Yay! I finally get to review this song!
"In this cruel children's game, there's no friend to call her name," draws me to this song time and again. I think Eva's either in a bad home situation and leaves in her imagination or she's dead. I'm kinda lost on this one.
At any rate, with the new singer Anette Olzon, Nightwish sounds very different now. No opera singer is Anette; she sounds much more similar to Sharon Den Adel of Within Temptation in her voice type than she does to Taarja Turunen, though her Swedish accent is a bit more pronounced. It's still a lovely voice that shows hints of being as "versatile" as Nightwish was seeking when it opened to tape submissions to find a new singer. Since the band picked Anette Olzon from over two thousand submissions, I'm betting she has some vocal tricks up her sleeve that will make their appearance in the current studio album.
Many old Nightwish fans are complaining about the change in sound, particularly with this Internet single, which is softer, like Evanescence's "My Immortal". (Other song samples on Nightwish's MySpace page shows that they are not changing overall with the classical-influenced heavy metal.)
But people who would flee their other music might like this softer single. "Eva" uses a few different instruments together to produce a softer ambiance of reminiscence, even with the electric guitar bridge and orchestra that comes in at the bridge. (I know, that sounds weird. It, like Nightwish in general, is hard to classify.)
I've already said these lyrics leave me clueless, likely because I know I don't understand some references, and other points of the song likely have double meanings that I'm missing. (What's Swanbrook?) At any rate, it's still a lovely song if you don't require a hard beat to like a song. But I don't see any reference to the moral ambiguity that kinda bothered me about the previous Nightwish songs I've reviewed.
Overall, it's a pretty song that's at least worth listening to if you liked one of "My Immortal"s versions. In fact, I'd call this better—the blending and choices of sound are all very suitable to the point that nothing sounds potentially out of place, even with the double layer on "escape" in "Time for one more daring dream before her escape, edenbeam." The "edenbeam" makes Eva's escape her blessed ray of light, of hope, and the music accents that.
It's hard to find something to legitimately not like about "Eva," and though it may not initially strike you as something amazing, you may, like me, find yourself drawn back to it time and again. (I specify "legitimately" because many hearers are complaining about it not being Taarja's Nightwish—well, duh.)
Music: 5/5
Vocal(s): 5/5
Overall: 10/10
I always thought it was about how people are effected when they are neglected or bullied, and how they just want to get away from it all...
ReplyDeleteHey, nothing wrong with that interpretation. A song can certainly have more than one.
ReplyDeleteAbout That Song… only claims to give one possible interpretation, unless the writer notes that the songwriter claims it as a meaning.
Thanks for offering that perspective!
I just found this song, go figure it was 6:30am and it's -30 outside and hey, that's my name! It's also my life over the past year or so.
ReplyDeleteYou can't possibly understand what the song means if you don't know what having ZERO friends is like. Absolutely no one to share a thought with because the people around you are cruel, heartless, stupid...
It would be easier if everyone were just GONE ('dream the world far away'), because being emotionally abused/neglected is worse than being physically alone.
'Endure the beasts for one kind word.'
The song is even more painful because the singer is telling the story from 3rd person. When you're that alone all you really want is someone/anyone to stand by you, if only for a moment, and here's Nightwish being your witness for that moment.
Wouldnt Swanbrooke be like a street or home? lol
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I've actually been in that position. I don't think about it, which might be why I didn't make that connection. Thanks. :)
ReplyDeleteAristides S, that's a good thought, but what is its connotations? Wealthy? Poor? Middle class? I have no idea.
Thanks for offering your input, both of you!
The more I think over this song, the more heartbreaking it becomes. When asked about this song, Tuomas said that Eva was a girl who is being mocked at school. The line in the song "time for one more daring dream" means that according to Tuomas, she is about to "do something terrible for herself" but she has time for one more dream.
ReplyDeleteWhat is this terrible thing? Is it suicide? Annette's voice lends the song an even more plaintive and heartbreaking quality.