Two rather amazing pop songs have shot up the charts in their respective homes. Taylor Swift's infectious and cleverly titled new ditty, We Are Never Getting Back Together (surely a brilliant title for an Abba come back album?!), resides comfortably atop of the Billboard Hot 100 in it's first week. Similarly, Icona Pop's crazy good I Love It (failure for the much ballyhooed Girls Aloud comeback song to be any less tremendous than this is clearly NOT an option) is nestled comfortably at the top of the charts in Sweden. Both these songs show how melody, catchy hooks & creative writing are still paramount & essential to a modern day pop hit.
Jocelyn Scofield (who I've written about before, here) has taken these two songs, examined the structure of the recordings, then recreated them to put her own spin on the proceedings. Take her version of We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor's is a more playful approach that feels like the end of a summer flirtation. Jocelyn is a more studied reading - the piano chords give an emphatic finality to the decision, while her vocal performance brings a more nuanced, emotive thrust; one that makes you believe in the internal struggle this one statement has bought about. There are moments where the piano notes linger as if mirroring a moment of self-doubt, before the aforementioned chords & Jocelyn's powerful voice once again resolutely reaffirm that indeed she is never, ever getting back together with her beau!
Tackling Icona Pop's I Love It is an entirely different proposition. The original is full of sliding synths, glomwobble and electro-effects. Almost miraculously, Jocelyn manages to keep the joy & euphoria these sounds create with her own piano riff - and it's so intricate and layered that it creates a whole sound wall of it's own. Performed with gay abandon, it's place after the Taylor Swift cover on the EP gives it a thematic flow of casting off the ex-lover completely. Vocally, Jocelyn keeps the ethos of that EUREKA moment by imbuing each word & note with a joie de vivre of being free once more. It's a canny performance that X Factor wannabes should be studying carefully...
Do check out Jocelyn's EP here...
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