Well, that's depressing. We handed Regina Spektor the Chazzies for Best Artist and Song, and then she went and hobbled her own sound, if the MP3s that are out now are any indication.

"Better" completely loses her keys. And it basically sounds like…well, a song that any other female vocalist would put out. The magic's just been drained out of it.

In "Fidelity," she sounds like she's been imprisoned by the (what sounds like a) canned beat behind her and just wants to bust out and go nuts. But she can't. The "and it breaks my ha-hahaha-hahaha-hahahaha-heart" thing which has been known to work live just sounds ridiculous and phoned in.

Now I can see her taking the next step, which is the same mistake Tori Amos made in–if memory serves me correctly–her Boys for Pele tour: touring solo but using a recorded backup band for the songs that "needed" it. I would have much preferred to see everything done with just a piano. It felt cheap otherwise.

I'm never one for musicians to stay the same from album to album, but when they chuck what made them special out the window, it's always a sad day. If this is the new album, then I'll just ignore it and listen to Soviet Kitsch and Bull Moose over instead. "And it breaks my heart, and it breaks my heart." Yeah, mine too, Regina. Sorry.

Get the live versions of both songs instead.