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Revision as of 00:20, 3 November 2010

"Undisclosed Desires"
Song

"Undisclosed Desires", also known as "Undisclosed",[1][2] is a song by English alternative rock band Muse, featured on their 2009 fifth studio album The Resistance. The song was written by lead vocalist Matthew Bellamy, who has described the song as "quite a personal song about me and my girlfriend."[3] "Undisclosed Desires" was released as the second single from the album on 16 November 2009,[4] after "Uprising" in September. It made the UK charts at #49, making it their lowest charting single since "Cave" in 1999, though this could be viewed as a success as there was no physical release and it was not common at the time for a band to have more than one charting single from an album. It has, however achieved large success in Australia where it as since been certified Platinum and is Muse's highest charting single in that country.

Background and composition

In an interview with English music magazine Mojo, writer Matthew Bellamy described "Undisclosed Desires" as one of "some tracks [...] that really take an influence from contemporary R&B, and a little bit from the David Bowie album Ashes to Ashes – heavy beats, syncopation, very melodic, rhythmic vocals," adding that "Dom [Howard, Muse drummer] has done all the drum programming. [...] It's the first song we've had where I don't play guitar or piano."[5] NME added, on the topic of the lack of guitar and piano, that "the song [is] built around electric drum patterns and some slap bass from Chris Wolstenholme."[6] Speaking about his slap bass contribution, Wolstenholme joked that "it's probably not ever been cool to play slap bass, [...] but on that song it just seemed to work so we kept it in."[6] When played live, Bellamy plays a keytar. Music magazine Q describe the song as having a "minimal and dance-y feel."[3] In the interview with Q, Bellamy also revealed the inspiration behind the song's lyrics, explaining that "it's actually quite a personal song about me and my girlfriend. I'm thinking people have had enough of geo-political stuff by the end of the album."[3] The style of the song has been compared to that of new wave band Depeche Mode,[7] including their song "New Life".[8]

Release and reception

"Undisclosed Desires" was first performed live at the first of the 2009 A Seaside Rendezvous concerts in the band's childhood hometown of Teignmouth on 4 September.[2] On 7 September, the song was played twice on BBC Radio 1 by Zane Lowe as part of the MuseNight programming.[2]

Since the album's release, the song has had a mixed reception by critics, with some chastising the R&B sound while others thought of it as too much of a departure from their already diverse sound. Andrew Leahey of music website allmusic described the song as "bizarre Timbaland-meets-Depeche Mode ambiance," using it as an example of the band's apparent "tendency to pile excess upon excess."[9] Reviewing for NME, Ben Patashnik noted "Undisclosed" as evidence of the band "try[ing] to reignite the low-down R&B of ‘Supermassive Black Hole’," which he also suggests "backfires."[10] Patashnik went on to criticize the song further, slating it as sounding like "something Timbaland might find down the back of his mixing desk."[10] Mojo, on the other hand, identified "Undisclosed" as one of the highlights of The Resistance, along with "United States of Eurasia" and "Uprising".[5] Q Magazine also described it favourably, calling it "a stark, gothic take (on Timbaland's style)". On 19 February 2010, "Undisclosed Desires" finished on the Hot30 Countdown at a peak of number 9.

Music video

The video, directed by French duo Jonas & François, depicts all 3 members of Muse in a rather unusual room; Chris is playing slap bass in the corner next to a massive hamster wheel filled with bass guitars; Dom is alternating playing the drum kit and pushing more drums into the kit; and Matt is at the front, playing keytar and singing, with three glass frames in front of him labelled "Matt Close up", "Matt Mid shot" and "Matt Long shot", and a small area above him with eight microphones surrounding it, where he occasionally puts his hand in there to click. There is also a dancer dressed in extravagantly bright colours performing various dance moves. In addition, there are at least thirty monitors on the walls, showing the lyrics word-by-word, with only two of them at the correct point of the song; the others are all out of sync.

Remixes

  1. Undisclosed Desires (Thin White Duke Club Mix)
  2. Undisclosed Desires (Thin White Duke Edit)
  3. Undisclosed Desires (The Big Pink Remix)

Chart performance

Chart Position
Australian Singles Chart[11] 11
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)[11] 35
Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia)[11] 18
Danish Singles Chart[11] 26
French Digital Singles Chart[12] 13
German Singles Chart 17
New Zealand Singles Chart[11] 12
Polish Singles Chart[13] 1
Swiss Singles Chart[11] 21
UK Singles Chart 49
UK Rock Chart[14] 1
U.S. Alternative Songs[15] 9
U.S. Rock Songs[16] 20
Preceded by UK Rock Chart
Number-One Single
22 November 2009 - 13 December 2009 		Succeeded by

Personnel

Muse
Main production personnel

References

  1. ^ Tom Kirk (Director) (September 14, 2009). The Making of The Resistance (DVD). Warner Music Group.
  2. ^ a b c "Undisclosed Desires (song)". MuseWiki. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  3. ^ a b c "42: Muse". Hot New Albums. MuseWiki (quoting Q). July 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ "Undisclosed Desires – Out on 16th November". Muse. November 2, 2009. Retrieved November 2, 2009.
  5. ^ a b "Progressive stadium rock three dream up album five". MuseWiki (quoting Mojo). July 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ a b "Muse new album – first listen". MuseWiki (quoting NME). July 7, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ "Jai ecoute le nouveau Muse". MuseWiki (quoting L'Express). July 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ Ben Thompson (September 6, 2009). "Muse: The Resistance". The Guardian. Retrieved October 20, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Andrew Leahey. "The Resistance > Review". allmusic. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  10. ^ a b Ben Patashnik (September 18, 2009). "Album review: Muse – 'The Resistance'". NME. Retrieved October 20, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ a b c d e f Lescharts.com
  12. ^ "French Download Single Top 50 - 27/02/2010" (in French). Lescharts. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
  13. ^ "Polish Singles Chart".
  14. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/rocksingles/
  15. ^ http://www.billboard.com/column/chartbeat/chart-highlights-alternative-country-songs-1004124105.story#/column/chartbeat/chart-highlights-alternative-country-songs-1004124105.story
  16. ^ http://www.billboard.com/column/chartbeat#/column/chartbeat/chart-highlights-rock-jazz-christian-songs-1004124993.story
Official
Other
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