Anne Chafer reviews the pop superstar collaboration ‘Don’t Call Me Angel’
Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Lana Del Rey: the expectations were high. Charlie’s Angels, originally a late seventies television show, has been adapted a few times since. One of the most well known iterations of the detective story is the 2000 film starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu, which spawned a sequel, but the latest revival is coming out very soon, and it is a continuation of these two films.
Charlie’s Angels is a beloved film series, and we will have to see whether the 2019 third installment is satisfying or disappointing, but one thing is for sure: if it is anything like its promotional single, we won’t be happy.
Don’t Call Me Angel sounds, at best, like a throwaway song on a generic 2019 pop album
It seems strange that an explosive combination such as Cyrus, Grande and Del Rey could have gone wrong, and yet the result of their collaboration is exactly that – a failed attempt. The song is clearly centred on Ariana Grande, with an upbeat tempo that suits her but does a disservice to Miley and Lana. As always, we can hear her vocal prowess, but the song doesn’t even show Grande at her best. The distribution of lines is awkward and badly organised: Grande gets most of the verses and the choruses, but Miley Cyrus sounds rushed and her part comes in too late in the song. Finally, Lana Del Rey’s bridge, though beautiful on its own, comes as an afterthought and is so out of place sonically that it could easily have been cut out.
Most importantly, though, the song is not cinematic enough. Charlie’s Angels is more lighthearted than, say, a James Bond film, but it could do with the grandiosity that the 007 theme songs tend to have. Don’t Call Me Angel sounds, at best, like a throwaway song on a generic 2019 pop album, and it is almost impossible to believe given the creative talents and ability to craft well-written songs all three singers have. For such an ambitious collaboration, this single should have been way better than it is.
