"Vulnerable" is a song by
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
pop music duo
Roxette
Roxette was a Swedish pop rock duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson (vocals and keyboards) and Per Gessle (vocals and guitar). Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act in the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough second a ...
, released as the fifth and final single from their fifth studio album ''
Crash! Boom! Bang!
''Crash! Boom! Bang!'' is the fifth studio album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released on 9 April 1994 by EMI. The album was an immediate commercial success, peaking within the top 10 in over 20 national charts throughout Europe, Australasia and ...
'', while simultaneously acting as the
lead single
A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date.
Release s ...
from the duo's 1995 compilation album ''
Rarities''.
"The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye" had previously been released as the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
on the duo's 1991 single "
Spending My Time
"Spending My Time" is a song by Swedish duo Roxette, released as the fourth single from their third studio album, '' Joyride'' (1991). It was written by Per Gessle and Mats Persson, and produced by Clarence Öfwerman. The single attained moderate ...
". Earlier that year, in April, it had been released as the lead single from
Thomas Anders
Bernd Weidung (born 1 March 1963), known by his stage name Thomas Anders, is a German singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the pop duo Modern Talking.
Starting his singing career while still in schoo ...
' (of
Modern Talking
Modern Talking was a German pop music duo consisting of arranger, songwriter and producer Dieter Bohlen and singer Thomas Anders. They have been referred to as Germany's most successful pop duo, and have had a number of hit singles, reaching th ...
fame) second solo album, ''
Whispers''.
Composition and style
The song was written by
Per Gessle
Per Håkan Gessle (; born 12 January 1959) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the Swedish pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was d ...
in December 1990, although it would not be recorded by the band until April 1993 at
Mayfair Studios
Mayfair Recording Studios, earlier called Spot Studios or Ryemuse Studios, was a recording studio in London, England, located in Mayfair from the 1960s to 1981, then in Primrose Hill from 1981 until it closed in 2008.
In the early years the studio ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. In the
liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes.
Origin
Liner notes are desce ...
of their 1995
greatest hits
A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...
compilation ''
Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!
''Don't Bore Us - Get to the Chorus! Roxette's Greatest Hits'' is the first greatest hits compilation album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released on 30 October 1995 by EMI. The record contains the duo's four number ones from the US ''Billboard' ...
'', Gessle indicated that the song was "written a week too late for the ''
Joyride'' album and it didn't really suit the ''
Tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
'' sessions, so we kept it in the drawer until we started the ''Crash!''-project in London."
According to
Ultimate Guitar
Ultimate Guitar (Ultimate Guitar USA LLC), which is also known as Ultimate-Guitar.com or simply UG, is an online platform for guitarists and musicians. Its website and mobile application provides guitar tablature catalogues and chord sheets. UG ...
, the track is an
alternative pop
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
, with a moderate tempo of 134
beats per minute
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery ( ...
. The
verse is composed of two repetitions of an E–
G♯m–A–F♯m–B sequence, with the final note amended to a
C♯ on the second repetition. The
chorus
Chorus may refer to:
Music
* Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse
* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound
* Chorus form, song in which all verse ...
consists of three repetitions of a F♯–F♯
maj7–B–C♯ sequence, followed by one shortened bar of F♯–C♯–F♯.
Critical reception
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
editor Bryan Buss described the song as "apathetic". ''
Music Week
''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future.
History
Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
'' gave it two out of five, noting that "
Per Gessle
Per Håkan Gessle (; born 12 January 1959) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the Swedish pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was d ...
takes over vocal dutied for the new
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
from the Swedish duo."
Commercial performance
"Vulnerable" became the second-biggest hit from the
parent album in the duo's native country, peaking at number twelve and spending almost three months on the
Swedish Singles Chart
Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish R ...
. Although
lead single
A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date.
Release s ...
"
Sleeping in My Car
"Sleeping in My Car" is a song by Swedish pop music duo Roxette, released on 7 March 1994 by EMI as the lead single from the duo's fifth studio album, ''Crash! Boom! Bang!'' (1994). The song was composed by Per Gessle in under an hour, and was th ...
" debuted at number one in Sweden, the
title track
A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title.
Title track may a ...
stalled at number seventeen, and "
Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a l ...
" spent a sole week on the chart, peaking at number 34. The album's fourth single, "
Run to You", became the duo's first single since 1988's "
I Call Your Name
"I Call Your Name" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Beatles and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was written primarily by John Lennon, with assistance from Paul McCartney. It was released in the US on '' The Beatles' Second Al ...
" to not enter the Swedish top fifty.
The song spent almost three months on the
German Singles Chart
The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindust ...
, eventually peaking at number 71 on its sixth week.
In the UK, "Vulnerable" peaked at number 44, ending a run of seventeen consecutive top forty singles on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
It performed marginally better in Scotland, peaking at number 41.
Formats and track listings
All songs written by Per Gessle.
* 7" single and cassette
(Australia 8651514 · UK TCEM369)
# "Vulnerable"
(Single Edit) – 4:30
# "The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye" – 4:49
* CD Single
(Australia · Europe 8651522)
# "Vulnerable" – 4:30
# "The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye" – 4:49
# "Vulnerable"
(Demo, 28 December 1990) – 4:44
# "I'm Sorry"
(Demo, 18 August 1993) – 3:25
* UK CD Single
(CDEM369)
# "Vulnerable" – 4:30
# "The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye" – 4:49
# "Vulnerable"
(Demo) – 4:44
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''
Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!
''Don't Bore Us - Get to the Chorus! Roxette's Greatest Hits'' is the first greatest hits compilation album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released on 30 October 1995 by EMI. The record contains the duo's four number ones from the US ''Billboard' ...
''
*
Per Gessle
Per Håkan Gessle (; born 12 January 1959) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the Swedish pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was d ...
–
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
and
background vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...
,
mixing
*
Marie Fredriksson
Gun-Marie Fredriksson (; 30 May 1958 – 9 December 2019) was a Swedish singer, songwriter, pianist and painter, who was best known internationally as the lead vocalist of pop rock pop duo, duo Roxette, which she formed in 1986 with Per Gessle. ...
– background vocals
* Jonas Isacsson –
acoustic and
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...
s
* Anders Herrlin –
programming and
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
* Mats Holmquist – string
arrangement
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...
and
conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duti ...
*
Clarence Öfwerman
Clarence Öfwerman (born 22 November 1957) is a Swedish record producer, best known as the longtime producer of Roxette, having been with the band from their debut album ''Pearls of Passion'' in 1986 through to 2016's ''Good Karma'', Roxette's l ...
–
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
, programming, string arrangement,
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
and mixing
* Alar Suurna – engineering and mixing
* Stockholms Nya Kammarorkester –
orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...
Charts
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vulnerable (Roxette Song)
1990s ballads
1995 singles
Roxette songs
Music videos directed by Jonas Åkerlund
Songs written by Per Gessle
Pop ballads
Rock ballads