Song Review - Blog Posts

Equestria Girls: Better Together Season 2 “Run to Break Free”

For the most part, I really enjoyed this music video. The story is fun and it captures Rainbow Dah’s character super well. Not much that we didn’t already know, but at the end of it we see her do a sonic rainboom!! This is amazing?? And if I’m not mistaken, it’s the first time we’ve seen her do this in Equestria Girls

I have a confession to make though. I didn’t like the song. The lyrics ring true, the melody is fun, but the production falls flat for me. When you look at other songs for Rainbow (such as Awesome as I Wanna Be, a personal fav) they are all more up-beat with heavier drums and stronger vocals. The way the song began made a lot of sense for the music video, because it was Rainbow reflecting on an environment that made her feel dull and bored. But after the switch to her running, I would have loved to see a more dramatic kick up to the song. But that’s just how I feel about it. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I absolutely LOVE the song "No Such Thing As A Hollywood Ending" from the 2018 movie "Anna And The Apocalypse"

It is an amazing beginning song as it fits with how the main characters, Anna and her best friend, are feeling. It fits with emotions and it gives little bits of insight as to the lives of random background characters. Any song can do this, but what makes this song special?

Warning, spoilers for this amazing Christmas musical under the cut. I recommend you watch the movie before reading all of this

First, it is called "No Such Thing As A Hollywood Ending" which hints to the fact that the film isn't going to play out how you would generally guess it to. This is then reinstated with the line "this is not the story you're dreaming of, the one where you get all you want, so stop your pretending, no such thing as a Hollywood ending" which then calls to the fact that many of the things you may want don't happen. The father isn't saved, the couple don't make it out alive, the grandma dies, the best friend is zombified.

Then there's John(the best friend)'s lines. He says that "the nice guys don't always get the girl" and he doesn't. He never gets to have that more solid relationship with Anna because he sacrifices himself for her, letting her live. He, the nice guy, doesn't survive and instead the bully does.

Then there's the lines of the couple. Christian and Lisa want a "love never ending" and Christian directly states "I'll never disappear" and these things ring true. They are both zombified in the end and are set to eternally linger in that room, occasionally bumping into one another. They are forever together in their undead state.

And then this all ties back to the very message of the song: "No Such Thing As A Hollywood Ending". No one gets what they want, it doesn't end how everyone expects. It's a comedy musical set during Christmas and so it would generally come to mind that there will be a happy ending where the main cast survives, but that doesn't happen. Only two of the original cast survive in the end, with Anna being the only one of the initial cast to survive. The bully and the butch are introduced later on, with the bully receiving even less of an introduction than the butch.

As the film progresses you want Christian to arrive to the musical number Lisa sings, you want Anna to get back to her father and survive, you want Anna and John to eventually get closer or maybe even get together.

But none of this happens.

"So stop your pretending, there's no such thing as a Hollywood ending"