Composition
"The Climb" is a country pop power ballad that incorporates soft rock and pop rock styles and lasts three minutes and 55 seconds. The song begins slowly, building primarily from solo piano and accentuated with chiming electric guitars. However, at two minutes and forty-five seconds, a "sudden, spiky burst of violins" enters the song, and the song switches to full power. Bill Lamb of About.com considers Cyrus's vocals "solid and clear". However, Todd Martens, co-editor of The Los Angeles Times music column, says Cyrus uses a "a raspy voice brings a bit of country grit" to the song. "The Climb" is set in common time at a moderate tempo of 80 beats per minute. The song is sung in the key of E major and Cyrus's vocals span less than an octave, from E3 to B4. The song uses a standard issue ballad arrangement with the chord progression, E5—Asus2—F♯7sus.
According to music reviewer Fraser McAlpine of the BBC, the song's lyrics assert that life should be viewed as "a journey which is difficult but rewarding". Both Martens and McAlpine took special interest in the line "It's always gonna be an uphill battle/Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose". Martens interpreted the line as an acknowledgment by the singer of her own mistakes in life, while McAlpine wrote, "In this song which is about plugging away at things, the writers have slipped in that the occasional setback isn't the end of the world."
Read more about this topic: The Climb (song)
Famous quotes containing the word composition:
“Vices enter into the composition of virtues as poisons into the composition of certain medicines. Prudence and common sense mix them together, and make excellent use of them against the misfortunes that attend human life.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (16131680)
“Those Dutchmen had hardly any imagination or fantasy, but their good taste and their scientific knowledge of composition were enormous.”
—Vincent Van Gogh (18531890)
“I live in the angle of a leaden wall, into whose composition was poured a little alloy of bell-metal. Often, in the repose of my mid-day, there reaches my ears a confused tintinnabulum from without. It is the noise of my contemporaries.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)