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Kim Sozzi - Alone (Take 2)

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By DJ Ron Slomowicz, About.com

Kim Sozzi - Alone

Ultra Records

I love Kim Sozzi. Honestly, I really do. I have seen Kim perform so many times and she always nails it - singing live, sounding incredible, and hitting every note while energizing the audience. "Feeling Me" and "We Get Together" were both massively huge records for me as a DJ. The records she did with Mynt, "Stay" and "Back in Love," were highlights on the album. And of course there is the multiformat smash "How Did You Know." The songs she did for her debut solo album in Germany are a guilty pleasure and I anxiously await a remix of "Give Me Back." All of this makes writing this review so difficult.

Why do a cover of Heart's "Alone?" Ok, I get it, covers of eighties rock songs translate well to pop dance with songs like "Listen to Your Heart" and "Heaven" being massive crossover successes. Since DHT just did a cover of "Alone" a couple of years ago, it's quite an odd choice, and to add to that, the vocal production is horribly flawed.

To start with, the song is clearly not in Kim's range. Most of the 80s covers are done at high BPM tempo with an angelic/pretty little girl voice. Kim's sensual yet powerful husky voice doesn't sound right hitting the notes.

Her performance isn't helped by the haphazard vocal placement with syllables sped up and slowed down pretty randomly to match the beats. This sounds most obvious during the six seconds in the song where the beat drops out and she sings pretty much acapella - she sounds phenomenal. Throughout the rest of the song, the beats and music clash with her voice in a very painful way - which is sad since the europop/NRG hybrid production would sound great on the radio. Don't even get me started on the background vocals.

Maybe she recorded the vocal without a click track. Maybe there is a rush to get a solo single out for her to perform at WMC. Maybe Ultra wants to put out the perfect eurocover to build on the crossover success of "Listen to Your Heart" and "Faithfully." Who knows what the logic is, all I know is that this record is incredibly disappointing and ranks as Kim's most disappointing song since the horrid cover of "Don't You Want Me" that she did for an 80's cover compilation a few years back.

Note to Kim, you are SO MUCH better than this. Please let this one go and come back with a better and original song.

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