"She Had The World", like most of Panic At The Disco's audience-polarizing tribute to old pop heroes, Pretty. Odd., falls in line with the first halve of the disc's title. Everything about it is so ear-friendly precious: the well-practiced, quiver-ending vocal lines from Brendon Urie; the harmonious marriage it achieves when paired with Ryan Ross' more plaintive pipes; the arrangement's whimsical, medieval-time melody.

Beneath it's musical theater-like beauty, "She Had The World" strikes a somber mood, revolving around a "poor little rich girl" tale packed with loveless romance and human insecurity, Urie and Ross trading off narratives from the storyline's male and female perspective (he feels sorry for her because "when I look in her eyes/ I just see the sky"; she doesn't think she's worth loving 'cause she thinks of herself as crazy). It's all gorgeously simple, and lands as the band's finest attempt at creating timeless pop.



DL: "She Had The World" (YFH)