tour DVD:
Kesha's classic debut single:
And another mega bop that
@DJHazey shared with me literally as I was writing this so I just had to post it:
