image via artist's website
The last two weeks have been overloaded with talk of Frank Ocean. Between his "announcement" and the release of 'Channel Orange' there was more than enough ammo for fanboys/girls and haters alike. During that span, and given the amount of music I search for and listen to daily, I've heard TONS of covers of the ubiquitous "Thinkin Bout You." Let alone that this song released almost a year ago.
Many of the covers are very good. None of them were as good as this. Not Yuna. Not Karina Pasian. Not Braelyn. Not Tori Kelly. Not n'an nudda soul. NONE. Again, many are really good and most of them are over 500k views on YouTube. What Kiah Victoria has done is on another level, however. She has taken ownership of this song. Move over Frank Ocean. You wrote a great song for Kiah.
This is what inspires me to do what I do. I aspire daily to have this level of mastery here on this blog.
The entire production is other worldly. The restructuring, composition, harmonies, timing ... all impeccable. I'm entirely entranced by this version and instead of heading to bed for the night, I'm looping this song and dreaming of another time and place. It's 1:30 am at the time of this writing and I should be in REM sleep already!
Kiah Victoria's ability to strip this song down and build it up again into this stunning arrangement is nothing short of amazing. She did something very different while maintaining the quiet, melody and simplicity of the original song. Sink your teeth into this and fall in love with Kiah. I know I did....
