Tragedy (2011) – Christina Perri

I tell you what’s a real “tragedy”! That they didn’t repeat the gorgeous string sequence just after Christina sings in the first refrain, “Don’t call this love,” at 1:39. Honestly, that moment alone is worth the price of admission. Astoundingly, they never lean into it again – not after the second refrain, nor anywhere else in the song. I find it frustrating that they didn’t hammer home that beautiful lamenting sequence throughout.

I know I’m being highly critical, but when you’ve listened to enough Christina Perri like I have, you start to notice the weak spots, especially in her earlier work. At the time she was clearly overworked, and sometimes you get the sense that things felt rushed. Reflecting on the making of her debut album Lovestrong – which Tragedy appears on – she described the process as “the best 33 days of my life and the worst 33 days of my life… I was running from studio one to studio three and back again doing the vocals, the piano, the guitar, the harmonies, and the doubles.”

Also, prior to 2012, Perri was struggling with alcohol and drug addiction and eventually hit rock bottom. She later turned things around and marked 11 years of sobriety in March 2023.

Tragedy is yet another song by Perri about a relationship gone sour. More than that, she calls it a tragedy because her partner never made the most of what they had. Perri found herself constantly forgiving and forgetting, only to realise that what they had was never really love at all. She also refuses to be made a fool of by calling it love. As a listener, you can really feel the depth of the heartache and pain in her voice here – at times she wallows in it.

During the recording period, Perri said that sometimes they would record two songs in a single day, forcing her to prepare mentally to sing about one relationship from 2007 and then switch emotions to sing about another relationship from 2008.

As readers of my blog know, Christina is my favourite female balladeer and troubadour and has featured here more times than I’ve had hot dinners. Normally I’m bursting at the seams to sing her praises, so I do feel a bit glum about not doing that here as much – but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to be honest and change things up a bit.

To me, Tragedy just scrapes in as mid-tier Perri. That’s still saying it’s pretty darn good, because…well…it’s Perri! But it had the potential to be an absolute masterpiece. It’s definitely the number one Perri song where I wish they could go back and produce it again. It had all the ingredients – the melody, the voice, and the instrumentation – just not the right sequencing or emphasis on certain parts which I’ll explore more below.

Strangely, this is one of the few Perri songs where I wish there were less of her voice and more of the spectacular instrumentation. Sometimes I even catch myself thinking, “No, don’t sing Christina,” because the magnificent looping piano and accompanying strings sound so exquisite on their own. I also think Perri tries to do a little too much here with her voice – stretching notes or wavering them when it isn’t really necessary. Another issue is the sheer amount of singing. She hardly takes a break. Christina, we know you have the pipes, but sometimes you wish the producer – Joe Chiccarelli in this case – had simply made her step back a little.

To her credit, Christina seems to have learned that lesson over the years: sometimes less really is more. You can hear that clearly on her later work, especially A Lighter Shade of Blue, which leans much more toward an art-music style with a minimalist and modest approach. With such a wonderful accompaniment in Tragedy, that same “less is more” approach vocally might have served the song best.

It’s also interesting to note how Christina – both in terms of her music and even her appearance – seems only to have improved with age. A Lighter Shade of Blue really is the bee’s knees, and she looks as beautiful as ever in motherhood. Just watch her video Pixie Dust to see how much – and to catch her at the apex of her music game.

[Verse 1]
If you could envision
The meaning of a tragedy
Ooh, you might be
Surprised to hear it’s you and me
But when it comes down to it
You never made the most of it
Ooh, so I cried, cried, cried
And now, I say goodbye

[Refrain]
And I won’t be made a fool of
Don’t call this love

[Verse 2]
When did you decide
That I didn’t have enough to buy
Forgive and forget you a thousand times
For the fire and the sleepless nights

[Refrain]
And I won’t be made a fool of
Don’t call this love

[Pre-Chorus]
Don’t call this love

[Chorus]
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La, love, la-la, love
La, love, la-la, love
La, love, la-la-la, la, love

[Verse 3]
Why did you feel the need
To prove that everybody else was right?
No, I won’t fight

[Bridge]
Oh, you’re my tragedy
Tragedy, oh, you’re my tragedy
Oh, this is
Oh, no, no, no

[Chorus]
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La, love, la-la, la, love
La, love, la-la, love
La, love, la-la, love
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La, love, la-la, love
La, love, la-la, love
Love

References:
1. Lovestrong – Wikipedia