A Million Pieces / Lovekill

"A Million Pieces / Lovekill" is a single by singer Violetta DiNozzo and the fifth to be released from her sophomore studio album "Blood Of The Sacred, Blood Of The Damned". The song "A Million Pieces" is a cover of a song by Emmy Rossum from her debut album "Inside Out"; originally performed in a multi-layered acappella style with minimal instrumental backing, Violetta's version was a lite-trance reworking by DJ Tiesto. "Lovekill" was written and originally performed by Logan Cross, and covered by Violetta for the "Shut Up & Live!" compilation for Elite Records, Violetta's record label at the time. Violetta's cover of "Lovekill" served as the second single from the compilation.

Background
Violetta chose "A Million Pieces" by Emmy Rossum to cover for "Blood Of The Sacred, Blood Of The Damned" because she fell in love with Emmy's multi-tracked acappella style, comprising her tracks mainly of hundreds upon hundreds of vocal samples and very minimal instrumental backing. Violetta challenged producer DJ Tiesto by replicating every single vocal part of the song; the challenge being to find a suitable balance between the extensive amount of vocal material and Tiesto's own chilled trance production. "Lovekill" was written by Logan Cross in 2009, and was the lead single from his album "Teratology", reaching a #2 peak in December of 2009. Violetta recorded a version of the song for "Shut Up & Live!", a covers album released by Elite Records. She chose to release it as the second single from the compilation in order to support the disc, and so she added "Lovekill" onto the planned single release for "A Million Pieces". Violetta later wrote new lyrics to the song. The remix, entitled "Loveslain", was produced by Ferry Corsten and featured freshly re-recorded vocals from Logan, seamlessly blending them in with Violetta's vocals on the song.

Reception
"A Million Pieces" and "Lovekill" both received critical acclaim when they were announced as singles, with many praising Violetta's versatility and range as a vocalist. Many believed that this would be the single that finally took Violetta to #1, and there was a great deal of support for the single. Radio however only latched onto "A Million Pieces", and ignored "Lovekill". Violetta's spot as vocal coach and later judge (filling in for Paulo Araujo) on URAPS Idol 11 helped fuel Violetta's visibility during the promotion of the single. The song entered into a fierce chart battle with Thorn City upon release, with Violetta losing out by a hair to chart at #2. In the US, "A Million Pieces" was released on its own, becoming a top 10 airplay hit on the Billboard airplay chart, and a top 15 hit on the Hot 100. A remix package featuring "A Million Pieces", "Lovekill", and "Loveslain" was released in both the US and the UK - "Loveslain" and "A Million Pieces" each spent a week in the top 5 on the Billboard Hot Club Play chart.

Promo CD

 * 1) A Million Pieces
 * 2) Lovekill
 * 3) A Million Pieces (Armin Van Buuren Edit)
 * 4) Lovekill (Loose Cannons 'Kill Bill' Edit)

CD1

 * 1) A Million Pieces
 * 2) Lovekill
 * 3) Guerilla (Alesha Cover - Live @ Live Lounge)
 * 4) Fetch Me The Scotchgard
 * 5) Loveslain (Ferry Corsten Radio Mix) (ft. Logan Cross)

CD2

 * 1) Lovekill
 * 2) A Million Pieces
 * 3) Lovekill (Loose Cannons ‘Kill Bill’ Mix)
 * 4) Lovekill (Sanna & Pitron Future Tech Club Mix)
 * 5) A Million Pieces (Above & Beyond 12” Mix)
 * 6) A Million Pieces (Armin van Buuren Remix)

Digital Remix EP

 * 1) A Million Pieces (Retta's Twisted Strings Hip-Hopera Remix)
 * 2) A Million Pieces (DJ Double Garage's Broken Beyond Repair Remix)
 * 3) A Million Pieces (Satoshi Tomiie Re-Interpretation)
 * 4) Lovekill (DJ Double Garage's Hearts Rest In Peace Mix)
 * 5) Lovekill (4Tune’s Broken Heart Mix)
 * 6) Lovekill (DJ Tiesto Remix)
 * 7) Loveslain (IP's 'My Dragon Is Bigger Than Yours' Mix) (ft. Logan Cross)
 * 8) Loveslain (Butterscotch’s Slit Throat Dub) (ft. Logan Cross)
 * 9) Loveslain (Ferry Corsten Vocal Mix) (ft. Logan Cross)

