Tom: I was looking through the list of upcoming singles, spotted this, and let out an audible “what?”.
Tim: Erm, yeah. What’s going on?
Tom: Because Tom’s Diner is one of the canonical capital-T Tracks. It’s where that sample came from. You know the one. It’s an acapella that was used to tweak the original MP3 algorithm, for crying out loud. And suddenly it’s being covered by one of the greats of electronic music, featuring one of the greats of pop on vocals.
Tom: And the result is… well, it could be worse, it’s no Madonna’s American Pie. It ticks every box that you could want for: Moroder’s production is pretty much flawless, Britney’s vocals, filtered through all the robotic synths, seem similarly perfect.
Tim: They do – as an electropop cover of that track, it’s great. You’ve still got the melody from the vocals, fleshed out very well indeed by the production. Like you say, pretty much flawless.
Tom: The trouble is: removed from that original, acapella production, the lyrics and melody just sound trite. They always were, but they were in such a folk-song context, decades old now, that it seemed okay. And now: there’s something a little bit Fast Food Rockers about it. Which is a shame.
Tim: Hmm…I disagree somewhat – you’re right about them sounding trite, but the production is good enough that that’s not so much of a problem. It’s certainly no worse than the original, and I reckon it’s not as bad as it seems you think the Fast Food Rockers were. I’m enjoying it. For a bit, before it gets too repetitive, anyway.