Sienna Spiro – Die On this Hill

I think I’m gonna die on this… HILL [BRRRRRRR]

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[4.12]Claire Davidson: “Die on This Hill” is basically your standard pop piano ballad, so familiar in presentation that I had a hard time not recalling the sweeping vocal runs of Demi Lovato’s “Stone Cold” while listening to it. (I guess it really is 2016 again.) Say what you will about Lovato’s theatrics — if nothing else, she could belt with real clarity. Sienna Spiro, on the other hand, is a 20-year-old graduate of the TikTok school for viral vocal gymnastics, resulting in a performance marred by sloppy enunciation and overripe phrasing, a death knell for fostering the kind of intimacy needed for such starkly emotional material. All of this grandstanding comes in service of a truly ludicrous premise, too, where Spiro makes it clear that she’s willing to hold down the fort in a relationship for… what, exactly? Given how poorly she describes her lover’s treatment of her, there’s little reason to stay in this partnership other than sheer petulance, a quandary made all the more frustrating by the level of vagueness present in the lyrics. Even the slightest hint of enticing toxicity could’ve at least made this track morbidly compelling — indeed, given the mess of Spiro’s performance, that approach would’ve likely been more appropriate.
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Nortey Dowuona: – “I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t really like the taste. When I was single, it was quite embarrassing asking a beautiful girl out and asking for black currant juice.” ”
– I’ll take my pride, stand here for you/no i’m not blind, I’m just seeing it through.”
Embarrassment is the family’s true business then? Good.
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Julian Axelrod: “A lover of jazz and hip hop, she’s name-checked influences like Amy Winehouse, Frank Sinatra and RAYE” — you don’t say!
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Will Adams: That chromatically descending minor progression arrives in the bridge right on cue, just when you think things can’t get more maudlin.
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Andrew Karpan: You’re telling me Michael Pollack wrote “Flowers” and lots of other superficially personal, pleading pop ballads, mostly lost amid B-tier lesser hits from the likes of B-era Maroon 5 and Katy Perry, and even, objectively, Cyrus too? Spiro certainly sounds talented beyond this way this novelty wish-something-mattered workout gives her room to work.
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Al Varela: I wasn’t sure how to take this song at first. It’s a song about refusing to budge from a relationship where your partner has clearly stopped trying and caring about you, but you want to see it through so badly that you stand your ground and keep the relationship alive. Even as Sienna is very conscious of the way she’s being mistreated and neglected, she’s dedicated to being there for him. That sounds like a terrible idea! There’s no mention of this relationship previously being healthy, no mention of the person this guy used to be. Without any real motive or emotional connection, I cannot buy into these big swelling strings and empowering piano chords because I don’t hear what fight is being won. All I hear is someone stubbornly sticking to someone who isn’t good for her and refusing to find someone who would actually care about her and be there for her. Or even be there for herself! Everything is in service of a guy who, in her own words, fucking sucks! Stubborn love doesn’t have to be toxic or problematic. You can easily make something where staying and being there for someone who pushes you away could be the bravest and strongest thing you can do for someone. But there has to be a reason why you’re so stubborn. It can’t just be for the sake of love when there’s no love to be had. It’s not even compelling toxic drama, it’s just a big load of nothing.
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Katherine St. Asaph: Slop. I don’t just mean the overwrought, interminably dragging piano balladry; Spiro applies her voice to her words the way you’d ladle liquid slop. Forgettable like a plant that dies on the sill.
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Alfred Soto: I don’t detest cheap sentiment when the sentiment has gusto.
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