Take Me As I Am Or Not

Miley Cyrus featuring Future “My Darlin'”

I was trying to figure out what it is about this song’s strangely shifting, asymmetrical arrangement that makes it feel so much more sad than it might if it was played straight, and I realized that it’s because it feels like half of it is missing, and it’s a song about feeling like you can’t survive without a person you are convinced completes you. The music sounds like it’s broken, the Future sounds like he’s part malfunctioning robot, part fading memory. Miley’s voice is strong and strident – if you have any doubts about her actual talent, this song should set you straight. Her phrasing at the climax, when she’s singing “I can’t breathe without you, without you as mine” really hits me in the gut.

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