(repost) 2000: #10 - "Shape Of My Heart"

** NOTE: Tomorrow, DOTY returns with new material ** Is it possible for something to sound so state of the art, yet extremely safe and almost instantly dated? Yes, Max Martin knocked another one out of the park with "Shape Of My Heart", the 'Boys workmanlike power ballad follow-up to "I Want It That Way?", because it does still get the job done melodically, sonically, and even emotionally. I won't begrudge the fact that the song is perfectly crafted and tugs the right strings. But how come, even days after it came out, it sounded like something that had been around for decades, and the 2-year-old "I Want It That Way" was the trendy, new torch-bearer of teen pop balladry? Was that a testament to "Shape Of My Heart"'s timelessness, or a foreshadowing that the juggernaut was running out of gas? We all know what happened to Martin and BSB around the time Black and Blue and this song, its first single, came out, but they still seemed to be firing on all cylinders here. You be the judge.

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