(Note: ZShare is still, baffingly, not letting me upload things; it's only just dawned on me, though, that I can upload songs to Sharebee and then just take the ZShare link from there. A little bit weird, but at least it means the return of ZShare links.)
I have two possibly seemingly contradictory feelings to express:
1.) I am SO OVER songs getting passed around to various artists. Spanish singer
Soraya's new album
Sin Miedo (featuring a duet with Kate Ryan) is out and about now, and, predictably, the song titled "Love Is All Around" on it is, yes, a cover of the song already done by (deep breath)
Agnes,
Arashi,
Ricki-Lee,
Jody Williams, and
Andriette. I mean, it's a great song and I understand that this sort of passing songs around allows writers to make more money from it, something increasingly important with illegal downloads being so big, and that for most people (including many of the artists, I'd imagine) this song reuse will never be an issue because they'll never hear more than one version, but I would much rather have songwriters giving us multiple great songs instead of passing the same (admittedly great) one around. That was my reaction to the news that
Same Difference's new album will feature a cover of
Marie Serneholt's "I Need A House," too. I
love that song, but I want new brilliant songs, not reused ones. In better news, as
Paul pointed out, you can listen to a clip of Same Difference's pure pop new single "We Are One" at
PopJustice.
2.) On the other hand, I am more than happy for "Disturbia" and "Closer" and "Forever" to spawn some knock-offs--a lot more happy to see that around (for now) than more '60's stuff (note: this is NOT me knocking on
Alesha's "The Boy Does Nothing," which 1.) we haven't even heard in good quality yet, and 2.) anything with that fantastic a middle 8 is not going to be drawing criticism from me in the near future). With that in mind,
Craig David's "Insomnia," taken from his upcoming greatest hits, is pretty enjoyable, better than anything I heard off his last album (and I might even like it more than "Closer," which despite its more electro base it's quite obviously inspired by--and probably isn't as mature as--because of how much quicker the words come). I really adored Craig's earlier work--"Fill Me In" would contend for any list of my favorite songs of all time--and I even really enjoyed "Unbelievable" from mid-to-late career Craig. Everything I heard off his last album, though, just gave off a whiff of...cheapness, something which, with a voice like his, he really should be above; he's better than that. Releasing a song this obviously taking advantage of modern trends doesn't necessarily fulfill that wish, but the song does somehow feel like a step up--a step in the right direction. Keep in touch with those strings, Craig--I missed them.
Craig David's greatest hits isn't yet available for preorder anywhere, but in the meantime you can buy his debut,
Born To Do It,
here (physical) or
here (digital).
Poor Craig. This song should have restored him to pop preeminence, got him a massive hit in the UK and maybe even helped him re-launch in the U.S. For the first time in at least several years and probably more, one of the UK's best voices, equally capable of being smooth or fitting in more words than naturally possible into a few seconds or often both at the same time, got a song worthy of him. Sure, it's essentially a cute combination of Ne-Yo's "Closer," Rihanna's "Disturbia," and Chris Brown's "Forever," but how could a song with three parents like that be anything but enjoyable? I'd argue that "Insomnia" is actually quality, too, in large part because Craig is such an excellent single but also because of the strong melody throughout it. And the strings. Oh, the strings. How I've missed them in your music, Craig.
