"When it came time to commission a new pop song for her bittersweet romance Materialists, Celine Song had a simple guideline for prospective songwriters: Make it like John Prine's "In Spite of Ourselves," which Song has called " the most romantic song in the world." The duet between Prine and the singer Iris DeMent has been turning up in all kinds of mismatched love stories this year, a remarkable resurgence for a revered songwriter who died in 2020."
"The " more upbeat" version Japanese Breakfast's Michelle Zauner came up with for Materialists, " My Baby (Got Nothing at All)," is a snug coda for a movie about love trumping economic precarity. As the credits roll over footage of couples lining up for no-frills marriages at New York's City Hall, Zauner sings about a man whose devotion to her is more important than his bank balance: "Cold cash comforts are overrated. ... Only company baby's got is mine.""
Celine Song commissioned a new pop song for Materialists and requested a track modeled on John Prine's 'In Spite of Ourselves,' which the director called the most romantic song in the world. The Prine-DeMent duet has reappeared in several contemporary mismatched love stories, including a Lena Dunham Netflix series scene and Lynne Ramsay's Die My Love. Japanese Breakfast's Michelle Zauner wrote 'My Baby (Got Nothing at All),' an upbeat, snug coda celebrating devotion over wealth, sung during City Hall no-frills marriage footage. The song's comforting optimism, however, feels tacked-on and at odds with the film's nuanced portrayal of love versus economic precarity.
Read at Slate Magazine
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