Cover vs. Original Match Up: Ellie Goulding and Xaphoon Jones make enticing rendition of The Weeknd’s “High for This”

The Weeknd has pretty much made a name for himself on his sultry, dark R&B which no one seems able to match or emulate. But Ellie Goulding and Xaphoon Jones are making a pretty good run at it with their cover of “High for This”.

The Original: The Weeknd’s version has that signature feel of creepy sexiness that he’s so good at. Listening to it makes you feel like he’s that guy who’s a little bit dangerous and sleazy, but is just so darn smooth that you can’t walk away and you find yourself falling into his tricks regardless. The minimal drums and underlying echoing melodies crawl across your skin while pushing your pulse rate. It’s practically thrilling.

The Weeknd – High for This

The Cover: Xaphoon steps up the production to add more layers of emotion. The beat is stepped up a bit, with a bit of a smooth reggae-esque beat which relaxes you rather than winds you up like the original. But he creeps in this tinkling melody line on top which keeps your senses piqued. Ellie’s vocals work in the naughtiness, as her steaming breathy vocals work their way through the lyrics. Ellie’s taking the wheel and leading her lover down a path he may not be prepared to experience. It’s equally sexy as the original, but less skin crawling. More like the culmination of finally having a chance to be intimate with that slightly mysterious person you’ve been feeling for soooo long – exciting, enticing, but makes you just the right amount nervous.

Ellie Goulding – High for This (produced by Xaphoon Jones)

Verdict: Each bring something unique and wonderful to the table. Goulding/Jones’ version isn’t better than The Weeknd’s original, but it’s certainly not a step down. They’ve beautifully crafted an alternate with an entirely different emotional feel. Lovely.

Mark Ronson uses the sounds of athlete’s for Olympics 2012 theme “Anywhere In The World”

This is just too cool. Famed producer Mark Ronson was in charge of the Olympics 2012 theme, and boy did

he knock it out of the park. For the song, “Anywhere In The World”, he actually used the sounds of olympic athlete’s in competition to make the beats – the heartbeat of Russian runner Kseniya Olegovna Vdovina and the punches of Taekwondo athlete Maria del Rosario Espinoza, gymnasts and archer’s hitting their respective mats, etc. It makes for an exciting and evolving beat that’s really quite fun to listen to. Way to keep things interesting, Mr. Ronson. British pop star Katy B takes on the vocals for the song, but I’m not going to write much about that part because it’s kind of the low point of the whole thing. The words are just kind of boring, and Katy B doesn’t impress me much.

Coca Cola is naturally the sponsor of the 2012 Olympic Games (funny how a beverage no olympic athlete should ever drink is always the sponsor). They’ve put together a great music video highlighting Ronson’s genius idea, and below is the two minute commercial version of it (the full version is available to view on rollingstone.com right now). Additionally, if you’d like to see more on how Ronson put his production together, head to Cocacola.com.

And we’re back! with fun videos to boot from Azaelia Banks and Marina

Whoo! My little summer break went a little longer than I planned, and so I’ve been on a bit of a HotW hiatus. But no longer – I’m back and ready to deliver some sweet tunes to your ears. And since one song really won’t do enough to make up for time, I figured I’d do a quick little write up on a couple of recent music videos I’m excited about/enjoy.

The first is from the ever talented Azaelia Banks. It’s the official video for her song “Liquorice” off her recent 1991 EP (if you haven’t listened to the whole thing yet, I suggest you do so right now – click HERE to stream it). The video takes on a western theme, with Azaelia dressed out in not quite authentic but definitely sexy cowboy clothes. There’s horseback riding, there’s wild wilderness, and there’s a standoff. The standoff is between two different versions of Azaelia though, so that makes for an interesting visual. Azaelia’s looking very sexy, very polished, and sounding every bit as mean as you would hope.

Another exciting new video release is “Power and Control” by HotW favorite Marina and the Diamonds. Though the video is a little less quirky than most of those in Marina’s past, it is highly stylized and shot beautifully, fitting nicely as Part 6 of her Archetypes series. Marina writhes and flirts her way around a room with a super buff guy who keeps chucking paint at the wall and/or doing hanging situps. And while these visuals may at surface value seem somewhat superfluous, listen carefully to the words and every tiny piece makes perfect sense. The added muted dark blue color palette really encompasses the mood as well, evoking the tensions that arise when two people struggle for control in a relationship.