Roisin Off, Sophie On

Sophie Ellis Bextor's new single 'Off And On' is the latest Calvin Harris produced single to be released, following on from the success of Dizzee's 'Dance With Me' and the failure of Kylie's 'In My Arms'. It features his typical signature beat and jittery synths and a slightly harsh sounding double tracked vocal by Sophie. It is apparent to the listener that the production is unmistakably Harris and the vocal is no one other than Bextor. But what is not known is just why this song isn't being released by it's original singer.

Wikipedia credits the song as being written by Calvin Harris, Cathy Dennis and it's original singer, Roisin Murphy, who apparently rejected the track, plus another due to creative differences with Harris. When Roisin's demo leaked last year, I loved the song. It sounded fresh and new. Now however, upon hearing Sophie's version, it just sounds a little bit too contrived. To take a truly unique artist's cast offs and try and get yourself a hit with it seems a bit too try hard to me, no matter how good the song is. Not to mention Roisin's version is about 100 times better.

Judge for yourself...

Sophie's version


Roisin's version