You Ruin Me

**You Ruin Me** is a song by Australian pop duo The Veronicas from their self-titled third studio album.

It became the duo's second number-one single in their native Australia, topping the ARIA Singles Chart for three weeks, and it reached the top 20 in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

## Recording and composition

The Veronicas had finished work on their third album in July 2014 and were in the process of filming a music video for another track when they decided to have a late night songwriting session. Wanting to create one more song for the record, they got together with Sydney based production duo Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci of DNA and finished the track at 1:30am. The recording session resulted in the song "You Ruin Me", which was inspired by ex-boyfriends and the dramas they experienced with their former record label. Having not released a ballad before, the duo wanted to release something unexpected. Speaking to Kathy McCabe of *The Courier-Mail*, Jessica Origliasso said: "We are in such a great place now as far as being artists and being comfortable as women and this song was the last piece of the puzzle to say goodbye to the broken parts of ourselves." "You Ruin Me" was recorded at Sony Studios in Sydney, New South Wales with David Pritchard-Blunt playing the piano and arranging the strings. Mixing was done by Egizii, and engineered by Louise Wheatley and Peter Holz.
"You Ruin Me" is a slow-tempo ballad. The track is written in the key of F major, with Jessica and Lisa's vocals spanning from G3 - B♭4. The recording features "minimalist" instrumentation of piano and sweeping strings, an arrangement which Tim Byron of *The Vine* said was reminiscent of "Someone Like You" by Adele. Lisa sings most of the song, with Jessica singing the bridge and backing vocals during the last chorus. It begins with the line, "Job well done, standing ovation. You got what you wanted, I guess you won." Following the first verse, Lisa sings the chorus with, "[cause you] play me like a symphony, play me til your fingers bleed, I'm your greatest masterpiece - You ruin me."

## Music video

The music video for "You Ruin Me" was filmed in Sydney and Los Angeles during September 2014 and published on VEVO on 18 September. Directed by Matt Sharp and Tapehead, the visuals are inspired by Darren Aronofsky's 2010 film *Black Swan*. Speaking of the concept to Stephanie Anderson of BuzzFeed, Jessica Origliasso explains that it was her idea to have a ballet inspired video saying, "I was listening to it, like a total dork, on the plane, we'd literally just recorded it, so I only had a voice note of the playback, and I took the earphones out and I was like 'Lis! I've got the concept for the video!' And it was the ballet thing." The scenes that were shot in Sydney took place at the State Theatre and Bangarra Dance Theatre. "You Ruin Me" starred two of Australia's leading Dancers Kahlia Greksa and Karinna Greksa.

## Release and reception

The song was sent to mainstream radio on 11 September 2014 and was released digitally and physically on 19 September 2014. The CD single contained a remix of the song by Josh Katz.

### Commercial performance

In Oceania, "You Ruin Me" debuted atop the Australian Singles Chart, becoming The Veronicas' second number-one hit in Australia since "Hook Me Up" in 2007. The recording replaced Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass", which spent four weeks at the apex of the chart. The recording is the third to debut at the top of the chart in 2014, and The Veronicas are the fourth Australian act to gain a number-one for the year. The CD single contributed to the song's success, with over 2000 sales in its first week, out-selling the 200 copies of Trainor's EP *Title*. "You Ruin Me" was certified triple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments exceeding 210,000 copies. In New Zealand, "You Ruin Me" debuted at number 23 on the New Zealand Singles Chart and has since peaked at number 16. In Europe, "You Ruin Me" debuted at number-eight on the UK Singles Chart on 22 November where it peaked. The song is their second UK top ten hit, their first being "Untouched" which also peaked at number-eight in 2009. It also peaked at number ten in Scotland and 93 in Ireland.

### Accolades

In his list of best songs of 2014, Cameron Adams of news.com.au placed "You Ruin Me" at number five commenting that, "sometimes the best songs are the most unexpected." Australian media monitor AirCheck listed the recording as the 97th most played track on Australian radio with a total of 5793 spins. The music video ranked at number 23 on *rage's* Best Videos of 2014 countdown. The track received a nomination for Music Video of the Year at the 6th annual Australian Rolling Stone Awards. "You Ruin Me" received a nomination for Song of the Year at the 2015 APRA Awards. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2015 the recording received nominations for Song of the Year and Best Video, winning the latter.

## Track listing

Digital download
1. "You Ruin Me" – 3:50

CD single
1. "You Ruin Me" – 3:53
2. "You Ruin Me" (Josh Katz remix) – 3:15

The Veronicas - You Ruin MeYou Ruin Me
## Lyrics

Job well done
Standing ovation
Yea you got what you wanted
I guess you've won
And I don't want to hear
"They don't know you like I do"
Even I could've told you
But now we're done
Cause you play me like a symphony
Play me 'till your fingers bleed
I'm your greatest masterpiece
You ruin me
Later when the curtains drawn
And no one's there for you back home
Don't cry to me you played me wrong
You ruin me
I know you've thought that I wouldn't notice
You were acting so strange
I'm not that dumb
In the end, I hope she was worth it
I don't care if you love me
You make me numb
Cause you play me like a symphony
Play me 'till your fingers bleed
I'm your greatest masterpiece
You ruin me
Later when the curtains drawn
And no one's there for you back home
Don't cry to me you played me wrong
You ruin me
We're that song you wouldn't sing
Just a broken melody
You're killing me
Cause you play me like a symphony
Play me 'till your fingers bleed
I'm your greatest masterpiece
You ruin me
Later when the curtains drawn
And no one's there for you back home
Don't cry to me you played me wrong
You ruin me