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Not Too Sharp

University of New Hampshire

I Don't Think About You - Single (2018)

3.0

Review By Kyle Yampiro

March 4, 2019

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Kyle Yampiro

While it is not displeasing to listen to, Not Too Sharp's I Don't Think About You brings little intrigue or excitement past the novelty of an all-male cover of a Kelly Clarkson song, and the track suffers for it.

The choice to perform this song entirely in the style of Kelly Clarkson but with a male soloist one octave down is a short-sighted one. The range of the original as it pertains to the various registers in Clarkson's voice is what makes the song evocative and expressive. In a male voice, however, those same pitches lowered one octave areĀ all relatively effortless and therefore lack the sort of emotional shifting implicit in the original. This choice highlights a lack of understanding not only of the voice but of what choices make a song or its cover potentially special and memorable.

That said, Johnny DelToro's arrangement is quite lovely to listen to. The rhythmic variation in different sections and chord voicing are quite strong. While this rendition doesn't endeavor to reimagine the style of the song, it's a very sound arrangement of the original. There is even more potential for dynamic contrast in both the background and percussion partsĀ than what is expressed by the group on this track.

When changing a major component of a song (i.e. the voice part of the soloist), that choice must be justified in the concept or execution somehow. Unfortunately, Not Too Sharp does not accomplish this in I Don't Think About You, and the result is an inoffensive, though average single.


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