The Paloma Faith Rate | WINNER & Album Stats

Only Love Can Hurt Like This



(From: A Perfect Contradiction)

Average: 9.7

High Scorers:

11 x 2 (@Sprockrooster, @bonnieetclyde)

10 x 6 (@BubblegumBoy, @Disco Tears, @saviodxl, @Maki, @Markus1981, @Untouchable Ace, @tylerc904)

Low Scorers: 6 x 1 (@Phonetics Girl)

‘Only Love Can Hurt Like This’ was written by Diane Warren and Keith Uddin. The track was produced by AC Burrell and Kyle Townsend. Keith is an English songwriter and producer, he has worked with artists such as The Cure, No Doubt and Leona Lewis. Diane, who we have met throughout this rate, has written many huge hits such as ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ and ‘How Do I Live’.

Initially Paloma refused to record the song as she didn’t have a writing credit on it. After hearing it she connected with the lyrics and how she was feeling at the time. The track was released as the second single from ‘A Perfect Contradiction’ in May 2014. The song reached #6 in the UK charts as well as #1 in Australia. It’s music video was directed by Paul Gore. The most notable performance of the song was of course at the 2015 BRIT awards.

My Thoughts: (10) A well deserved winner and probably something I should have foreseen. This was a huge moment for Paloma and really put her on the map. It really does outshine every other song on the album dd.

Commentary:

@saviodxl (10) The performance at the BRITs gives me the chills!

@bonnieetclyde (11) My least favourite Paloma album housing my most favourite Paloma track. She did THAT.

 

Monster



(From: Infinite Things)

Average: 9.5

High Scorers:

11 x 1 (@Untouchable Ace)

10 x 3 (@BubblegumBoy, @Disco Tears, @Markus1981)

Low Scorers: 8.5 x 1 (@saviodxl)

‘Monster’ was written by Paloma with MNEK and Starsmith. Paloma had previously worked on a number of songs on ‘The Architect’ with producer Starsmith. MNEK is a British singer, songwriter and producer. He has worked a number of PJ favourites such as Zara Larsson, Dua Lipa and Madonna.

The song was released as the third single from ‘Infinite Things’ in May 2021. It did not chart in the UK. The accompanying music video was directed by Yousef.

Talking about the track, Paloma said:

"This track is about my relationship with the music industry and my career as a whole. At the beginning lots of people were asking me to do things I didn’t necessarily want to do. I also didn’t used to care about money, only art. The industry changed me. It was this tug of war and now I'm at a stage of my career where I feel it might be the end. There's this weird sense of feeling that women in the industry have a shelf life. With the video for Monster myself and Yousef wanted to reflect how society in general treats women whether it's physically or mentally. The male figure in this video decides and discards his pound of flesh”

My Thoughts: (10) This was a strong 11 contender for me. A solid dark bop and ear worm. Deserved to be a smash hit.

Commentary:

@Disco Tears (10) I wish Paloma was in the video for this, it'd make it more replayable for me.

@Maki (9.5) Whew, a bop. That chorus! Definitely my favourite song from this album. The only deduction here is because of the production being a tiny bit too reserved during that amazing chorus.

 

Whew, that was fast uh?

A predictable, but well deserved winner. Only Love was her momentum and she owned it! And thinking she almost did not record it, sigh!

Thanks for the rate @BubblegumBoy! A good addition to the Winner's hall of fame

 

I thought Monster was going long ago with the reception it received in the thread, but it truly is undeniable.

Well done to Only Love... not many ballads should win rates but this one is the one.

Thanks so much @BubblegumBoy, I hope we were enough too.

 

This would've been my 11 so I'm glad it won.

 

Thanks so much for running this @BubblegumBoy! I loved reflecting at Paloma's output, even though I'm clearly at odds with the general consensus ddd

 

Yay! "Only Love Can Hurt Like This" is a classic and definitely a worthy winner. It was among my three 11-contenders, so it's very pleasing to see it win. Don't know how I forgot to add commentary for it, though.

Thank you for hosting, @BubblegumBoy! You did such a great job at spotlighting the discography of an artist I thought was never even going to a have a rate here.

 

"Monster" doing so well... I guess?! These results were so strange nn but congrats @BubblegumBoy on your first hosting gig, it went swimmingly x

 

I'm back with the album stats (as promised) to wrap up the rate:

Album Stats



A Perfect Contradiction



Average: 7.5
Highest Average: 8 (@BubblegumBoy and @Disco Tears)
Lowest Average: 6.7 (@Untouchable Ace)
Most 10s: Only Love Can Hurt Like This (7)
Lowest score: 4 – Take Me, The Bigger You Love (The Hard You Fall)




Fall to Grace



Average: 7.7
Highest Average 8.4 (@Markus1981)
Lowest Average 6.8 (@Sprockrooster)
Most 10s: Picking Up The Pieces (4)
Lowest score: 2 – Let Me Down Easy




Infinite Things



Average: 7.8
Highest Average 9 (@Untouchable Ace)
Lowest Average 6.6 (@Phonetics Girl)
Most 10s: Supernatural, Monster, Gold (3)
Lowest score: 4 – I’d Die For You



The Architect



Average: 7.91
Highest Average 9 (@Disco Tears)
Lowest Average 7.4 (@soratami and @tylerc904)
Most 10s: Crybaby (5)
Lowest score: 3 – Price of Fame, Lullaby




Do You Want The Truth or Something Beautiful?



Average: 7.96
Highest Average 9.1 (@Phonetics Girl)
Lowest Average 6.5 (@Markus1981)
10s: Upside Down (6)
Lowest score: 3 – Broken Doll, Press Lightly, I Just Wait

On that note, I'd like to say a big thank you to @Cutlery for their beautiful graphics and to @Maki for their help with running the Watch2Gethers and helping me put the song list together. And of course, a big thank you to everyone who voted!

I hope to see you all #soon in my next rate in the near future!​

 

I'm so happy I finally got to delve a little deeper into her discography while following along here, so thank you @BubblegumBoy!

Only Love Can Hurt Like This would have gotten a 10 from me, so I'm happy it won. Fantastic top 15 though!

 

Only Love Can Hurt Like This is an absolutely worthy winner, so well done. And you were brilliant @BubblegumBoy!

 

This is cool but unexpected.