Friday, March 19, 2010

Bittersweet - The review

Put together Blue Monday '88 (by New Order), Strangelove (by Depeche Mode), Sweet Dreams (by Eurythmics), One Word (by Kelly Osbourne) and The One (by Kylie Minogue), mix those with Sophie's bittersweet vocals and what you get is...well..."Bittersweet"

Bittersweet, which is first single from her fourth album recently titled Straight To The Heart, is produced by the Freemasons & Biffco and co written with them and Hannah Robinson. The nearly-9-minutes long orgasmic mix by the Freemasons, which leaked a couple of days ago, boasted of the Eurythmics meets Depeche Mode "oh-holy-shit-mother-of-all-riffs" all through the mix, with hints of New Order on drum snares. Everyone raved about how good the mix was and how it blew them away, but little did they know that there was more to come... The Radio Edit of the song which recently hit youtube surpasses the Freemasons Extended Mix in almost every way possible. Almost, yes.

The arresting riff, which got a usual clubber to go "oh fuck hell yeah" at it's premiere, is safely hidden under the verses of the Radio Edit? Why they chose to overshadow that is a mystery to me. But the Radio Edit is far more beefy - in that it has lots of lush strings and synth, and layers of sounds that completely make up for the lack of the riff. But wait, there's more. The 80's style disco anthem, drawing influences from some of the recent hits by K. Minogue and K. Osbourne, oozes elegance and melody in a gentle yet strong manner. The lyrics and the delivery are perfect, as usual, with Sophie experimenting her part-silk-cushion-part-scorched-lizard vocals - elongated words, high pitched "ooohs", meandering melody, whispers (oh my god!)...and just when you think you have heard it all, the feline siren comes back mewing "so here i am". DigitalSpy rightly calls this moment as three seconds of pure pop loveliness. Indeed!

If you haven't already wet your pants, then try this, but i warn you - you may get insanely addicted!
Bittersweet (Radio Edit) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WvGElFmZYI
Bittersweet (Freemasons Extended Mix) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiOqkkv8tT4
Bittersweet (Jodie Harsh Remix) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT_O6c-EDDE

Sophierazzi gives a thumbs up to the Freemasons and Biffco, and salutes Sophie, the rightful pop Goddess.
Bittersweet (Radio Edit)- 10(0000)/10
Bittersweet (Freemasons Extended Mix) - 9.9999999/10
Bittersweet (Jodie Harsh Mix) - 7/10

P.S. - People, please don't forget she also has a single with Junior Caldera which is out; the video will premeire soon. Keep your eyes peeled. Love, Kx.

2 comments:

Ben House said...

hi kaushik, just 2 say i luv ur website and i think it is 200%! without it, i dont think i would even know about seb's new album!

Kim said...

Beautiful review Kaushik. But i don't really think it rips off Depeche Mode. Very faintly though, yes. Nothing worth mentioning.

Still, great review

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