SWAN SONG FROM MOTION PICTURE ALITA BATTLE ANGEL OUT JAN 25TH ⚔❤⚔❤ #Alita @alitamovie pic.twitter.com/Qbmx9Lgs9m
— DUA LIPA (@DUALIPA) January 3, 2019
Apart from the fact that Swan Song sounds about eight different types of brilliant, one of the best things about the world's shortest music documentary, above, which shows Dua Lipa recording her new single, is the bit where she suggests changing "diamonds, diamonds, breaking down" either to or from "diamonds, breaking, breaking down".
Clearly Dua's songwriting could be all over this song so let's not rush to judgement here but this feels like the nearest we as pop consumers might ever get to actual real-life footage of the "change a word, get a third" principle in action.
The whole idea of "change a word, get a third" sometimes feels a little dismissive. Even if just one word is changed, words have meaning! Words have power! The right word in the right place can increase a song's general amazingness by 12–19%.
As for whether "diamonds, diamonds, breaking down" is better or worse than "diamonds, breaking, breaking down", it's too early to say, but Swan Song's out in three weeks so the truth will out in due course.
In the meantime…