When a track has already hit 66 million streams on Spotify in its original incarnation, it can be a daunting or even audacious thing to ‘re-invent the wheel’, as it were – it’s clearly already highly palatable as it is.
But DJ Fili has taken on the task and notched up a few thousand streams on Soundcloud – it’s been of enough curiosity to tempt listeners in. I’m going to examine this remix for its own merits.
Featuring the vocals front and centre (as it should), Fili has focused on a half-time feel with skittering 808 beats propping up the lead line. It kicks off with the currently-ubiquitous finger snaps and moody piano – which begins by plodding before starting to roll with the rhythms.
Strings are introduced and start to warm things up, and yet it should be noted that there is a more melancholy feel (than the original) created by this treatment; the voicing of the chords that Fili has chosen (as well as the synth voices) and the lack of burbling arpeggios and handclaps all create bittersweet notes that allow the lyric to (arguably) resonate a little more. The space certainly allows more focus on the central message – of letting someone go, and wishing them well…
The backing vocals still lift the spirit, and this stripped down version serves the vocals of the middle 8/bridge particularly well, as they take on new gravity under this regime.
As experiments go, I’d rate this as a highly successful one: nothing feels like it’s been crow-barred in, and this respect for the material has reaped genuine rewards.
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