Kelly Sweet - We Are One (Remixes)
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It seems that every year we are introduced to new young fresh-faced singers who are full of talent but still not of legal age to drink or gamble. Many of them have one or two big hits and then fade away, but some manage to have some staying power. One girl who I think may be around for a while is Kelly Sweet. This 18 year-old from Cape Cod, Massachusetts has already scored a Top Ten hit on the Adult Contemporary charts with her debut single "Raincoat." Now her label is trying to score her some club cred by supplying remixes of the title track to her debut CD "We Are One." On board for remix duties are Dave Aude, Matthew Piso, Radioactive Sandwich, and Electronathan.
Kelly's voice is very similar to that of Sarah McLachlan, so dance remixes can be tricky, but these mixers seem to pull it off with ease.
The Dave Aude Club Mix is a chugging house mix that manages to keep Kelly's vocals above board and the star of the show. A funky bassline intertwined with trance elements seems to fit well here. Though it's not a peak-hour anthem, it does have a great rhythm and a very hypnotic feel. It's not as hard as Aude's recent mixes have been, but that style would not have worked well here given Kelly's sweet and breathy vocal delivery. The award for most unique moniker goes to Radioactive Sandwich. The duo's 1+1=1 Club Mix goes in a hard house direction that seems like it wouldn't work at first. The beats never overpower the vocals, though, and it turns out to be a pretty decent mix. At the five-minute mark, the beats disappear and the song becomes just an acoustic guitar and Kelly for about a minute and then returns to the thumping bass line and drums. Matthew Piso offers up M@!'s Sweet Club Mix, which is smoother and more typically club-sounding that the first two mixes.
The beats are more subdued, and the feel is almost chilled, despite the bumping bass and keyboards. Again, the music surrounding it never drowns Kelly's vocals out and the mix flows nicely. Lastly, Electronathan provides us with his Club Mix. This mix is total trance and is very minimal, just using synths and a chugging beat. The song tends to feel a bit too fast and her vocals don't seem to be able to catch up at times, but it is a unique twist on the song and seems to work overall.
Kelly Sweet has already made a name for herself on the Adult Contemporary scene and is now aiming to conquer clubland with the mixes to "We Are One." All the remixes manage to keep the spotlight on Kelly's vocals and not overtake her with beats that are too hard or too loud. It's a great dance debut and I'm sure chart success is waiting once these mixes make their way into the hands of the DJs.
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