Friday Feature: Addicted to Love, as covered by the DOT's

Here it is! The first Friday Feature, with the DOT's covering Addicted to Love:

I spent quite a bit of time perusing the internet for a solid cover of this song. I had been coming up short for a while. Florence and the Machine kept appearing in my searches, which I thought was a mistake at first. But apparently she covered this song a while back, which has seriously bolstered it's popularity on the internet. Her version is actually amazing and I like it way better than the original. But I decided that to post a cover of a famous artist covering a famous song would defeat the purpose of this feature, so I decided to find someone covering this cover. (Cover doesn't even sound like a word anymore, I've said it so much. Ugh.)

So here I am, browsing through all these covers of covers, when I stumble upon one by an a cappella group. I had seen plenty of guys on a white-walled backdrop trying to pluck this out on an acoustic guitar that I was totally starved for something different, so I eagerly clicked on the link.

And then I was thoroughly impressed.

I was in an a cappella group my first year of college, so not only does this speak to me on a nostalgic level, but I also know how difficult it is to pull something like this off. But the DOT's do it flawlessly! Their lead singer for this arrangement absolutely nails it (especially with the solo in the beginning, I got chills), and the harmonies are so on-point it's ridiculous. I think what really impresses me though is how far this song has come from the original 80's tune. I never would have thought to arrange this as an a cappella song after hearing it the first time, but I'm really glad these girls did, because it's a really, really cool version. Hats off to you.

A bit more about the DOT's: they're an all female a cappella group based out of UCSD encouraging women's empowerment through music, which are all things I can totally get behind. They have some rave reviews on their website, and their repertoire has everything from Eminem to Aretha Franklin. And the name, DOT? It stands for Daughters of Triton, which sounds like the coolest name for an a cappella group ever. If you're reading this from the west coast, I recommend you go listen to them if you get the chance. If I wasn't 2,000 miles away, I certainly would. You can check out the DOT's further at their website if you want to know more.

Edit: These lovely ladies shared this post on their Facebook page! Check it out here.

Robert Palmer: Addicted to Love

Number five!

Robert Palmer: Addicted to Love

Current Knowledge: I know nothing about Robert Palmer. Nothing. Which is probably because I generally don't like eighties music much. People tell me I should listen to him pretty often (people in bars here LOVE 80's music), but I have yet to do so. Nobody has ever given me a specific song, so I honestly just googled "Robert Palmer best song" and this is what came up. Fingers crossed it's a good one!

First Thoughts: First off, it appears I found the music video for this song. I highly recommend you watch it.. This is literally the most uncomfortable looking piece of cinematography I have ever seen in my entire life. Robert Palmer looks like someone my Dad works with deciding to try out some karaoke for the first time. And none of the girls are even trying to play their instruments, which really adds to the fact that they look terrifying. It's pretty rough. But! I like the song! The vocals are really really great, and it's actually quite catchy. It definitely has the 80's vibe that usually turns me off of this kind of music, but it's actually very well written, lyrically and musically. And the driving rock beat helps a lot in my opinion. I'd definitely listen to this again.

Verdict: If you want to actually appreciate this song, by all means do not watch the music video. It seriously takes away from the music, and the music is great. At this point I've listened to this song like four times and I actually really like it, which is not something I can say about most songs written in this time period. I might have to look into some more stuff from this guy. A brief glance at the sidebar of YouTube tells me this weird ugly-girls-and-a-karaoke-singer thing is a theme with some of Robert Palmer's music videos, so I don't have a lot of great things to say about his cinematic choices. But I can say that, for once, the crazy people from the bars have made a good suggestion here. This is a pretty cool tune.