Blog 3A

Tamia - "Love Me in a Special Way"

                                      

DeBarge - "Love me in a Special Way"

Tamia has been one of my favorite artists up to date.  Although she has not come out with anything lately, I thought using "Love Me in a Special Way" for this assignment would be great.  This is a cover of the same song done by DeBarge.

DeBarge is an older singing group and they have created many hits.  The two songs contain very similar qualities about them; however there are some contrasting elements in both songs. 

One contrasting component is the organization of the two songs.  Tamia’s version is much different than DeBarges.  The beginning of Tamia’s song sounds the same as DeBarges, with only the piano playing.  But as you continue to listen, right when she begins to sing “Love me in a special way” the song changes up.  To the listener, you don’t really know how she’s going to take to the song.  But as you keep listening, you see she makes the song her own! Tamia also adds much more instrumentation in her song.  There were many more layers in Tamia’s; instead of the piano driving the song, the drums and guitar were. 

The affinity within the two songs is the melody. Both songs are sung the same way, including identical lyrics. Tamia changed up/added a few adlibs to make the song her own, but as a whole the text in both of them were pretty equal.  I’m not sure if Tamia’s subtext in her song has the same meaning as DeBarge’s, but how many meanings could “Love me in a special way” have?  DeBarge is singing for a woman to love him, while Tamia is longing for a man’s love.  They both are targeting the song to a special person whom they are in love with.  

Another contrasting element of the two songs is the speed.  The original is more of a slow soulful song, while Tamia creates a more intense version.  As I stated before, Tamia begins singing slow just as DeBarge, but she instantly changes it up.  The different layers of instruments added speed to the song.  The tempo was around the same but since the drums were the driving force for Tamia, the song sounded a little different.  This song has two different grooves; from heartwarming soul, to funky and intense.                

To conclude, I would have to say I like Tamia’s cover better, not only because I’m a fan, but because of the song itself.  I feel as though DeBarge’s song has more of an old school feel and not so much something I would listen to.  It’s a great song though, don’t get me wrong.  I give credit to the older artists today because so many have been covered.  I never realized how many artists songs have been covered or sampled.  In a way it makes me mad because the generation today has no clue of these samples and covers.  Ultimately, the newer artists are receiving all the credit from the naive fans.  This makes me want to do more research on the music that is put out.