The vibe is absolutely perfect. The melody goes to nice, unexpected places. The vocal melody at :41 is pure bliss. This is a fantastic composition, and an excellent performance that nails the challenge in a big way. I do wish you would have belted out that last note with a bit more "oomph" but to your credit everything sounds great and I am hearing you reach for higher notes than I have ever heard from you. Of all the entries this sounds the most like a song that could play over the end credits of a Bond film without needing work.

LYRICS: [GOOD] 2 points
STRUCTURE: [GOOD] 2 points
PERFORMANCE: [GOOD] 2 points
CONCEPT/CHALLENGE: [GOOD] 2 points
DYNAMICS/MIX: [GOOD] 2 points
SCORE: 10 out of 10

I knew you'd do a good job with this challenge and I'm not disappointed. The orchestral stuff sounds great and the tremolo lead guitar is deployed to great effect. It took me a few listens for the chorus melody to start winning me over and I'm still not entirely there, it's a bold choice and feels just a little awkward to me; performance is great as ever but the vocals peak on those steps into a higher register at the end of each verse section for me, the chorus is never quite as satisfying. The very end also feels like it could use something extra too, even if it was just those final notes trailing off - at the moment it just kinda stops. Still really excellent, though!

This is such a gorgeous take. The guitar parts are really spot on. Erin’s voice is fantabulous as always. I found that in the choruses when you’re pushing up the melody, it wasn’t quite as smooth and in command as I am used to hearing from you. But you have a great sense of how to phrase. I wanted a bigger buildup and climactic moment at the end, but that’s a minor quibble for such a great imagining of one of the moody slower tunes. I could totally see the credit roll with shadowy figures and all.

Loved this. I think you did a perfect job with the challenge--it’s exactly what I wanted out of this prompt. It has the whole melodramatic, mysterious, swirling, vibe I want from a Bond theme. The instrumentation was great--I like the symphonic builds, the moody, twangy electric guitar lines, and the rolling piano arpeggios. We had a judge check-in today about whose melodies we still remembered a few days after judging, and your chorus was one of the ones that stuck with me. It did seem a bit high for your vocal range (or in an awkward break range, as Ben suggested) as your voice seemed a bit more thin than I’m used to hearing, but that’s just a minor comment that I wouldn’t even categorize as a complaint. The lyrics really work for the challenge as well; I especially liked that first verse with the image of the melting ice against a burning world. The ending did feel kind of abrupt for me... some rubato or a lingering last note or even a fadeout would have worked better for me; the instrumental kind of just stops.