A Million Pieces
The video opens with Violetta in the graveyard as the song starts. We see in flashback, all that led her up to that point. Violetta is back in high school (urgh!) and not doing so well in one of her subjects. She appeals to the teacher after class to have her grade improved, which he does happily. She thanks him, only for him to put his hands on her, to which she retaliates by punching his lights out. Violetta, of course, is in trouble for clocking her teacher, so she sits outside the principal's office while her parents argue with the principal inside. A boy sits down next to her, and they smile at each other. Later, Violetta is at a party with some friends, where she meets the same boy from before. There's flirting, drinking and kissing before the cops come to spoil all the fun. Violetta and the guy flee the scene along with everyone else; they get into his car and commence their getaway when (surprise surprise...) they crash. A bashed-up Violetta emerges from the car, the boy implied to be dead, and is escorted by the police back home. She is later seen studying, trying to keep things together. Through all this, we see shots of Violetta wandering through the graveyard, as well as many stone statues. The mausoleum she goes to seems to open its doors magically, with a light shining from within. The final shot of the video is Violetta arriving at the graveyard as per the storyline, come to visit the grave of the guy who died in the crash.

Lovekill
When the video opens, we see an empty opera house. The music begins in an orchestral version of 'Lovekill', and we cut to inside the opera house where Violetta is onstage singing an oratorio in her operatic voice over the orchestra. The synths from 'Lovekill' creep in and mix with the orchestral sounds as she sings the first verse. We cut between the audience, who is enraptured with her performance, to shots of Violetta on-stage singing the song. When she gets to the chorus we see the chandelier begin to loosen, and as she sings the word 'Lovekill', the chandelier breaks and drops onto the audience below, causing panic. Performance ruined, Violetta retreats backstage; quite shaken by the turn of events. Back in her dressing room, Violetta notices a presence in her mirror. She knows that there must be something on the other side of the not-so-one-sided glass, and approaches it to examine it more closely. She hears people knocking on her door, wanting to know if she's alright, but she ignores them; the mirror has opened to reveal a masked phantom, who silently leads her into the secret passage behind the mirror. He leads her to a boat, and she sits in the boat singing the song as he ferrys her to his underground lair. Once they get out of the boat, he leads her down the final pathway to his lair, where he attempts to seduce her.

Violetta winds up spending the night there, sleeping by herself on what appears to be an over-large loveseat. She is awoken by the sound of an organ, which is playing chords to match the song's instrumentation. The phantom has been playing for her while she slept, and now that she realises that it is the next day, she gets up to leave. Knowing that he can't keep her there indefinitely, the phantom lets her go, but is sure to keep a close eye on her. We cut to later, and a masquerade is in progress, with a multitude of costumed and masked people enjoying the festivities. Violetta is aside with another male love interest, but the phantom is NOT pleased with this, as he gatecrashes the party instilling fear among the guests. He claims that he will have Violetta or no-one will, which doesn't sit well with the love interest either. Later still, Violetta has another show to perform in. She is singing the bridge as she follows her stage directions, climbing up a winding staircase setpiece where her make counterpart is supposed to be mimicing her movements on another setpiece at the other end of the stage. They come together at the stretch of walkway up the top, and Violetta has a private moment of panic when she finds the phantom has somehow replaced the leading man somewhere during the performance. But she can't let her fear show to the audience, as the phantom is playing the leading man's role, so she keeps acting, until the end of the song where the phantom whips out a dagger and stabs Violetta in the back before dragging her down a secret trapdoor in the stage down to his lair; the audience none-the-wiser for thinking it's part of the show. The phantom takes the dying Violetta back to his lair where he lays her down, and kisses her before she dies, killed for the love of a man she rejected.

Chart Performance
"A Million Pieces / Lovekill" debuted at #2 on May 2nd, 2010 with sales of 81,902, which is Violetta's highest sales week of the era. The song debuted behind "Supernova" by Thorn City; the move was surprising to many, and caused a major behind-the-scenes upset which was soon resolved. From the second week onwards, sales saw a major dip, but the single managed to hang on long enough to reach gold certification. On airplay, "Lovekill" was widely ignored; however "A Million Pieces" still shaped up to be a strong airplay hit for Violetta, although not reaching the same level as "Connect The Dots". On the digital chart, "A Million Pieces" was a major hit, charting very early on and selling 120,000 digital copies in the long run. "Lovekill" did not fare so well, only spending two weeks on chart and selling 25,000 digital copies. In the US, "A Million Pieces" was released as Violetta's 4th mainstream single following US #1 "Smash Some Windows". The song charted well on airplay and with sales, allowing it a top 15 peak on the Hot 100. Remixes of "A Million Pieces" and "Loveslain" hit the top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 Dance Club Play chart.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 206,143
 * Week 1: #2 - 81,902
 * Week 2: #5 - 45,185
 * Week 3: #11 - 31,258
 * Week 4: #25 - 14,566
 * Week 5: #20 - 16,384
 * Week 6: #28 - 12,121
 * Week 7: #36 - 4,727